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General Meeting October 26, 2005 Meeting Minutes Meeting called to order at 7:30pm. Old businessThe meeting began with a review of a leaf collection day that was held on the Hilltop on 10/23. It was a cold fall day and about a half a dozen families turned out for the event. Ken set up shop at the entrance to the reservation on the North Caldwell side. There were trail maps, leaf samples and leaf identification flyers for visitors to look at and help with the leaf collecting. The turnout could have been better, but those who did make it enjoyed the afternoon.Theresa gave an update on the meadow restoration project. The County Parks Department has done the first mowing of the foreign invasive mugwort in the restoration area. Approximately 10 acres has been mowed and cut down to about 4inches. The foreign invasive tree’s in the restoration site have also been treated and marked and hopefully will be ready for removal in the spring. Some tentative dates have been chosen(Nov 12/13th) for debris cleanup days within the restoration site. The mowing has revealed debris hidden by years of mugwort growth. The debris can be broken up into three categories: baggable, draggable and taggable. The small garbage can be picked up and bagged, the larger items dragged to a debris pile area and the really large items can be tagged and removed by county workers with heavy equipment. More details will be sent via e-mail regarding times and meeting places. Another item to be taken care of within the restoration site is drain/sewer holes that need to be filled in. There are several holes, approximately 3 to 6 feet deep, that are a hazard if left alone. Theresa has filled in a couple holes with big rocks which takes care of the hazard of falling in and it keeps the drainage intact. A couple more holes need to be filled in. Next item discussed was the cyclocross bike race series that took place on the Hilltop. The race was coordinated by the owner of “The Bikery” in Montclair. Geordie explained how the race worked and how the course was set up. There are mixed views on having a bike race on the Hilltop and the conservancy needs to discuss further if we want this type event held on reservation grounds.
New businessInformation for an event booth was the next topic discussed. All agreed that having a storyboard with pertinent pictures attached(birds/plants/habitats/etc.) was a good idea. The conservancy has aerial photo’s of the Hilltop. Having maps with proposed development sites next to the aerial photo’s could really make a statement and show people exactly what is going to stay open space. A brief history timeline was also an idea everyone liked. A separate meeting is going to take place to figure out where this information can be gathered and how we should display certain information. The event booth is an on going process and will be updated periodically.Next topic was upcoming events. Verona’s “Fair in the Square” is being held on Dec 3rd. We will have a booth and set up as what ever information has been gathered by this date. At the next meeting we need to coordinate volunteers to man the booth so we have coverage all day. A night hike has been scheduled for Nov 16th from 8:00 to 9:00pm. The hike is going to immediately follow our monthly meeting which is being moved up one week because of Thanksgiving. The meeting is starting an hour earlier(6:30pm) to accommodate the hike. We will meet at the Cedar Grove entrance off of Fairview at 8:00pm. A review/discussion of logo samples was the next item on the agenda. Jay put together samples that were compiled by Theresa and came up with several logos for the conservancy. All the samples had there own style which represented the conservancy in different ways. The group narrowed down the samples and Jay is going to work on different versions of the chosen logo to be voted on at the January meeting. Several miscellaneous items were brought up at the meeting. The president of the Rotary Club of Cedar Grove was at the meeting and explained how the Rotary has some funding that they are willing to donate to the Hilltop. The Rotary seems interested in funding signage for the Hilltop, whether it be for trails, native tree’s, etc. A proposal is going to be drafted by the trails committee and submitted to the Rotary so we don’t miss the funding deadline. An update of the funding will be an agenda item for a future meeting. An individual at the meeting brought up an issue of contamination on the Hilltop. Apparently the Hilltop is listed as a contaminated area from the demolition of the old buildings. No factual information was available at the meeting ad this is a topic that needs much further review before a formal discussion can take place. Again, the November meeting is being held one week earlier due to Thanksgiving. The meeting will start one hour earlier also to accommodate the scheduled night hike following the meeting. Monthly meeting-11/16/05 6:30-8:00 Night hike- 11/16/05 8:00-9:00 Meeting adjourned at 9:00pm. Minutes prepared by Secretary: Brian Glennon |
Please note: These minutes have not been approved, They are made provided here in an effort to make them available in a timely manner. If you have any corrections,
please send them to the
Secretary as soon as possible.