Historic Preservation Commission details rural survey, preservation awards and outreach

Matt, representing the Johnson County Historic Preservation Commission, told the Board of Supervisors the commission has nine active members and listed the commission’s 2024 work plan items and 2025 priorities.

He said the commission has completed training, applied for a certified-local-government grant to support a rural survey and intends to seek additional county funding for a consultant to organize the multi-year rural-survey project. "We're hoping to hire someone to better organize it," Matt said, describing the workload of photographing and documenting older buildings across the county.

The commission described advisory work with the Johnson County Agricultural Association, ongoing assistance to the Sharon Center Schoolhouse project, and intervention to preserve courthouse stairs that had been slated for removal. Matt also announced the commission’s preservation award ceremony scheduled for the following evening and showed before-and-after photos from a recently refurbished farmhouse.

Commission members said they want to improve the commission’s online presence, explore better notice relationships with cities and county planning offices, and store survey results in a county-owned repository compatible with GIS for future use. Matt said the commission plans onboarding and continuing-education programming for new members and that some members have attended national preservation training.

Supervisors and commission members discussed how to coordinate notifications of historic-property changes, ensure the county owns and maintains survey records, and consider GIS layers for preservation data. Matt asked supervisors to consider the need to fund a consultant to complete the rural survey and preserve institutional knowledge.