Connecticut Preservation Action Annual Meeting Results - January 18, 2024

Connecticut Preservation Action held its  Annual Meeting on January 18th and elected new officers and members of the Board of Directors.  

Officers:
Aaron Marcavitch, President 
Laura Crosskey, Vice President 
Tim Beeble, Treasurer
Jane Montanaro, Secretary 

At-Large Members:
Tod Bryant (Norwalk Preservation Trust)
Ed Cannata 
Linda Feczko
Mary Falvey (Hartford Preservation Alliance)
Bill Kraus
Michelle McCabe (CT Main Street Center)
Patrick McMahon
Thomas Newbold
Michael Tucker (New Haven Preservation Trust)

The Board of Directors meets monthly on the first Monday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. currently by Zoom.

There are three at-large spots that are vacant and could be filled by the Board of Directors during the course of the year.  
If you represent the New London Preservation or are a champion for historic preservation and would like to serve on the Board of Directors then please reach out and our Governance Committee will follow-up.  
 
We would like to thank outgoing Board Members Leah Glaser, Kim Parsons-Whitaker, Jean King, and Charlie Janson for your dedicated service to the Board and we wish you well in all of your future pursuits.

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President’s Report (2023)

Past President Patrick McMahon provided the following report for activities in 2023 and a sneak peak at 2024:

Thanks to a successful fundraising push in 2022 including a great event at Parkville Market we were able to retain the services of Mike Dugan and his team at Capitol Consulting Group for the 2023 session.

In January, the Board adopted the 2023 Legislative Agenda that included: 
1. Protecting Community Investment Act funding
2. Establishing a Connecticut Historic Preservation Caucus

Thankfully, the during the 2023 legislative session, Community Investment Act funding remained intact with no sweep for General Fund expenses.  In regards to the caucus concept, conversations began in 2023 with some legislators regarding such establishment.  We are expecting a Dear Colleague email to be sent to legislators in the near future to determine interest in establishing such a caucus. 

Capitol Consulting monitored bills in the 2023 session that would have an impact on historic preservation. 

The most pressing was HB 6756 An Act Concerning Certain Appeals of Determinations Made by the State Historic Preservation Officer.  The bill would create provisions for municipalities to appeal decisions made by the SHPO concerning the renovation or rehabilitation of an historic property.  This bill raised significant concerns about the impacts on SHPOs review powers and processes.  Thankfully, with significant testimony garnered by CPA and our partners the bill changed to creating a Working Group to Study SHPO processes.  With Mike Dugan’s assistance we were able to get Tod Bryant and Michelle McCabe appointed to the Working Group.  The Working Group has continued to meet and is expected to issue a report by February 1st.  We need to be prepared in the upcoming session to respond to any recommendations put forth by the Working Group.  (UPDATE - the Harford Business Journal ran an article about the Working Group on January 22nd and stated that the Working Group "is preparing to roll out recommendations that could become a hot topic during this year's legislative session.")

We submitted testimony in support of HB 6475 An Act Implementing the Recommendations of the Working Group Regarding the Protection and Preservation of Historic Properties which included the creation of a preservation toolkit and conducting a feasibility study for a revolving loan fund. 
Out of this effort, funding was provided to establish an online preservation toolkit. 

We have a running list of potential items for future legislative agendas such as changes to the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program, increased bonding for historic preservation projects and stiffer penalties for demolition of historic resources, amongst others.  These items will continue to be vetted by the Board, researched and potentially be brought forward in future sessions of the legislature including potentially the upcoming session. The 2024 Legislative Session convenes on February 7th and adjourns on May 8th.   We will likely discuss the Legislative Agenda at our upcoming Board meeting on February 5th.

We have also been tracking legislation at the federal level including HTC-GO (Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act and the Historic Preservation Enhancement Act).  Aaron Marcavitch and Charlie Janson serve on the Board of Preservation Action at the national level.

Treasurer's Report

Tim Beeble reported on the the 2023 Budget.  We started 2023 with $11,685.50 cash on hand and had $5,140.48 in revenue between memberships and sponsorships for a total income of $16,826.98.  We had $14,172.13 in expenditures leaving an end-of-year balance of $2,654.85.

The Annual Meeting adopted a budget for 2024 that included $20,000 in membership/sponsorship revenue and expenses of $14,625.50.  This would result in some cash on hand a the end of the year that would help fund our lobbying efforts going into 2025. 

​We need your help to achieve this $20K goal!!! Renew your membership today.