8/30/12 Land Trust Agenda

1.    Special Projects/Announcements

a)    CLCC Global Positioning System (GPS) for Monitoring and Mapping Land Trust Holdings, Friday, September 21, 2012, 9am - 4pm, Haddam, $90.00.

b)    Bloomfield High School's Harris Agriscience Center and the library in cooperation with WLT will have a fall harvest program with local farmers. It is expected a harvest dinner will be planned.

c)    Conservation Options for Protecting Family Lands, September 24, 7:00-8:30, Middlesex County Extension Center Annex Room, 1066 Saybrook Rd., Haddam, CT. This event is free but RSVP's are required.  Please contact Tom Worthley, Thomas.worthley@uconn.edu.

2.    Organizational Assessment and Strategic Plan- CCLC Challenge Grant

a)    Mission Statement and Vision Review –see second page

b)    Divide the Standards for Action

c)    CCLC grant

3.    Committee Reports- come with report prepared

a)    Acquisitions: Stouts Fields, Lisa Lane, Sonski Estate on Lyman Lane closed, Hawk Hill and Windsor Land Trust Acquisition. 

b)    Financial- Kevin and Vikki finalized the 2011 taxes and submitted them the end of July. Land Trust Alliance, CtF&P/CLCC and Rivers Alliance memberships were paid. Received a rebate from Chubb for the modification of insurance. Also received a matching gift of $1,500 from Mass Mutual for Kevin Gauge’s Stout contribution. See attachments.

c)    Events:

Farm Celebration- (Event cancelled until septic resolved) September 8

Stouts’ Field Picnic - (Events Chair needed) October

Wintonbury Wine and Dine- January 2013, 80-90 people at 10 host homes- (chair Patrick          Sullivan- committee)

CLCC Regional Land Trust Round Table in December

d)    Stewardship: Thrall Farm Report

e)    Marketing: Neighborhood Assistance Act program approved for both Bloomfield $60,000 and Windsor $45,000. Qualified Businesses must submit paperwork between Septmeber15th and October 1.

f)     Grants: The Hawk Hill Project has received $35,000 from Bafflin Foundation and a NRCS Farmland Grant.

4.    Board Positions and subcommittee positions

1. Diversity in board.
2. Need Membership chair

5.    Wild and Scenic designation for the Lower Farmington

6.    Next meeting Dates: October 25, November 25.

Adjourn

Meeting Minutes 6/23/2012

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST June 23, 2012, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield

Present:  Dale Bertoldi, Vikki Reski, Paula Jones, Chip Caton, Tamara Hochman

A.    Fundraising Campaign  –

1)      Timing and Length of Campaign:  The objective of the campaign is a commitment from major donors of a minimum of $250 per year for 3 years. 

2)      Training and materials:  A training session on how to approach potential donors will be offered.  Chip will take the lead on putting a package together that could be used as the basis for a presentation to donors.  Hannah will draft a letter that can be modified to fit particular situations.  We discussed the need for the package to be comprehensive enough for the different interests of potential donors.  For example, we own property in several towns, and are working with other towns and land trusts to establish linkages between towns (e.g. Tanager Hill in Simsbury.)  Such a regional approach is important to us, and would be viewed positively by some donors.  We need to reflect this aspect of Land Trust operations in our materials. 

3)      The Board developed a potential donors list.  We focused on businesses given the Neighborhood Assistance Application program (see item C 1))

B.     Hawk Hill Update

1)      Hawk Hill appraisals were delivered.  Terms are being reviewed with the owner for re-negotiation. 

C.     Other Business

1)      Neighborhood Assistance Application:  Kevin Gough presented our Thrall property project on June 4^th to the Windsor Town Council and requested their support for an NAA application for Thrall Potato Barn.  The Council approved our application.  The Land Trust submitted an NAA application to Bloomfield for our Bloomfield-based projects on Monday, June 25^th.  We agreed that our presentation materials to businesses under this program should include an illustration of the state tax credit in addition to state and federal tax deductions to show true net cost of a business’ donation.

2)      Proposed “Responsible Party” assignments (Organization Assessment):  Paula had provided a proposal of assignments.  She will start working on the high priority items that should be “quick hits.”

Meeting Minutes 4/22/2012

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST April 22, 2012, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield

Present:  Kevin Gough, Dale Bertoldi, Vikki Reski, Paula Jones, Chip Caton, Vic Herson

 

1)      Special Projects/Events  –

a.       Duncaster Scenic Road:  All qualifying elements for scenic road status were satisfied.  There was discussion of whether the town would pay for signs.   One suggestion was for 3 signs:  one at each end of Duncaster and one at the intersection of Duncaster and Adams. 

b.      Town Capital Budget Meetings to support funding for Hawk Hill - April 24^th at 7:00 PM, with backup meeting April 26^th at 7:30 PM.

c.       Earth Day lecture:  Restoring our Urban Forest, Ron Pitz, Executive Director of Knox Parks Foundation.  Prosser Public Library, April 24^th at 7:00 PM.

d.      Bloomfield High School’s Harris Agriscience Center second lecture will be held on Friday, May 4^th at 12:30.  The lecture will feature research scientist Bill Trimble, from the world-renowned Auburn University Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture Department.  Bill’s talk is titled “Toxin eating plants and other research tales.”

2)      Organizational Assessment and Strategic Plan – CCLC Challenge Grant

a.       Mission Statement and Vision Review - The Board voted to adopt the recommendations from the organizational assessment.  With respect to the mission statement on page 2, the Board agreed we consolidate the existing 4 bullets into 3 bullets – keep the first and second bullets as written (but move the current second bullet to third), and combine the last two bullets into a new bullet #2.  Kevin Gough offered to draft this and circulate to the group.  We agreed as a group to modify the second point of the vision statement by changing the word “credibility” to “visibility.”

b.      Divide the Standards for Action – Paula Jones offered to send out ideas on how to divide the work up.  Diane Mack has offered to write some of the legal language (e.g., non-compete.)

c.       CCLC Grant – We received the grant. 

d.      Miscellaneous – CLCC has asked us to support their position regarding cell towers.  The Board agreed to do so.

3)      Committee Reports –

a.       Acquisitions - Stouts Fields:  John Stout wants to go over the property map with Chip and Dale.  They will pin the property and have associated GPS coordinates.  John has agreed to steward the property for the next 5years.  Chip will follow up with Beth Brothers of the DEEP about their conservation easement on the property.  The Land Trust needs the easement language for our legal review.  Lisa Lane:   Closing is expected in June or July.  An escrow account for the septic systems will be set up as part of the sale of the property.  Sonski Estate:  We are delaying the closing until we have the tax bill.  Hawk Hill:  The 2 appraisals will be ready in early June.  The cost of the appraisals is $8,000.  $5,500 is from Land Trust unrestricted donor funds, and $2,500 being contributed by David Lauretti. 

b.      Financial – We paid the premium for D&O insurance.  We filed an extension for our 2011 tax return.

c.       Events - Earth Day Hike:  Our Earth Day hike on April 21st was a huge success:     28 people, great weather, good company, great views - very satisfying.

      Trails Day Event:  June 2^nd, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the Bloomfield Ridgeline Trail.  Rain date is June 3^rd.  Bike Tour:  The second annual “Tour du Land” will be held on June 10th at 9:30 AM (rain date June 17th).  Vic Herson is chairing this event.  GPS basics workshop:  Thursday, May 6^th at 6:30 PM at LaSallette.  Conducted by Cary Henderson.  Farm Celebration at Lisa Lane on Sept 8^th:  Dale offered to call Wayne Hippolite to ask for suggestions on an event chairperson.  Stouts Fields Picnic in October:  An event chair is needed.  Tami could help. 

Addendum to April 22^nd, 2012 Minutes

Trails Day Event:  The event was held on the rain date of June 3^rd.  We had 7 participants (6 adults and 1 minor).  For comparatives, the Simsbury Land Trust had 2 events, one with 5 participants, and one that was cancelled (no participants.)  The Lower Farmington River Wild and Scenic Study Committee sponsored a hike and had 4 participants. 

Jay Stoccatore has posted photos and a written summary of the day on our webpage and blog.  Here are the links:

Hike information document:
http://wintonburylandtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HikeInfo.doc

Pictures of the hike:
https://picasaweb.google.com/wintonburylandtrust/WLT2012TrailsDay

GPS track of the hike:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1610531

Original WLT website hike description:
http://wintonburylandtrust.org/trails-day-june-2/