Published March 17, 2021
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield Historical Society has been operating as an illegal nonprofit organization for almost a decade.
The Villager obtained a copy of a revocation notice that revealed the Historical Society’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit status was revoked on Sept. 15, 2011 because society officials did not file a Form 990-series return form for three consecutive years.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, nonprofit organizations whose 501(c)(3) status gets revoked are “no longer exempt from federal income tax.” The National Council of Nonprofits also reported that, “While donations given before the effective date of revocation are still deductible, future gifts are not.”
With the exception of last year, the society continued renting out the Meeting House for private events and held the annual Country Store fundraiser each December.
In the wake of the Lynnfield Historical Society’s nonprofit status being revoked, the town has put the Historical Commission in charge of overseeing the Meeting House and the Pope-Richard Family Historical Centre.
“Part of the town’s agreement with the society for maintaining the Meeting House and the Pope-Richard Family Historical Centre was for the society to maintain its 501(c)(3) status with the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office,” said Town Administrator Rob Dolan. “That hasn’t happened and the society’s 501(c)(3) status was revoked. They are trying to resolve the matter, but we cannot have a relationship with them at this time.”
LHS President Linda Gillon told the Villager that, “The Lynnfield Historical Society has applied for an expedited reinstatement of their 501(c)(3).”
“We look forward to continuing our stewardship of the Meeting House, which has been our privilege for that last 61 years,” said Gillon.
Historical Commission Chairman Kirk Mansfield said during a March 8 meeting that the board is “responsible for the buildings, the rentals and working with the town.” He said Town Counsel Tom Mullen is currently reviewing the rental agreement for people who rent the Meeting House for special events.
“There are a few little holes in it that are not legally great,” said Mansfield. “Once we get that back, it will be ready to go. All of the rentals are currently on hold because of COVID.”
Once people are able to rent the Meeting House again, Mansfield said renters will be required to sign a contract and will give the town a check. He said all of the checks will be given to Town Accountant Julie McCarthy.
“There is going to be an account set up for that,” said Mansfield. “We will not be handling the cash. We will simply be handing the cash over, which is how it should be because it is a town-owned building. When things need to be maintained, we will contact the DPW and let them know what is going on. They will review the situation and get back to us.”
Mansfield said any work undertaken at the Meeting House will need to be approved by the Select Board before the DPW undertakes the work.
Historical Commission member Abby Kilgore asked who will be in charge of cleaning the Meeting House.
Mansfield said the town is trying to figure out who will be in charge of cleaning the building.
“The good news is we have a little bit of time to figure this out because the building is not open right now,” said Mansfield. “The town is looking into when the Meeting House will be able to open.”
Mansfield suggested adding information about the history of the Meeting House inside the building.
“When we are renting this building, it seems like a lost opportunity because we don’t even have the building’s history listed in there,” said Mansfield. “I would like to get that history back into the building so that people can learn about it.”
Historical Commission member Bob MacKendrick asked who will be showing the Meeting House to interested renters. He also inquired if the town will be setting up a budget for the building.
“It’s a Meeting House, not a museum,” MacKendrick added. “I don’t think it should be a museum. I think it should stay as a Meeting House. Therefore, it should be rented out quite a bit. The rental money should be put into a revolving fund so that any money that goes into that can be used to pay expenses.”
Mansfield said he will be showing people the Meeting House. He also believes the town will not be establishing a budget for the Meeting House because the revenue generated from renting the building will be used to maintain it.
“The town accountant will be responsible for handling all of the money,” said Mansfield.
Historical Commission member Shelley Lynch said either a commissioner or a town employee should let renters into the Meeting House as well as monitor private events in order to make sure things are “going smoothly.” She said past renters have broken the building’s windows and vandalized its interior.
“We should have someone around to check on things,” said Lynch.
Mansfield said he was informed that renters would pick up and drop-off the Meeting House’s key at Linda Gillon’s home.
“I know the society was the watchdog over it and they were paying a salary to somebody to oversee it,” said Mansfield. “That was their choice to do, but the town is not going to hire somebody to watch over it full-time.”
Pope-Richard Centre
Mansfield will be presenting the plan to paint and clean up the interior of the Pope-Richard Family Historical Centre to the Select Board on Monday, March 22. He said the commission will be paying for the work done inside the building while its exterior will be fixed up by the DPW this spring.
“The DPW is going to scrape the building, paint it and will be putting on new doors,” said Mansfield. “I believe the roof is going to be redone and the exterior of the garage has to be done. The trees hanging over the house that is causing a moss problem have to be cut back.”
Mansfield said he is working with former Historical Society President Nan Hockenbury in order to identify which items inside the Historical Centre belong to the commission and which items belong to the society. He said the different items will be removed from the building when it’s time for spring-cleaning.
Historical Society member Roy Sorli said the items inside the Historical Centre are “the society’s property.”
Mansfield said the commission “would never take items that belong to the society.”
“We are all here for one mission,” said Mansfield. “That is to get the place cleaned up so we can have meetings there and have people come in who want to learn about the town’s history. That is the goal here. We are not excluding the society by any means.”
