Meeting Minutes Wintonbury Land Trust October 25, 2012

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST October 25, 2012, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield

Present:  Dale Bertoldi, Vikki Reski, Paula Jones, Chip Caton, Kevin Gough, Jay Stoccatore

 

1)      Special Projects/Announcements  –

a.       The League of Women Voters of Connecticut Education Fund will host a Fall Conference, "From Land and Sea: Food for the Good of Connecticut," on Saturday, October 27 at the Agriscience and Biotechnology Center in Trumbull from 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. More info and online registration: http://www.lwvct.org/events.html

b.      The second CLCC Regional Land Trust Round Table is December 11^th.

c.       CLCC and the Alliance are hosting their annual Standards & Practices training on Saturday, November 3rd. The topic is “Building an Effective Fundraising Plan”, taught by Sharon Danosky.

d.      CLCC’s 2013 Land Conservation Conference is scheduled for Saturday, March 23rd at Wesleyan. The theme is “Can Open Space Be Permanently Protected?”

e.       Other:  (1) The Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Study Committee next meeting is November 5^th at the Canton Community Center.  The public is invited to a presentation by Patrick Comins on the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Preserve. (2) The Simsbury Land Trust is hosting Amos Eno for a talk called A Tuning Fork for Conservation on November 4th at Simsbury Public Library.  Paula will forward e-mails on these presentations to the WLT membership distribution. (3) The Acquisition Committee meeting will be rescheduled to follow the November submission deadline for the Ag Viability Grant for Thrall Farm.

 

2)      Organizational Assessment and Strategic Plan – CCLC Challenge Grant

a.       The new Mission Statement has been posted on the web site and on Guide Star.

b.      Standards for Action – Paula started working on an Ethics/Conflict of Interest Standard.  Diane Mack has offered to help with the review of Standards once developed.

c.       Konica has printed the funding package to be used by Chip and Hannah, donation value $350. Dale will write a letter of appreciation; Paula will send Dale Konica names and addresses for acknowledgment.

 

3)      Committee Reports –

a.       Acquisitions: The Stout Fields should be closed by (November) month end.  The Lisa Lane survey is almost finished.  Lisa Lane will need a new appraisal for the NRCS portion of the funding.  Hawk Hill has an NRCS grant, but we are awaiting the announcement.  The prospective Windsor Locks Land Donation was sold to a buyer, so there will be no donation.

b.      Financial – Vikki reported the following balances shown below.  She will be paying for the Chubb liability insurance bill of $1,223.00 from Savings.  She will submit new property numbers at that time as those have changed since we last renewed.

WLT Checking: $592.84
WLT Savings: $18,446.69
WLT Restricted: $167,172.77

c.       Events – Wintonbury Wine and Dine:  January 2013, 80 – 90 people at 10 host homes (Chair:  Patrick Sullivan).  Annual Celebration:  Date and place to be determined.

d.      Stewardship - Thrall Farm Roofing – We received an updated quote of $14,800 for shingles, and $17,000 for metal to do the south side of the roof.  We will be asking for other bids. 

e.       Membership - We received two new Life family memberships: Rosalie/Peter Brainard and Kathleen/Patrick Sullivan.

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

 

4)      Board Positions and subcommittee positions

a.       New Board Member – Doris Johnson was nominated to the Board, contingent on her understanding and acceptance of responsibilities involved.  

b.      Need membership chair – not discussed.

 

5)      Next meeting dates:  November 25; December Annual Celebration?