Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes February 19, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST   February 19, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road

Victor Herson, Chip Caton, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson and  Vikki Reski

1.       Meeting Minutes Approved

2.      Committee Reports  

a. Grants

1.       Lisa Lane has received a special extension of the closing date to March 31, 2014. A conference call to work out language details between NRCS and DEEP was held today. NRCS will review history and propose a language modification in the NRCS easement.

2.       We are finalizing Hawk Hill title insurance for DEEP and NRCS required documents. Hawk Hill funding and background history was distributed for board review. Vikki will answer questions received by e-mail.  Hawk Hill Farm DEEP Resolution was passed:

RESOLVED, that Dale Bertoldi of Wintonbury Land Trust is hereby authorized to execute on behalf of the Wintonbury Land Trust, a Grant Agreement and Conservation and Public Recreation Easement and Agreement under the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program with the State of Connecticut for financial assistance to acquire permanent interest in land known as Hawk Hill Farm, OSWA# 460, and to manage said land as open space land pursuant to Section 7-131d of the Connecticut General Statutes.

3.       NRCS FRPP 2014 presentation at the Capitol tomorrow. Vikki will be attending. 

b.    Financial- schedule subcommittee meeting

1.       Working on Financial Calendar, Treasurer Book, and Contribution Policy and Procedures

2.       Checking $2811.11, Savings $21,007.18, Ameritrade $1,884.00 and restricted $131,439.29  

c.   Acquisitions: Schedule meeting to review Beacon Hill and Land Procurement Process. A WLT letter to Evans was sent.  

d.    Capacity Building:

      1.  Leaders on Board express match date on January 30^th: Land Trust folded due to illness.

      2. Chip nominated Pat Sullivan for a board position, Dale seconded. The board voted to elect Pat Sullivan to the board.

      3. Paula Jones has broken her knee cap. The board wants to send well wishes. The Bylaw discussions were tabled till next meeting. 

e.   Events:

1.       Earth Day Celebrate 2014, third meeting on 2/20/2014 at 10:30

2.       February 8 Snowshoeing at Speer/ MDC was well attended by 13 people. See February newsletter.

3.       Special Membership Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday March 4^th from 7-9 at 330 Park Ave in meeting room 2. Agenda: Past success, financial overview and financial sustainability proposals.

4.       Trails Day- submitted 

f. Membership/Community

1.       Land Trust ID-  is delayed for personal reasons

2.       Newsletter:  Hike recap and Earth Day build up

3.       Website- Outreach for a web master

4.       Back East Brewery written suggestions still pending

5.       Trail guide – start with hikes on web site. 

3.       New Business

a) Next meeting Dates:  March 19. Adjourned                                Notes submitted by V. Reski

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Minutes for January 12, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – January 12, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

Present:  Chip Caton, Dale Bertoldi, Patrick Sullivan, Kathy Sullivan, Doris Johnson, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Kevin Gough

1)      November 21, 2013 Minutes were approved with 1 correction and 2 additional Strategic Goals for 2014 (that had been omitted from the draft).  Paula will resend the corrected document to the Board and Committee members, as well as post it on the Wintonbury Land Trust blog.   

2)      There were no additional Agenda items. 

3)       Committee Reports

a)      Capacity Building

1.      We agreed that all original participants in the Organization Assessment should be invited to the January 16^th follow-up meeting with Sharon Danofsky.  Vikki will invite Tami Hochman, and Chip will invite Hannah Roditi. 

2.      Chip will coordinate with Vic Herson to determine the best approach for following up individually (as needed) with donors who made a 3-year commitment to the Capacity Building campaign.

3.      Thank you to all who renewed their memberships, and/or responded to our year-end annual appeal. 

4.      Dale Bertoldi and Doris Johnson will represent WLT at the January 30th Leaders on Board express match event.

5.      Paula will send out our current Bylaws for review so that the Board can provide input on desired revisions at our February meeting.  Diane Mack has agreed to help Paula with revision work once she has a redacted document ready.  Our objective is to have a revision in 2014 for membership consideration and approval.

b)      Financial (Committee met on January 9^th)

1.      Financial Calendar and Treasurer Book – Vikki and the Committee are working on a Financial Calendar and Treasurer Book to document financial policies and processes.  The Committee plans to investigate the cost of hiring a CPA for tax work and guidance about options for systems and financial review processes.  The Committee is seeking a CPA who has experience working with non-profits.  Chip knows someone who might help with book-keeping work and be able to suggest some CPAs.  Kevin will meet with Trish Hazelwood, Simsbury Land Trust’s Finance and Membership Director, to inquire about SLT’s policies.

2.      The Committee has begun working on Contribution policies & procedures for accounting purposes based on Tax Law requirements.

3.      WLT’s 12/31/2013 Balances are as follows:  $2,219.26 Checking; $19,005.40 Savings; $133,922.56 Restricted Savings; $1,884.00 stock.

c)      Acquisitions

1.      Evans Parcel – Dale Bertoldi provided Mr. Evans with the summary appraisal WLT had done.

d)     Grants – Lisa Lane and Hawk Hill closings:  Vikki reported that WLT has a different attorney working for us on Hawk Hill than on Lisa Lane.  Paula requested that Hawk Hill’s proposed ultimate ownership structure be an agenda item for February.  Kevin suggested the Acquisition Committee discuss this prior to the February Board meeting.

e)      Events

1.      Diane Mack agreed to work on the Celebrate 2013-2014 event.  Chip offered to contact Duncaster about using space there.

2.      Snowshoeing at Speer/MDC – February 8^th at 10 AM. 

3.      Earth Day Celebration – Doris & Vikki will spearhead this event.  Auer Farm has already agreed to partner with WLT to host a children’s hike. 

4.      Trails Day – Kevin Gough has already posted the hike description on CFPA’s site.  We will repeat the well-received WLT/SLT hike held 10/26/2013, but reversing direction (starting from the Flower Bridge in Simsbury, finishing at Filley House in Bloomfield).  Along with Simsbury Land Trust, Bloomfield Leisure Services will co-sponsor, once again providing shuttle service back to the hike’s starting point.  Dave Melesko asked whether Leisure Services could do more for this event.  We should be set for Trails Day (with the shuttle service), but some ideas Dave suggested might work well for our Earth Day event, so Vikki will touch base with Dave regarding the Earth Day event.

5.      Bike Tour – Since Vic Herson was unable to attend, discussion was limited to the possibility of asking Back East Brewery for some support.  (See f) 4 below.)

f)       Membership/Community

1.   Land Trust ID Project – Chip reported that Robin Sherwood is gathering material to prepare for their first meeting together on this project.

2.       Newsletter – The articles for January will be Membership and Part 3 of the 3-part series “New Life for an Old Farm”.  Note:  The Journal printed a story “New Life for an Old Farm” in its Jan. 10, 2014 – Jan. 24, 2012 issue.  Don Rully used Part 2 of the series as the basis for the article.

3.      Website – Vikki will contact Tami Hochman to get some referrals for website work.

4.      Back East Brewery written suggestions – As reported in November, Back East is willing to consider supporting WLT as they’ve supported other local non-profits.  The next step is to submit a proposal to Back East in writing.  After some discussion, we agreed that a natural event to consider would be our annual Bike Tour.  Chip will discuss this possibility with Vic Herson. 

5.      Trail guide – Discussion centered on including all town trails if possible.  As a next step we agreed that we should talk to the Town Planner and to the Seabury Trail Committee. 

4)      New Business

a)      Next Meeting Dates – February 19^th, March 19^th, 6 – 8 PM both dates

b)      Van Otterloo Proposal – Dale Bertoldi distributed material to the Board for review.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones