Historic district fiber job stalled for months over one signature

We started a fiber optic pull in an old part of town last spring. Every step needed a sign off from the historical society... their meetings are only once a month. Missed one, and we had to wait another four weeks. It dragged the job out from two weeks to three months. Anyone dealt with this before? Is there a better way to plan around these delays? I'm all ears for tips on dealing with slow approvals.