ATHENS, Ohio — A group seeking to repurpose historic Lasher Hall as a museum celebrating printing received positive feedback Monday from Athens City Council’s Planning and Development Committee.
Members of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission are working with Don Adleta, emeritus professor of graphic design at Ohio University, to have Lasher Hall designated as a city historical landmark. A public hearing on that question will be held in June. City council also will have to pass an ordinance making the designation.
Lasher Hall, 43 W. Union St., was built in 1925 as the offices and printing site for the Athens Messenger. In 1972, Ohio University bought the building to house its journalism school and, later, the communication studies program. OU listed it as surplus in 2021.
Adleta has proposed using the building to house the Paper Print Book Museum, including equipment from OU’s Don E. Adleta TypeShop and Bindery. According to a brochure for the proposed museum, the facility will include paper-making, letterpress printing and a working book bindery.
The paper-making studio will preserve the legacy of The Paper Circle and its late founder, Sara Gilfert — a well-recognized champion of paper-making — Adleta said. Her daughter, Susan Gilfert, is one of the museum founders.
In addition to demonstrations and hands-on experiences, the museum would include exhibits, galleries, artist studios, a library and archive, a gift shop and bookstore, and a café, the brochure states.
A comprehensive, experiential museum would be attractive to programs like the Road Scholar program for seniors, allowing participants could leave with something they’ve made, Adleta said.
The goal is to create a self-sufficient museum, Adleta said.
Internationally known typographers, bookbinders and papermakers will be part of the museum’s development expertise, Adleta said. The project has received substantial promises of financial backing, including estate gifts, he said.
Local contractor John Goodin told the committee that he was approached about the project a year and-a-half ago. Goodin said he has worked within and around OU for 30 years.
Goodin said that the experiential museum has good potential to be self-sustaining due to different pieces that could generate revenue streams from artists and artisans. Too often, such historical renovation projects rely solely on grant-related government funding, which may dry up, he said.
“As a builder, what just destroys me is watching us take this old architecture, and ripping it down, and putting something else back up,” Goodin said. He added that the third floor of Lasher Hall has the kind of windows and rooms that artists would be drawn to for producing pieces.
Council members and the city administration all expressed support for the project.
Alan Swank, 4th Ward, said the proposed museum checks off “three boxes” for success: tourism, occupying a vacant building, and preserving history. Swank said the project “preserves a lost art,” of type and type-setting, along with printmaking.
Council member Paul Isherwood, At-Large, noted that he had friends who worked at Ireland’s National Print Museum while growing up and studying history in Dublin. The museum is housed in former military barracks and “it is a treasure,” he said.
Mayor Steve Patterson said the proposed museum will be a significant benefit to Southeast Ohio by opening experiential lessons into the history of printmaking.
“I’m very much in favor of designating this as an historic building, looking forward in time,” Patterson said.
Disagreement on playground renovation/equipment
The City and Safety Services Committee split over a proposal to authorize up to $105,000 for new playground equipment and ground repair behind the Athens Community Center.
The committee later voted to forward the matter to full council for a first ordinance reading.
Katherine Ann Jordan, director of Athens Arts, Parks and Recreation, has relayed that the ground on the south side of the building is impacted by “subduction,” Patterson said.
However, Swank said there is “not a darn thing wrong” with the playground equipment in question, while presenting slides to back his view.
On the other hand, Swank said, the playground equipment located between the community center and the city swimming pool receives 10 times the use of the playground sought for renovation, and is in far worse shape. That is the playground that should be addressed, Swank emphasized.
Swank said he visited the playgrounds twice to examine potential needs.
Swank voted against forwarding the playground matter to the council. Voting in favor were committee chair Isherwood; Michael Wood, 3rd Ward; and Megan Almeida, 1st Ward.
Isherwood said Jordan will be invited to a council meeting to further explain the request.
In other matters Monday, the City and Safety Services Committee:
- Learned that the city has the opportunity to upgrade about 87% of the city’s 6,000 water meters with radio signal equipment to be used for water meter readings. The upgrade would allow for easier monitoring of water usage. Funding would be split evenly between the city’s water and sewer funds, Isherwood said, with the expenditure not to exceed $1.3 million. Patterson said the meter readings by radio signal would allow the city to eliminate one staff position by not replacing a water meter reader who is among 13 employees taking early retirement by the end of the month.
- Heard that the city of Athens, by partnering with Athens County, will be eligible for up to $350,000 in funding through the Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program to offer programs such as homeowner and renter rehabilitation, and home repair assistance.
The Transportation Committee:
- Discussed a West Washington Street sidewalk and safety improvement project that was funded in 2023 at a cost of $222,300 and completed in 2024, which needs to have accounting settled and recorded correctly. Project 335 also involved street lighting improvements. The main funding, at $132,300, came from Community Development Block Grant funds, with the rest coming from the street fund. An unpaid bill of $2,300 related to the project will come from CDBG funds, Patterson said. Patterson noted that CDBG funds can only be used within certain census tracks of the city.
Committee of the Whole
Once again, the Committee of the Whole discussed council rule 28, which covers committees as working bodies of the Council and the process for moving items out of committees and to the full council.
Council President Micah McCarey referred to this as the “advancement process,” and it covers issues such as whether affirmative votes by a committee, versus lack of objection, are necessary to move an item on to a regular council meeting. McCarey said council members attended a work session on the topic with city Law Director Lisa Eliason.
Council members Jessica Thomas, At Large, offered two proposals, and Swank one, and read them to the Committee of the Whole.
Thomas offered a proposal that would forward committee matters on to the full council unless a majority of committee members objected to the items. Her proposal also would also not allow a matter to be held in committee for more than meetings before forwarding to the council.
Thomas’ second proposal offered more steps, which involved keeping an item in a committee only if a majority voted against it, and allowing for the Committee of the Whole to consider a matter before moving to a regular council meeting. It also allowed for the council to send an item back to committee if a majority of the council wished to refer it back.
Swank’s proposal would ask a committee if an item should be moved on to the council. If there were no objection, it would automatically move to Council. If there were an objection, a full committee vote would be taken to advance the matter, with a majority vote of the committee required to do so. If a majority is not present, the item would be sent back to committee during subsequent committees meeting.
If the item again lacks a majority vote during a second committee meeting, it would be referred to the Committee of the Whole, where a similar procedure would be followed. Only a majority vote would result in advancement to council.
Council member Beth Clodfelter, At Large, said she did not want committees to act as “gatekeepers” on items that should receive full Council consideration, unless there was a clear majority opposed within a committee to it moving forward.
Wood took the opposite view, stating committees should have the gatekeeping duty of deciding whether an item moves forward to Council. If all matters can go on to the Committee of the Whole, “then why am I here (in a committee) doing the work?” Wood asked. He added that committees should be able to weigh in on a matter, even if it involves “killing” it so as not to reach full council.
The Committee of the Whole voted 6-1, with Wood voting no, to advance Swank’s Rule 28 proposal to full council.Athens City Council’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18, at Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also streamed online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.
