Attendees: Al Kent, Geoff Read, John McClellan, David Freschi, Charlie Wilson, Teena Schwartz, David Hall, Nancy Hall, Anne Stires, Ellen Barrett, Steven Wysmuller, James Timpson, Brian Glennon, Geordie Smith

Meeting called to order at 7:40

Future meeting dates and places

• It was agreed upon by all to rotate meetings between surrounding towns to gain further exposure. The March 24, 2004 meeting will be held at the North Caldwell Borough Hall at 7:30pm.

Membership

• David Freschi proposed that membership dues paid from January to September will be applied to that current year. Any dues collected in October or later will be good for the following year.
•  A bank account will be set up at the Wachovia Bank in North Caldwell. It was agreed upon that the HC officers would have their signatures on file at the bank. Two signatures will be needed to make a transaction.

Volunteers for immediate objectives

• John McClellan will be handling public relations for the conservancy. He will be contacting local newspapers, TV.  and web sites for future meetings and events.
• Educating the conservancy members on the Hilltop is going to be a rotating position. Those members who know the Hilltop well and have a good knowledge of the land are welcome to share their knowledge with the group.
• John McClellan gave an extraordinary presentation of the Hilltop. Aerial photograph’s taken by John gave the group a better understanding of the layout of the land.

• Teena Schwartz, who works for the County of Essex, agreed to act as county liaison for a short period until an official member is chosen from the Conservancy.  Teena saw her role as maintaining an informal relationship between the Conservancy and the County to help facilitate communication between them.  She suggested that the Conservancy fully assess any requests before forwarding them to the County for consideration.

• It was agreed upon that May 1, 2004 would be the first scheduled clean up day at the Hilltop. What will be needed for the clean up will be an agenda item for the next meeting.

• Charlie Wilson explained trail development and what can be done for an initial trail system.  
• Charlie Wilson and Al Kent agreed to develop a trail system and propose it to the group.

New/Old business

• Official nominations for officers were given. Official elections will take place at the next meeting.
• Teena Schwartz explained a new program from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service). The new program is called WHIP. Whip is the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. It deals with meadow cleaning and reseeding to attract birds and wildlife. An official vote to proceed with WHIP will be made at a future meeting.

Misc

*The HC full website address is
http://www.real-world-systems.com/HilltopConservancy/index.html

The meeting adjourned at 9:00pm.