FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Membership and participation in the city’s Historic Preservation Committee has dropped off in recent years, but that could change soon.

”We’re going to start having more public meetings to make the public aware of our work,” said Harriet Gutknecht, the group’s treasurer, adding that City Council President Debbie Quinn is supporting efforts to rebuild and restructure the committee. “We intend to bring new life to our educational efforts.”

The first such public meeting is planned for mid-December and is expected to include David Schneider, an architectural historian, to discuss the advantages of historic preservation, Gutknecht said.

Other speakers might include state and local revenue departments and historical commissions to address tax benefits, legislative approaches and other aspects of the subject, she said.

Schneider will be the featured speaker at a public meeting on historic preservation issues in Magnolia Springs on Dec. 1, according to the group.

That city recently passed a historic preservation ordinance, Gutknecht said.

”If Magnolia Springs can do it, why can’t we?” asked Linda Jones, the group’s secretary.

Although the Historic Preservation Committee’s efforts are best known for an annual tour of local homes, the group was organized in 1997 for educational and public awareness purposes involving historic preservation, Gutknecht said.

“This room used to be full,” Jones said, during Thursday’s committee meeting attended by five people at the City Hall conference room.

The group has not settled on a date for the December public meeting but is looking at the second week of December, to follow Schneider’s appearance in Magnolia Springs. The meeting will probably occur in City Council chambers at the Civic Center.

In other business, the committee, discussed plans to obtain additional historical marker plaques for downtown buildings. The group’s minutes from its November meeting indicated that plaques will be presented to the Fairhope History Museum and the Wolff Cottage at the Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts.

The next meeting of the Fairhope Historic Preservation Committee is 9 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, at the conference room in City Hall. For more information, contact Gutknecht at 990-7968 or hgutkne@aol.com.