Friends of Webster Trails Board Minutes
Monday, February 14, 2011
Present: Hal Harris, Jeff Darling, Larry Yost, Sharon Galbraith, Alisa Kokx, Rick Taddeo, Norma Platt, Karen Mischler. Guest: John Boettcher
The January minutes were accepted.
Jeff motioned that Alisa be elected to the member-at-large position on the board that is currently open. Rick T. seconded the motion and the motion carried.
The president of FWT should be only a 2-year term. The board should think about who would make a good vice-president. There is a member-at-large position still open on the board.
Treasurer’s Report: Craig Pratt reported the balances in the following accounts:
2/5/11
Checking: 3070-
Savings: 3539-
Petty Cash: 201-
Total: 6770-
Ken Lou grant – Approx. $4,200-
Expenses from 1/10/11 – 2/5/11 $0.0
Membership Report: There was no membership report given.
Dennis: Send out the new membership roster to the board, especially the part about people’s various interest.
FWT committee chairs should contact people to draw them to active participation in the committee work.
Communications Report: Rick needs the President’s message and trail report for the newsletter.
Hal will contact Jake Swingley to see if we can print his email for the newsletter.
Rick T.: November 5th is the FWT Annual Meeting.
Rick: Put in a mention in a box in the newsletter as an open-house/volunteer recognition.
There should be a 1-hour project before refreshments.
Sunday Hikes: Alisa brought lots of friends for the January hike on the Midnight Trail.
June – Arboretum
July – Gosnell Big Woods
Aug. – Whiting Rd.
Sept – Rifle Range
The idea came up regarding having themes for each of the hikes.
Rick could send to Democrat and Chronicle, City newspaper, PTSA newsletter….
What do other groups in the area do differently to get more participation?
Habitat Preservation: Norma reported that Jeff and his students have started the lupines seeds under growing lights (wild blue lupine.) The Small Meadow is the target as it is sunny and sandy.
Last summer there was dissatisfaction with the town moving of the Big Field. Norma has come up with a management document (Meadow and Trail Maintenance in Webster.).
Hal H. would like to meet with Mark Y. with the next few weeks.
Hal H. will meet with Mark Y. to see if he can get Mark’s OK to work with Mike Buckley on the Meadow Mgmt. Plan.
The board made some suggestions to amend Norma’s document (Meadow and Trail Maintenance in Webster.)
Norma will make the revisions and then send a copy to the board.
Jeff motioned that we accept the amended plan as a strong recommendation to the town for the maint. of open space, fields and meadows.
Trails Committee: Hal talked to Mark Y. about the Red Trail to the north (extension.) The Town and FWT will need to talk to the lady in the olive colored house. (Terry.) The trail will to stay on the other side of the ravine.
Parking lot at Four-Mile Creek. FWT will ask Joe Herbst of the Highway Dept to stake out the lot so that FWT can log the area. FWT will contact a contractor to do the bulldozing.
It was suggested that a row of trees be planted as a visual barrier to the nearby house.
FWT has not found anyone to do a free analysis of Hal’s design for the truss bridge across the ravine. He will modify the design for approval. FWT should be able to build a bridge in April/May.
The gate to the parking lot at Gosnell gets locked up at official sun down. This is before dark and there are often cars sill in the lot at that time.
Hal will mention this to Mark Y. is it creates problems for people when they get locked in.
John Boettcher talked about the Big Field and the split rail fence problem there. The suggestion is to put in a metal fence post on the field side to hold the rotted post vertical. Each post takes about 10 minutes to install and it would be a relatively little cost to do about 30 of them.
FWT could also take some of the WRNP Lake Rd. rails to use as replacements at Gosnell.
Hal will ask Mark Y. about this proposal and using rails from Lake Rd.
Norma moved that FWT fund the fence post project. Jeff seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Next meeting: March 14, 2011, from 7:15 – 8:30 at the Webster Public Library