Historic District Commission elects new officials

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By Megan Ruth
Mason Times staff writer

The Mason Historic District Commission met on Monday, Jan. 24 for the first time since November of last year. There was a lot of small talk between members before the meeting began, and it was a positive atmosphere. Committee member Loren Shattuck was passing around a book full of historic pictures of Mason City Hall.

Loren Shattuck motioned to appoint Mark Cummings (absent from the meeting) as the new Chair of the Historic District Commission during the meeting Monday, Jan. 24. Al Schulien seconded his motion. It was unanimously approved by the other two present members, James Mulvany and Marlon Brown. Seeing how no other member was nominated, Cummings was elected.

Mulvany then motioned for Loren Shattuck to be appointed. It was approved by the rest of the board. Again, no other members were nominated, so Shattuck was elected unanimously.

Before the meeting officially began, however, the Committee realized that Michael Waltz, former board member was sitting on the opposite side of the table. Waltz has been elected Mayor Pro Tem in Mason, and is now required to sit on the Planning Commission Board. He is therefore unable to continue to sit on the Historic District Commission board. Waltz said that he wishes he was able to continue to serve on the board and that his resignation is “not by choice.” He said that he now “passes the torch to Barbara Tornholm,” who was not present at the meeting.

“Least you could have done was brought coffee and doughnuts,” Loren Shattuck joked after hearing the news. The mood changed slightly while Waltz said his goodbyes to the present members of the commission.

Although Schulien was not present, Shattuck and the remainder of the board set some goals for the upcoming year. These goals included marketing the downtown area in hopes to generate interest in historic Mason, as well as continuing to flesh out a new database for historic buildings in Mason. They hope to make the database available to the public by July. Shattuck said he hopes to bring more attention and traffic to historic Mason, and that is what they work toward with everything they do.

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