Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - August 20, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – August 20, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

Present:  Jim Trail, Kevin Gough, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Sten Caspersson

Territorial Toms

          1)      Minutes for the July 16^th Board Meeting were approved. 

          2)      There were no additions to the agenda.

    3)      Committee Reports

           a)      Grants – (1) Hawk Hill – As noted on the agenda, the   paperwork submitted by the Town attorneys is at NRCS for review.  We did not submit a 1772 Foundation barn grant application for Hawk Hill.  (2) Evans Property – The Environmental Review Team is scheduled to be done in late August/early September.

 

b)      Events

1.      Lisa Lane Ribbon Cutting on September 20^th – There will be local, state, and federal government representation at the ceremony. 

 

2.      Wildwoods Trail Hike at Seabury – Jim Trail will be leading this hike on August 30^th at 9 AM.  Brief descriptions will be posted on the Land Trust website and blog.  Paula will submit an article to The Hartford Courant. 

3.      Stewardship work days – Lisa Lane:  A work day has been scheduled for August 21^st.  The head of NRCS may be visiting the farm, depending on his schedule.  Stout Family Fields:  September 13^th; Van Otterloo:  October 11^th, (Rain date of October 12^th).  If we have the workday on Saturday the 11^th, we’ll follow up with a tasting at Back East Brewery.

4.      Jim is planning a hike ending at LaSalette on October 4^th for the Seabury Community.  He reported he had many requests to repeat the route offered on Trails Day in June.  He graciously agreed to open up the hike to WLT members as well.  Once he determines the exact route that will be offered, he’ll provide a short description for the September newsletter.  Paula offered to help him coordinate that with Diana Hughes. 

c)      Membership/Community/Website

1.      We discussed having a membership day at Back East Brewery next Spring or Summer.   

2.      Trail Guide for website – Jim reported that the IT department at Seabury is working on moving Seabury Trail information from Seabury’s internal resident-only site to their public-access site.  Once that work is complete, we can talk to Diana about linking our newsletter to the Seabury Trails link.  Ultimately, we can provide that link on the Land Trust website.

d)      Financial – July account balances:  $2,457.81 in checking; $21,015.59 in savings; $113,525.31 in restricted.  The 2013 tax filing was submitted on August 1, 2014.

e)     Capacity Building –

1.      Paula made the following motion:  “In accordance with Article VI, Section 3, of Wintonbury Land Trust Bylaws, I nominate Jim Trail to the Board of Directors for a term expiring at Wintonbury Land Trust’s 2015 Annual Meeting.”  The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.  Welcome Jim!

2.      Paula offered to take the lead in setting up a Nominating Committee this fall in preparation for the 2015 Annual Meeting.

3.      Since Chip Caton was unable to attend, we tabled the Logo Design update.

4.      Dale reported that Joel Neuwirth had contacted him about the Land Trust participating in the 2015 Bloomfield Pride Week (June 8 – 13).  We brainstormed ideas for the event, including extending it to the full month of June (to offer more weekend activities), or at least to the preceding weekend, which would encompass Trails Day.  Either Kevin or Paula will follow up directly with Joel.

f)      Stewardship

1.      Stewardship Days - Our fall stewardship days are scheduled for the second Saturday of the month.  Vikki suggested we try the 3^rd Saturday of the month during the spring.  She also suggested we follow our workdays up with a social activity.  All agreed this is a good idea.  As mentioned above, if the Van Otterloo workday is not rained out and is held on Saturday, October 11^th, we’ll try a tasting at Back East Brewery.

2.      The Stewardship Committee plans on working with the property stewards to establish Baselines for Hawk Hill and Thrall Farm. 

2)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (2^nd) Wednesdays September 10^th and October 8^th.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M. 

b)      Jim Trail offered the use of a large lounge at Seabury to us for a meeting space if we think it would be suitable.  Jim suggested someone from the Board take a look at the space to make sure we agree; Paula offered to do so.  We’ll plan on meeting at Seabury Retirement Community for at least the next couple of meetings (to try it out); room details and directions will be provided prior to the September meeting. 

 

Recorded by Paula Jones

 

 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - July 16th, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – July 16, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

Present:  Chip Caton, Vikki Reski, Kevin Gough, Vic Herson, Sten Caspersson, Dale Bertoldi, Doris Johnson, Pat Sullivan, Paula Jones, Jim Trail

                                                                                          

1)      Minutes for the June 9^th Board Meeting and June 18^th Annual Meeting were approved.  We agreed that we will post the newly ratified Bylaws on our website.

2)      There were two announcements:  i) The 2014 2014Trust Alliance Rally will be held in Providence, RI, September 17^th to 20^th.  If someone wants to attend, Amy Paterson, Director of Connecticut Land Conservation Council (CLCC) has offered CLCC members a $100 subsidy to help defray the cost. ii)  Kevin and Paula will be participating in the COVERTS program from September 11^th to 14^th.  They will focus on the Schaffer property for their projects.

 3)      Committee Reports

a)      Capacity Building – Chip Caton presented 4 new logo designs prepared by Robin Sherwood.  We quickly reached consensus to focus on the second option, with a few specific suggestions for Robin to consider.  All agreed that Robin had done a great job!

b)      Grants – Vikki is working on a 1772 Foundation Barn Grant since the Hawk Hill barn will need some stabilization work before winter.   She expects the closing on Hawk Hill to be sometime this fall.

c)      Acquisitions

1.      Evans Property:  Dale reported that we did not receive a grant award from Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut on the Evans property.  He did get some feedback on our application, and reported that although there was interest in the Evans project, there was a lot of competition.   Vikki is pursuing an environmental review of that property through the Connecticut Environmental Review Team (ERT).  This report, besides its value to the Land Trust for management purposes, will be helpful by providing an objective view of the property’s resource values during fund raising.

2.      Roditi project:  The landowners have established they have a right-of-way into the parcels.  That determination is needed for an accurate appraisal of the parcels.

d)     Membership/Community/Website

1.      We had approached Back East Brewery last fall about ways they could support the Land Trust.  We reviewed what the Brewery owners had indicated they could do to help.  Flat Bread in Avon might also be willing to provide some support as they’ve done with other area non-profits.

2.      Membership – Paula will follow up with Christopher Shepard regarding his volunteer work on the membership data base, and ask if he could report his recommendations at an upcoming Board meeting, perhaps August.

3.      Trail Guide for website – Developing a Bloomfield Trail Guide was one of WLT’s 2014 goals.  Dale suggested that we launch this effort by asking volunteers to write trail descriptions using a standard format.  Connecticut Forest and Parks’ Walk Book and Simsbury Land Trust’s Walk Book were suggested as possible models for formatting purposes.  In addition to Land Trust property trails, we would provide links to other trails in town, including Seabury’s wonderful trail system.  We decided our publishing/publicizing process would be to feature a trail in our newsletter, followed by posting the description on our website.   Since we will be co-sponsoring a hike with Seabury Labor Day weekend, Paula and Jim agreed to launch the process with Seabury’s Wildwoods Trail by providing a description/link for the August newsletter.  Jim Trail suggested we consider using Picassa.  Since Picassa will overlay GPS-tagged photos on Google maps, we could take photos along the trails and create a Picassa album for each property.  Jim will send us a link of one Picassa Album he created for Seabury’s Trails Day in late June. 

e)      Financial – June account balances:  $2,457.81 in checking; $21,015.81 in savings; $113,511.25 in restricted.  Pat introduced a 5-year financial model that he has been working on.

f)       Events –

1.      Doris provided a short report of the many festivities planned for the Lisa Lane Farm Day on September 20^th.

2.      Pat reported that planning has begun for the progressive dinner.   It will be scheduled in late fall, prior to the (human) winter migration to warmer climes.

3.      WLT and the Seabury Trails Committee will co-sponsor a hike on Seabury’s Wildwoods Trail on Saturday, August 30^th, 9 A.M.  Rain date is Sunday, August 31^st.

g)      Stewardship –

1.      Vikki will e-mail some proposed dates for fall stewardship work at Stout Family Fields and at Van Otterloo. 

2.      Doris and Vikki described the good work done by the Nexus youth group at Lisa Lane Farm:  “On June 28, 2014, in an effort to create a publicly accessible farm, the joint efforts of the Youth Program of Leadership Greater Hartford, The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Office of Environmental Justice, The Town of Bloomfield, the Farmer and Wintonbury Land Trust worked with great success to pick up three designated areas on the Lisa Lane Farm.”  There was a nice article about this project in The Hartford Courant.  The youth group also solicited donations of tools for the Farm and Land Trust as part of their project.

3.      Paula suggested we set up some 2015 stewardship work days at our August Board meeting.  Diana Hughes (at the Annual Meeting) had suggested establishing some work dates so that people could hold the dates and plan to participate.

4)      New Business –

a)      Next meeting dates:  (3^rd) Wednesday, August 20^th; (2^nd) Wednesdays September 10^th and October 8^th.  In general, we are planning on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month for Board meetings.  Start time:  6 P.M.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones 

Wintonbury Land Trust Annual Meeting Notes - June 18, 2014

Wintonbury Land Trust Annual Meeting

June 18, 2014 – 7 P.M.

Bloomfield Leisure Services, Meeting Room 2

330 Park Avenue, Bloomfield

 

1. Committee Reports
1. Financial Committee - Vikki Reski gave a brief presentation of the evolution of the Financial Committee since 2011.  The Committee is currently working on standardized forms in order to publish financial reports.  Kevin Gough, Patrick Sullivan, and Sten Caspersson are also serving on the Committee. 
2. Acquisitions Update – Dale Bertoldi reported that WLT has signed a purchase agreement with the owners of Hawk Hill.  The agreement includes a $27,500 donation by the owners. 
3. Events –

                                                              i.      Dale Bertoldi summarized WLT’s June events, the Trails Day hike on the 7^th, and the Bike and Hike on the 14^th.  Three individuals joined the Land Trust as a result of participating in the Bike and Hike. 

                                                            ii.      Paula Jones reported that WLT is planning a fall hike with Seabury Retirement Community on Seabury’s beautiful Wildwoods Trail. 

                                                          iii.      Doris Johnson reported that the Lisa Lane Celebration will be September 20^th.  We are also planning a “progressive” style fall Wine and Dine.  Patrick Sullivan will be organizing the planning committee, and would model our event based on his experience with West Hartford’s successful event.

4. Stewardship –

                                                              i.      Van Otterloo needs trail maintenance and stone wall repair work.  We will begin work on the wall in the late summer/early fall once vegetation starts dying back. 

                                                            ii.      The Stout Family Fields are in good shape, thanks to the stewardship of John Stout in the fields, and Sten Caspersson’s work maintaining the “trailhead” area around the Stone Hill cul-de-sac.

                                                          iii.      Thrall Farm – The work associated with Newgate Farms’ Farmland Restoration Grant is wrapping up.  We are starting the potato barn work associated with WLT’s recent award of a Farm Viability Grant. 

                                                          iv.      Diana Hughes suggested establishing a regular stewardship day (e.g. monthly/quarterly) to focus on a property.  We could ask property stewards to organize the work day.  All agreed this is a good suggestion, and the Board will pursue it.

2. Bylaws
1. Review and Discussion of Proposed Changes - Paula Jones provided a brief overview of the key proposed changes to the Bylaws, and the rationale for those changes.  In the ensuing discussion, Sten Caspersson questioned the intent of Article 5, Section 9.  There was consensus that section would be more appropriately worded as follows: “The Board of Directors may appoint additional officers who shall have such power and authority as the Board shall define.”  Sten also pointed out a missing comma (3^rd line, after the word “President,”) in Article IX.
2. Member vote on motion to approve changes - A motion to approve the proposed amended Bylaws with the two additional changes mentioned above passed unanimously.  The ratified Bylaws are posted on our website (at the bottom of the Maps & Docs tab):  http://wintonburylandtrust.org/maps-parcels/

3. Election of Directors
1. David O. Sullivan is stepping down from the Board after serving for 40+ years.  David described some of the challenges and successes of the early years, and his efforts to keep the Land Trust going.  In recognition of David’s long service, Dale Bertoldi made a motion that he be appointed an Honorary Director of WLT.  Although that position would not be a voting position on the Board, the Board would look to David for advice and assistance from time to time, drawing on his long experience and institutional knowledge.  The motion passed unanimously.
2. A motion was made to elect the slate of nominees as presented.  The motion passed unanimously. 

4. New Business
1. Sten Caspersson suggested putting the Directors’ biographies out on the website, and all agreed we should do so.  Diana Hughes also suggested we use the bios for a “Meet your Board” series in the monthly e-newsletters.  She also suggested a “Meet your Stewards” series.  We agreed that we would start with the Board members, and feature David O. Sullivan first. 
2. Dale Bertoldi provided a brief update on the Van Otterloo AT&T cell tower proposal.   He reported that our consultants believe that the rental income would be considered exempt from UBI and that he had met with WLT’s attorney for a first review of the proposed lease.  Dale is proceeding slowly since AT&T also needs to negotiate a second lease with the MDC.

5. Adjournment of Member Annual Meeting – Member meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

6. Annual Meeting of Board of Directors
1. Election of Officers – The newly elected Board elected the following officers:  Dale Bertoldi, President; Chip Caton, Vice President; Vikki Reski, Acting Treasurer; Paula Jones, Secretary.
2. Board New Business

                                                              i.      The Directors signed WLT’s Ethics/Conflict of Interest policy.

                                                            ii.      We agreed to set a regular Board meeting date going forward.  Paula Jones will set that up.

3. Board meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - June 9, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – June 9, 2014, 52 Duncaster Road, Bloomfield  

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

 
1)  Minutes for the March 19^th, April 8^th, and May 14th meetings were approved.


Reclining Tom Turkey

2)      Review of Bylaws – The group reviewed a draft that incorporated changes we had agreed on in our May 14^th meeting.  That draft included some additional provisions recommended by Diane Mack during her review.  (Many thanks to Diane for her careful and thorough review!)  The Board approved the draft with a few minor revisions.  Paula indicated she would ask Diane to take one final look, and then send the proposed Bylaws to the membership in advance of our June 18^th Annual Meeting.  In the course of our review, we also agreed on the policy that only one household member at a time should serve on the Board as a Director.  We agreed that we would work toward compliance with that policy next year.

3)      A motion was made to create an Advisory Committee to the Board, and to ask David Sullivan to become the first member.  The motion passed unanimously.  Dale will follow up with David.

 

4)      Slate of Nominees for Board of Directors – The Board agreed to present the following slate of nominees at the Annual Meeting:

 

·         Vikki Reski, Dale Bertoldi, and Paula Jones for 1-year terms

·         Chip Caton and Patrick Sullivan for 2-year terms

·         Vic Herson and Doris Johnson for 3-year terms

 

Recorded by Paula Jones 

 



 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - May 14, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – May 14, 2014, 5 Bear Ridge Drive, Bloomfield  

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

Rose-breasted Grosbeak
 

1)      Approval of the minutes for the March 19^th and April 8^th meetings was deferred until next month.  Paula will resend the drafts of those meeting notes.

 

2)      There was 1 additional Agenda item under New Business:  Proposal to approve hiring Whittlesey & Hadley to research UBI implications of Van Otterloo AT&T cell-tower proposal.

3)      Review of Bylaws – Paula provided a summary of the suggestions that had been submitted by those present for amending the Bylaws.  The group reached consensus on recommended changes.  Paula will create a marked-up version for Diane Mack to review and will copy the Board on that markup when she sends it to Diane.  The Board will meet again on June 9^th to review a final draft.  Dale offered to talk to Bloomfield Leisure Services about scheduling our Annual Meeting on June 18^th. 

We had limited time remaining, so turned to New Business. 

5)      New Business

a)      Our next meeting dates are June 9^th (final review of proposed amendments to Bylaws) and June 18^th (Annual Meeting). 

b)      There was no Q & A.

c)      Dale reported that Whittlesey & Hadley had done a complementary cursory review of the Unrelated Business Income (UBI) implications of the Van Otterloo cell tower proposal for the Land Trust.  He asked the Board to approve an expenditure of $1,500 to $1,800 for the firm to do a thorough written review.  He noted that this was a discounted rate.  A motion to approve the expenditure passed by a vote of 3 in favor, 1 opposed.   

 

Recorded by Paula Jones       

Special Membership Meeting Notes - April 8, 2014

Special Membership Meeting

Tuesday April 8 th from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. in Room 2, 330 Park Ave.

Dale Bertoldi, Chip Caton, Paula Jones, Vikki Reski, Doris Johnson, Vic Herson, Pat Sullivan

Peter Bartkoski, Nancy Bowden, John and Vicki Casner, Sten Caspersson, Phillip Douville, Cheryl Fox, Homer Guilmartin, Kevin Gough,  Claudia Gwarduyak, Beverly Hughes, Ruthanne Marchetti, Jeff Small, Kathleen Sullivan and Wendy Wolcott.

1. Greeting and announcements, brief history – in the past few years the WLT has moved from a passive to pro-active organization; our membership has quintupled in that same period. Other successes (Stout Family fields, LaSalette Trail, etc.)

 

2. General review of the last five years' operational budgets and amount of acquisition funding in total.  Opportunities for financial sustenance (properties appropriate for sale and the concept in general).

3. Cell tower issues and discussion.

A. The following motion was voted upon.  The result was 14 (memberships) in favor, 2 (memberships) opposed.

 

"To  authorize the Wintonbury Land Trust Board of Directors to negotiate and execute a lease with AT&T for the placement of a cell tower on the Van Otterloo property, provided that the WLT and AT&T attorneys reach terms in accordance with feedback received from the WLT membership." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Members of the Land Trust,

 

The Wintonbury Land Trust has a critical decision to make-and we want to hear your thoughts. We're calling a meeting of our members for Tuesday March 4th from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. in Room 2 of the Alvin & B Wood Human Service Center, 330 Park Ave.  

 

We will cover how we've financed our organization the last several years and the opportunities we have for future income including property sales and utility easements.

 

We will not take a vote at this time, but should we in the future, "members" are defined in our by-laws as those who are up to date with their dues (which you should be anyway!).

 

It would be helpful if you could let us know if you plan to attend, but come in any case. To rsvp or if you have questions please call Chip Caton at 860-286-0239.

 

Thank you.

 

Dale Bertoldi

 

 

President

Wintonbury Land Trust 

Wintonbury Land Trust Meeting Notes - March 19, 2014

WINTONBURY LAND TRUST – March 19, 2014, 5 Bear Ridge Drive, Bloomfield  

Present:  Chip Caton, Dale Bertoldi, Kevin Gough, Doris Johnson, Paula Jones, Patrick Sullivan, Vic Herson



Carolina Wren with attitude

1)      February 19, 2014 Minutes were approved as submitted.  Paula indicated she had some comments related to February’s business that would best be discussed in tandem with agenda item 4 d) 2, Bylaw comments from the Board. 

 

 

2)      There were 3 additional Agenda items under New Business:  (a) WLT response to the March 5^th e-mail requesting GIS data from Charles Hoffman (working with The Trust for Public Land) to update National Conservation Easement Database; (b) Filley Farm; & (c) Kevin Gough’s meeting with Trish Hazelwood of Simsbury Land Trust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3)      Van Otterloo Proposal - Those present who had attended the membership meeting on March 5th summarized WLT members’ comments regarding the ATT Cell Tower proposal.  Doris indicated that CT DEEP had an extensive checklist related to Cell Tower proposals that would be applied.  Kevin mentioned that invasive species associated with site disturbance should be considered; one of the CLCC workshops he attended on 3/15 addressed the broader-than-expected impact site disturbance has with respect to invasives.  Following the discussion, the following motion passed by a 5 (favoring) to 1 (opposing) vote:  To bring to the full membership a vote on the following motion - "To authorize the Board of Directors to negotiate and execute a lease with AT&T for the placement of a cell tower on the Van Otterloo property, provided that the WLT and AT&T attorneys reach terms in accordance with feedback received from the WLT membership." 

 

We had limited time remaining, so we touched briefly on Agenda item 4 d), 2, and the 3 New Business items.

 

4)       Committee Reports

d)     Capacity Building

2.      Paula briefly summarized the Bylaws materials she had sent out for Board review.  The item was tabled and will be discussed at a subsequent meeting.

5)      New Business

a)      Charles Hoffman sent the above-referenced e-mail to Dale & Paula on March 5^th.  Dale reported that Bloomfield is working on a mapping project for Town-owned & WLT-owned undeveloped space.  Paula will convey this to Mr. Hoffman, and copy Vikki Reski.

b)      Dale reported that he had done a site & building survey of Filley Farm on West Street.  The Farm, with its stone house and outbuildings, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The reason for the listing is because it is an intact example of an 18^th century farmstead.  A Circuit Rider from the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation will be assisting in further review of what might be done to stabilize outbuildings and promote this Bloomfield resource.

c)      Kevin met in January with Trish Hazelwood, Simsbury Land Trust’s Director of Finance and Membership.  Kevin believes WLT will need a financial audit this year or next year.  The Finance Committee will follow up to determine the timing of what’s needed with respect to an audit.

 

Recorded by Paula Jones