At its meeting, the History Committee kept Dennis Oliver as chair and retained Jeff Titter as vice chair and accepted corrected minutes, and members heard a tourism report and a public comment about downtown banners.

The committee affirmed leadership by affirmation after nominations. Bonnie Post declined a nomination for vice chair; the committee confirmed Jeff Titter as vice chair and continued Dennis Oliver as chair.

Why it matters: continuity in committee leadership preserves institutional knowledge for ongoing local-history projects while the tourism staff reported recent outreach that could affect visitor traffic and local programming.

During public participation, Jean Bannerman of 111 Phelan Street in Pacific reported that banners have been reinstalled downtown. "From First Street to Columbus, there's 6 lamps there. . . with the banners that has 2 sides, so that would be 12," Bannerman said, and added she had five more banners available. She described strong phone response since the banners went up.

In staff reports, Kelly, a staff member, told the committee the tourism office has been short-staffed but "did have a new hire start today, so hopefully that will help out," and another hire was expected to start on Friday. Kelly said two staff members recently left (one for a family medical emergency and one for surgery) and the office had attended the Main Street Conference in Saint Charles and staffed a recent fair that brought new visitors into the center.

Kelly also reported digital outreach: the Route 66 video published Aug. 1 has recorded "over 21,000 views" in about two weeks. On programming, Kelly said the 4 Rivers genealogy series includes a session at the local library on Aug. 21 titled "Filling in your ancestors' life cycle using vital records," and that 70 people were signed up for the committee's session.

Committee business included approval of the June 11 minutes with a requested wording correction. The motion to accept the minutes with that change was made and seconded; the chair called for the ayes and the minutes were approved. Near the meeting's close a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved.

Volunteers were singled out: committee members noted that Jeannie Vanderman and Lori (last name not specified in the record) volunteered at the center during recent events. The committee set its next meeting for Sept. 10. During closing remarks an alderman noted the committee has missed five meetings over the past year and encouraged volunteers and potential members to contact an alderman or the mayor if they are interested in serving.

No statutes, ordinances, contracts or formal policy changes were introduced or adopted at the meeting.