First of all I would like to thank your chairman, Mark Tarmey, and your Executive Director, Beth LaCivita, for your kind invitation to address the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation on this grand occasion. I also wish to offer my congratulations on behalf of the entire Board of County Commissioners to the Trust for the purchase of a 100 year old building located in the Calhoun Street Historic district. This building, I am informed, is to be used as an office and research center for the trust.

Having the ability to purchase such a building demonstrates how far the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation has come since losing a majority of its funding four years ago. It has demonstrated its perseverance as a strong organization evidenced by this purchase and remains a strong presence in our community because of the dedication of its many volunteers and members.

I want to thank the Trust for assisting the owners in the Chaires and Miccosukee communities for having the significance of these communities formally recognized by having them listed on the National Register of Historic Places and assisting governments about making better decisions about protecting our historic treasures which include our wonderful live oaks and canopy roads.

I also want to appreciate the Trust for sponsoring the Historic Preservation award that the Leon County Board of County Commissioners received this year from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in recognition of the properties which include the Old Railroad Depot off of Gaines Street, the Old Bradfordville School, the Old Fort Braden School and the historic site of the Bradford-Eppes Cemetery. I am additional excited to be involved in a partnership with the Riley House Museum to save the Old Lake Hall Schoolhouse, which I am told is the last remaining former African American, one-room schoolhouse still standing in its original condition in Leon County.

The Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation is currently assisting Leon County in preparing historic markers for its buildings and its historic crossroads communities such as Miccosukee and Chaires.

The Trust continues to staff the Tallahassee - Leon County Architectural Review Board and to provide technical assistance to the public in local, state and federal funding and in how to appropriately maintain their historic properties. The Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation is an invaluable resource to our community. It is a research center whose data bank contains close to 4,000 files on properties surveyed in Leon County. I want to personally urge any of you who have not already become members of the Trust to do so today because of all the tremendous and valuable work this organization does and will continue to perform with your dedication and support.