5.1. SR 09-22-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item ~ 5.1. MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: DATE: Stephen Rohlf, Building and Environmental Administrator September 22, 2003 SUBJECT: Consider Hiring Consultant for Archaeological Modeling and Literature Search The Council allowed $5,000 in the Heritage Preservation Commission's (HPC) budget to do archaeological modeling and a literature search. The HPC was successful at securing additional money for this work through a Federal Certified Local Government Grant. Using the money the Council allowed and N-kind services as a match for this grant, the HPC has a total of $13,000 to retain the services of a professional archaeologist to coordinate the project. The proposal is for an archaeological literature search and site predictive modeling project within the City of Elk River. Additionally a survey will be undertaken on Elk River's historic milling district where foundations, potentially going back as far as 1851, are known to exist and documented Native American activity (e.g. skirmishes) took place. The project scope will include the entire city limits to aid furore planning efforts in the management of archaeological resources. An electronic and geo-referenced version of maps created in ArcView will be provided to the City. This electronic version will facilitate future planning through its ability to be incorporated into the city's GIS documents. The literature search will basically be the f~rst organized archaeological project in the City of Elk River. Verified archaeological sites will be documented using archaeological site forms and forwarded to the State Historic Preservation Office and the Office of the State Archaeologist to help ensure they are not inadvertently compromised by the rapid development Elk River is facing. The recently (2002) completed historic context study of the city revealed milling as a major theme in Elk River and the need for further survey work was identified in that document. The work proposed under this grant is the next step in the Elk River Heritage Preservation Commission's ongoing efforts to identify and document the city's cultural and historic heritage and put it into relationship with the larger context of the State of Minnesota.