The Hart Heritage Preservation Group hosted an open house at the Hart Historic District on Monday, Sept. 28, offering tours of the facility and exhibits, refreshments and an information and community input presentation from board members. The presentation was primarily led by preservation group members Lloyd Miller and Russ Robbins, as well as Hart Economic and Redevelopment Team (HEART) board members Andrew Mullen and Nichole Kleiner.
The historic district is currently at a crossroads, facing a lack of funds, aging board members, and degradation of historic structures. For nearly 40 years, the historic district and the City of Hart have enjoyed a partnership wherein the city provides the property and utilities. Said Kleiner, who also serves as Hart’s city manager, “It’s been a wonderful relationship… [but we] need to think about the next 40 years and what that’s going to look like.”
Following financial strains on the city and work to correct fund deficits, Kleiner said, “It is really important to the city that this organization becomes financially sustainable. I think the partnership has just leaned more and more on the city over the years to the point where we’re needing to pull back and see not only what the future looks like, but if it's sustainable financially.”
Enter the HEART Board. With only two members left in the nonprofit Hart Heritage Preservation Group (HHPG), the workload needed alleviation and the district needed new ideas. The HEART board provided new board members and a year’s length to preserve the nonprofit status and restructure the organization, meeting monthly to ascertain the status of the buildings, exhibits and volunteer base. Now that the year interim is complete, the HEART Board is wanting to pass the baton, looking toward that evening's group of almost 50 event attendees for the future HHPG.
Said Kleiner, “We’re not just trying to fill board seats tonight, we’re asking the community to help decide what the next chapter looks like - what we should preserve, what we could do differently, what would bring people here, what would make people volunteer and become involved, and most importantly, how do we make this place sustainable for the next 40 years.”
Miller explained further, saying, “Tonight’s meeting [is] to see what we can do about reimagining the district itself and the future… and the community input as well.”
That evening, Miller was nominated as the new board president, a role that he accepted, promising that he’d do all he could to keep the historic district open. Miller joined in the HEART Board’s efforts to help the historic district eight months prior, diving head-first into the responsibility. Miller himself nominated Kleiner as the board’s new vice president. Two other attendees and local residents answered the call to serve as the HHPG’s new treasurer and secretary, citing an interest in community involvement and love for the district as reasons for their investment. Mullen, who served as the HHPG’s president in the interim year, will remain on the board, though not as an officer. The HHPG is still looking for additional members to meet, at a minimum quarterly, throughout the year.
Prior to the meeting, the HEART Board put out requests for proposals to planning companies and engineers, hoping to engage with outsider ideas and bring them into Hart to help the community preserve this piece of history. The hopes are that after one more year, there will be a conceptualized plan - complete with visuals - for the community to consider and offer feedback, after which grant funding can be pursued.
While much of the evening was centered around the district’s future, the new leadership took a moment to honor the district’s past, specifically the decades of hard work and dedication poured into the district by Russ Robbins. Robbins’ involvement with the HHPG and HEART Boards has been invaluable, helping share decades' worth of collection information, documentation and, of course, stories of his own. Robbins was invited to share the history of the district - starting in 1985 with the donation of Schaner’s Feed Mill and Robbins’ recruitment to the group the following year - and following 40 years of addition and acquisition. Specially highlighted was the 18,000-square-foot building, constructed in 1994, populated with nine unique exhibits and the subject of the open house tours.
Before the close of the event, Robbins - with his family in attendance - was honored with a plaque celebrating his “lifetime achievement” for his work with the HHPG and preservation of the district. Robbins spoke highly of the district and all it has to offer the community. “We have a pretty complete exhibit and historic district here. I hope, for my sake, that the younger generations take a hold and take over for us.”
