Members of the Rochester Heritage Preservation Committee and other historic preservation advocates told the Rochester City Council on Monday that many of Mayor Ardell Brede's nominees to a new Heritage Preservation Commission lack experience.
The council approved Brede's nominations, despite objections voiced before its vote on the 11-member commission.
Heritage Preservation Committee Chairman Justin Voss said that most of Brede's nominees from a list of 22 applicants have no historic preservation expertise.
The new commission, which will replace the committee, is part of the city's new heritage preservation ordinance adopted by the council in February. The commission is to make a list of buildings and sites in Rochester it deems worthy of preservation, based on criteria set out in the ordinance. Also, it is to make recommendations to the city council as needed about protecting buildings and sites that are important to the city's heritage.
Therefore, the mayor's goal in assembling the commission should have been to appoint people with expertise in historic preservation rather than trying to create a diverse, balanced group, Voss said.
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"While several of the proposed commission members have historic preservation expertise, the majority do not. We believe that this will create a weak commission with neither the tools nor the will to accomplish the goals set forth in the ordinance," Voss told the council.
Commission membership
Voss is one of the 11 people Brede nominated, as well as Caitlin Callahan, the preservation committee's vice chairwoman.
The other members of the new commission are: Jeff Allman, a Rochester developer known for historic preservation projects; Aaron Benike, a general construction contractor; Nowell Bjerkaas, a Michaels Restaurant server who the mayor said has a keen interest in his hometown of Rochester; Christopher Giesen, a vice president at Community and Economic Development Associates; Valerie Guimaraes, a former Heritage Preservation Committee member; Charles Olson, a Mayo Clinic architect and project manager; David Pederson, an attorney and Rochester Area Builders Association member; Andrew Remick, director of Cascade Meadows Wetlands and Environmental Science Center; and Duane Sauke, a real estate agent and former chairman of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce.
Brede told the city council that he felt all 22 of the applicants were impressive and qualified and that he had a difficult time deciding whom to nominate. He also had to decide how to divvy up the staggered three-, two- and one-year terms for the initial membership. All subsequent appointments will be for three-years, and two terms or six years is the maximum amount time any person can serve on the commission.
He decided to allot the initial terms using alphabetical order, so: Allman, Benike, Bjerkaas and Callahan will get three-year terms; Giesen, Guimaraes, Olson and Pederson will serve two years; and Remick, Sauke and Voss will serve for one year.
Council reaction
Most of the city council members said they supported the mayor's selections and thought he did a good job with the process. The mayor said he interviewed all 22 applicants and used criteria in the ordinance to choose members. The ordinance states that the commission "should be comprised of a mixture of citizens that have been involved in preservation activities, business interests and homeowner interests."
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However, Nancy Slocumb, a historic preservation advocate, told the council that the criteria in the ordinance was inappropriate because it was not recommended by the heritage preservation committee and the public never had a chance to comment about it.
Voss asked the city council to, instead, refer to Minnesota statute on municipal heritage preservation, which says "commission members must be persons with demonstrated interest and expertise in historic preservation."
In the end, five of the seven council members voted to approve Brede's recommendations. Council member Ed Hruska was absent, and council member Michael Wojcik abstained. Wojcik said he didn't feel comfortable voting because two of the nominees' applications are missing information about whether they have conflicts of interest in serving on the commission.
Jeff Allman, a Rochester developer known for historic preservation projects; Aaron Benike, a general construction contractor; Nowell Bjerkaas, a Michaels Restaurant server who the mayor said has a keen interest in his hometown of Rochester; Caitlin Callahan, the existing preservation committee's vice chairwoman; Christopher Giesen, a vice president at Community and Economic Development Associates; Valerie Guimaraes, a former Heritage Preservation Committee member; Charles Olson, a Mayo Clinic architect and project manager; David Pederson, an attorney and Rochester Area Builders Association member; Andrew Remick, director of Cascade Meadows Wetlands and Environmental Science Center; Duane Sauke, a real estate agent and former chairman of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce; and Justin Voss, chairman of the existing Heritage Preservation Committee.
