Newton Stewardship Committee
Minutes
May 20th, 2009
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 AM in the parking area behind Town Hall.
Attendance: Tricia McCarthy, Mike Seekamp, Nancy Slombo, Mary Marshall, and Ed Batchelder. Ed was appointed to the vacant seat.
Acceptance of Minutes: Mike Seekamp, seconded by Nancy Slombo, motioned to accept the minutes from June 18th, 2008. The motion carried unanimously.
Review of Schedule: Mary suggested that for the fall meeting we consider the question moving the first meeting in the spring to the date of the spring site walk, because we can hold it in five minutes or so before the walk. Tricia moved that we change the fall meeting to November 3rd to be held at 8:00am upstairs in the Town Hall. The motion was seconded by Nancy Slombo and carried unanimously.
Brochure: Mary reported that the brochure is waiting for her to finish the map.
Discussion of Chair: Mary suggested that for the fall meeting we discuss creating a rotating schedule for the chair so that every member of the committee can become comfortable with the duties.
Landowner Interview: Ed explained that at the time when the interview would normally have been done, he was in the process of applying for low income funding to buy Hidden Acres. Mary had written a letter of recommendation for Ed in applying for the funding. She didn’t do an interview to avoid any possibility that anyone could interpret discussion as pressure of Forrest to sell the farm to Ed. She suggested that the interview is skipped this year, and that next year someone else on the committee can do the interview.
Other business: Tricia read a letter from LCHIP explaining that as we have completed our 2008 monitoring report the Committee has been given a check for $374.00 from the interest accumulating on the LCHIP legal fund. Tricia moved, seconded by Nancy Slombo, that the check be added to the interest on the Stewardship Legal account. The motion carried unanimously.
Mike suggested that we might use these funds for the signage medallions. Because the minimal order on medallions is 100 he suggested that we make them more generic they could be used for more than Hidden Acres property. Mike moved, seconded by Tricia, that the wording will be “Conservation Area” with graphics of a fox, and Nancy will go ahead and order them.
Tricia explained that the Boches property has been transferred to Jim Foy with the exception of a lot at the corner of Quaker and Peaslee. On December of 2008 an easement was signed with an addendum to the deed showing that the Town has an easement of the parcel previously owned by Mr. Foy. At the end of 2009 the easement will be expanded to include the remaining property owned by Mr. Foy. The parcel around and including the Quaker Cemetery has been donated by the Roger Rines Family to the Town. It will be used as a neighborhood park and access to the conservation land.
Tricia questioned whether we would have to carry out a landowner interview in order to complete the annual monitoring report and was assured it is not mandatory.
Spring Site walk will be June 3rd at 8:00 am. Public is invited to join in. The Committee will meet in the driveway to Hidden Acres.
Nancy motioned, seconded by Tricia, to adjourn at 8:45. Motion carried unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Marshall. chair
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