fighting for control
of historical society
Howell’s historical hysterics
have history buffs up in arms
Factions continue
fighting for control
of historical society
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
He said, she said, they said, we said. And that can be said to be the only certainty about the contretemps threatening the present existence of the Howell Historical Society, which was incorporated in 1971.
Ongoing disputes between opposing factions that developed within the society, which has a present membership of about 100 people, have in recent weeks brought the office of the township attorney into the fray.
In the last two years there have been changes made in the leadership of the society, and a new board of trustees has been installed.
Former society president and founding member Dorothy Gratton said it was this change that brought simmering problems to a head and led to the fractious factions. All of that led Howell Councilwoman Cindy Schomaker to warn at the Nov. 25 public meeting of the Township Council of the imminent "disbanding" of the society if the problems are not worked out.
At the core of the skirmish dividing society members is the addition to the society’s bylaws over the summer of a "member in bad standing" proviso, a measure that would allow for the society to oust members for infractions such as missing too many meetings.
According to the exact language of the bylaw addition adopted in August: "A member in good standing is defined as one who is present at more than 50 percent of the meetings, who serves on committees and in positions when asked unless excused by virtue of illness or other such hardship, is supportive of (society) goals and aspirations, who works for the benefit of the society, who does not publicly nor privately denigrate the society, its members, its goals and its projects, who is not disruptive of society business either at meetings or through outside actions, who does not act in a detrimental way toward society or township property, members or goals, who acts in an honest and forthright manner in society dealings and policies, who acts and speaks with the best interest of the society, its goals and members clearly in mind. A member in good standing is not destructive of society property and does not engage in rumor mongering or false statements regarding the society and its members nor the township of Howell."
The amendment goes on to state: "Examples of activities leading to a member being declared in bad standing include, but are not limited to unauthorized removal of items from society property, unauthorized entry into the building, mail tampering, other instances of criminal activity against the society."
Attorney Dominic Manco, who is an associate in the office of Township Attorney Richard Schibell, while holding in a written decision dated Oct. 18 that the recently adopted membership amendment to the society bylaws could be "applied as written," nonetheless said at the council’s Nov. 25 meeting that the society election held in early October should be voided.
Manco was of the opinion that the 59 society members who were deemed to be ineligible to vote in the October 2002 election had not been given adequate notice before the election of their compromised membership status.
Attorney Edward C. Eastman Jr. of Freehold Township, who was hired by the society trustees to render a legal opinion on the new member in bad standing bylaw amendment, wrote on Oct. 22 that in his opinion the amendment could be applied by the society as written.
Historical society President Steve Meier told the Tri-Town News he had questions as to how the member in bad standing regulation should be enforced and whether infractions prior to the adoption of the member in bad standing provision could result in the present expulsion of members or exempt them from holding elected office in the organization.
Meier, whose term as society president will end on Dec. 31, said it is the who, how and when of deciding a member is in bad standing that has him perplexed.
"Who decides who was wrong in doing something and when they started doing it wrong?" he asked.
He said he fears there are too many ambiguities to the new bylaw amendment.
Regarding Schomaker’s warning that problems need to be resolved, Gratton said the society is a nonprofit corporation that cannot be dissolved by the Township Council. She conceded that the society could be made to suffer the elimination of the $500 it annually receives from the municipal budget.
Historical society Bylaws Committee Chairman John Costigan affirmed Gratton’s assertion regarding the township’s lack of authority over the society.
Costigan said it is also his understanding that the township cannot dissolve the corporation which is the society, but it can "refuse to do business with the society" by no longer including the $500 society stipend in the township budget and by also revoking the society’s use of the MacKenzie Museum on Lakewood-Farmingdale Road.
According to Gratton, the museum was the home of one of the society’s founding members, Jessie MacKenzie, who donated the house to the town upon her death.
Therefore, although the society has the use of the MacKenzie Museum, it is Howell that actually owns it.
Gratton, said when she was president of the society in 1999 she negotiated another 25-year lease for the society’s continued use of the MacKenzie Museum for tours and the housing of historical artifacts and archival references.
According to those interviewed, problems within the Howell Historical Society have been brewing for years and are now affecting the society’s ability to properly function.
Gratton said "even good common sense practices" like cataloging donated items with engraved plaques were refused from an opposing faction that she claimed is led by Charles and Katherine Hall. According to Gratton, the Halls, who she deems as having been integral to the society’s workings since they joined in 1976, "still wanted exclusive control of the society."
Last November, according to Gratton, the Halls resigned from their official positions within the society due to their disappointment over the result of last year’s election.
Charles Hall told the Tri-Town News he resigned as editor of the society’s newsletter because Meier was elected president of the society.
Katherine Hall claims she never resigned as the museum’s librarian, but was instead ousted against her will. She said she found out she had been replaced when the new society roster for 2002 was printed and distributed.
According to Gratton, both of the Halls had submitted their written resignation from their previously held society positions but continued to use the society’s membership roster to send "unauthorized newsletters" over the course of the past year and are still "taking it upon themselves to revise the society’s Internet Web site with any information they feel like putting up there."
Charles Hall told the Tri-Town News he has not sent out a newsletter since November 2001. He said that was his farewell issue as editor of the newsletter.
Hall did confirm Gratton’s allegation that he had performed electrical work at the museum even though he is not a licensed electrician.
Gratton said Hall’s insistence on performing the electrical work exposed the society to fire insurance liability concerns and put people occupying the building at risk.
Hall told the Tri-Town News he is a retired design engineer who worked as an electrician’s apprentice. He said he is confident in his electrical skills.
According to a letter to the Township Council from society trustees chairwoman Ida Devlin dated Nov. 15, the electrical work Hall performed resulted in the museum’s wiring being deemed unsafe by township officials. Following that, the fire insurance was suspended, according to the letter.
Devlin stated that employees from the township’s buildings and grounds department ultimately repaired the wiring and upon re-inspection of the building the society’s fire insurance was reinstated.
Gratton said problems have also arisen from items that have been loaned or donated to the museum that are lacking precise cataloguing information as well as directions regarding who has the right to remove any items from the premises either for restoration or for return to the lending families.
A case in point mentioned in Devlin’s letter to the council was the Halls’ involvement with former society vice president Edie Smith’s removal from the museum of an embroidery sampler that was donated to the society.
According to Charles and Katherine Hall, Smith was given permission by society trustee Pauline Smith (no relation) to take the sampler out for framing.
Pauline Smith told the Tri-Town News she "absolutely did not" give Edie Smith permission to take the sampler.
Pauline Smith said Edie Smith suggested the sampler, which had been hanging on the wall, should be kept in a framed covering of UV-ray protective glass. Pauline Smith said her response to that suggestion was for Edie Smith to take measurements and then look into what the cost would be.
Pauline Smith said she would never take it upon herself to make the decision to take the sampler out for alteration without permission from the entire board of trustees. She said that as the society’s chairwoman of buildings and grounds Edie Smith knew that only the entire board of trustees could authorize such a measure.
According to Pauline Smith, the sampler’s estimated value is $1,500.
Edie Smith told the Tri-Town News, "Pauline gave me permission to get estimates and there is no way to get an estimate without taking the sampler for them to see."
Devlin informed the council that the taking of the sampler resulted in a complaint being signed against Edie Smith by Devlin on behalf of the historical society. Devlin said that before the appointed court date, Edie Smith returned the sampler and frame and the society dropped the charges against Smith.
Edie Smith declined comment on the police complaint that had been filed and then withdrawn by Devlin.
However, according to Devlin, the incident resulted in the board of trustees deeming the Halls and Edie Smith to be members not in good standing.
Meier told the Tri-Town News the society rules need to be defined regarding donated items.
Another problem at present, according to Gratton, is the 11 keyholders that she is aware of who have unsupervised entry into the museum at any hour.
"How do you operate an open society without some controls?" she asked.
Gratton advocates the installation of a coded alarm system that would automatically record, from personally assigned codes given to authorized society members, the time of entry and exit from the museum by any individual.
Gratton said that during her tenure as president of the society in 1999 she had an audit performed of the museum’s contents. The audit, which she said was performed for free by a certified accountant who was a member of the society, was the first such official inventory taken at the museum.
Meier said the society’s museum has been closed since the summer so an inventory of its contents could be taken.
Museum librarian Harry Grebben said the museum will reopen on Saturday at its regular hours of 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Schomaker has been appointed liaison for the council in an effort to mediate the differences splitting the society.
Addressing society members at the Nov. 25 council meeting, Schomaker said, "If these problems are not resolved by the end of the year, I see court; I see a new historical society."
Charles Hall is not optimistic the problems can be resolved.
"I don’t see resolution of these problems with the current regime that is in power there now," he said.
The next meeting of the Howell Historical Society is scheduled for January. At present, Winnie Mikkleson, who is the society’s vice president, will preside over meetings beginning in January until a new president is elected, if one is.