First order of business was new officer elections. Nominations received were discussed, and members voted to elect Anne as the new President, Deb as the new Vice President, and to re-elect Theresa as Treasurer and Brian as Secretary.

Dues for 2007 were also collected from members at the meeting.

The group discussed the 2007 meeting schedule, and the possibility of abbreviating it, maybe holding quarterly meetings instead of monthly. The majority of the group wanted to continue holding monthly meetings. Dave G suggested that while presentations or holding meetings in the Reservation was very nice, that the Conservancy should focus on Conservancy-related business during the meetings, and have events in the Reservation be more working-based.

2006 accomplishments were reviewed — the Conservancy was quite active last year, dealing with a number of development-related issues, holding frequent events in the Reservation, and representing the Conservancy at local fairs, etc.

2007 goals and objectives were discussed next, and the group provided input to existing items, and discussed adding other items to that list, including:

• Ideas for meeting presentations / speakers / topics:
  • Bats, bees, butterflies?
• Community events:
  • Opening Day in North Caldwell — in April, same weekend as Earth Day (Saturday, April 21^st?) — Emily will follow up on our participation in this event with the town
  • Montclair Backyard Habitat Fair will be held May 2^nd
  • Verona Centennial will be held Wednesday, July 4^th — Deb will see what our participation would involve
  • Brian had volunteered to check with the Grover Cleveland Conservancy to see if there were other nature-based, community events we could / should participate in with the “western” towns — need to follow up
  • Charlie volunteered to get a copy of Cedar Grove’s event list and forward it to the officers; Ken volunteered to do the same for North Caldwell
• Reservation events:
  • Clean-up weekend — tentatively scheduled the weekend before Easter, March 30^th, 31^st and April 1^st — Theresa will organize
  • Trail building event — tentatively scheduled for April 7^th — will be headed up by Geordie
  • Birding hike — due to construction activity and noise, may not be as pleasant as it has been other years

  Ken proposed that a 2007 calendar of events be created (once finalized) and sent out to the allmembers list and posted on the website. The group agreed this was a good idea, and that it would help people get more involved — Anne will do.

  Geordie discussed trail building and maintenance plans for the year — team’s goal will be to construct one additional trail this year, maintain the existing ones, and work with Pat to update the Reservation’s trails map.

  Geordie also informed the group that Essex County has obtained entrance-worthy kiosk signs for its parks, and that per Tara , one has been earmarked for the Hilltop. Geordie will follow up with her to obtain an ETA, where it should be installed, etc. as well as request additional ones if possible (e.g., one for Courter Lane).

  Charlie requested funding for trail posts / signs along the new western route, because there weren’t enough large trees close to the road / route to mark trails as the team normally does. Theresa suggested waiting until the re-surfacing of that route was completed so that new signage would not be inadvertently destroyed. Anne suggested a funding application process, with a proposed budget and resource commitments. The group agreed that this would be a good idea. Deb proposed that the group think about requesting trail-related supplies from local businesses who sell building supplies, since they might be interested in donating to a local non-profit organization like the Hilltop Conservancy.

  Charlie also proposed that the Conservancy affiliate with the NY/NJ Trails Conference. There was a discussion on what that would involved, if there were membership fees, whether minimum standards would subsequently be imposed on Hilltop trails, etc. The group agreed that it needed to know more about potential obligations before committing.

  Dennis spoke about possible encroachment due to all the recent North Caldwell construction activity, and showed some photos / video he had taken. Theresa suggested that if encroachments were suspected, that the group needed to first document them and verify that they were indeed violations before bringing it to the County’s attention. There was subsequent discussion on how that might be accomplished — Theresa agreed to forward Pat ’s e-mail address to Dennis, so that he could request additional mapping data from Pat (originally sourced from Schoor DePalma, the engineering contractors working for KHovnanian).

  Seymour provided a copy of his calling list. He makes telephone calls to members who do not have e-mail in order to apprise them of meetings and events, but his list is too long and outdated. Theresa will update that list (per the master contact list), and send out the updated version.

  Next meeting scheduled for February 28^th, 2007. Meeting adjourned at 9:45 pm.

  Minutes prepared by the Secretary