Community Garden Committee, December 16, 2016
Mission Statement:
To educate and empower people of all ages & diverse backgrounds by creating a central place of wellness where anyone or everyone has an opportunity to develop or enhance their awareness of the nutritional value of local organic food, the importance of environmental stewardship, and reconnecting with nature all while recapturing a sense of community.
In attendance: Jess Pion, Chair; Members: Jessica Cosenza, Marcia Hastbacka, Tanya Lewis (on speaker phone)
Not in attendance: Geri Herlihy – Liason to Board of Selectman
Meeting called to order at 6:40 p.m.
Agenda
Since Tanya Lewis was not able to be physically at the meeting, she joined us on speaker phone,
Minutes:
November 2 Minutes
Motion #1: To approve the minutes of the October 19th meeting as edited
Voted and carried with one abstention.
Recruiting Members
Since we have lost some members and Jess Pion will be resigning as Chairman as of December 30 due to her moving out of Holden, we discussed recruiting members to serve on the committee. Tanya has a few contacts who might be interested in serving on the HGC. It was suggested that the Town of Holden use their TownofHolden.gov page to recruit members. Interested parties should complete the “Do Something” questionnaire with the Town.
Budget FY17
Jess P. updated us on Budget information. The HGC Budget was submitted to Town Mgr, Peter Lukes, and John Woodsmall on November 28, 2016 and Town Mgr. was notified that the Town was in receipt of the Budget on December 12.
Jess Pion’s Contacts
All members will be cc’d on the contact list that Jess has compiled over her tenure as Chairman. Most of the contacts are in e-mail format. Jess P. will be notifying all her contacts of her resignation and we will be cc’d on those emails. Some of those contacts are: local businesses, School Contacts, Senior Center, Recycling, Heifer Project, Red Barn, Horticultural Society, Town of Holden, etc.
At 7:30 p.m. the call to Tanya was disconnected and the meeting was suspended.
At 7:34 p.m. the call to Tanya was re-connected and the meeting resumed.
The Committee is also looking for the name and contact information of the Scout Leader who is handling the Bat boxes and tables.
Facebook Page
Tanya is the administrator and will work with Jess C. on how to access the page. Jess P. will contact Mayo School to let them know that Tanya has agreed to be the new contact person with the Mayo school.
Tanya will reach out to Todd Miller through Facebook as the HCG has lost contact with him. On Facebook, we will reach out for new members and post a link to the “Do Something” questionnaire. We will also do “shout outs” to Re-Store, Recycling Center, and other businesses that have assisted us in the past.
John Woodsmall
Jess P. will contact John to let him know that she will be resigning as of December 30 and to give him all the committee contact information. Jess will be asking for an update on the monies that should have been left over from the work done by Elliot Tree. (They were paid for a portion of the work that was never done.) She will be asking if the situation was cleared up and if the money can be used in the spring to remove the remaining stumps and rocks.
Jess will also notify John about the water tanks at Davis Hill. They were emptied per recommendation of Ryan Mouradian, but unfortunately there was some water that did not drain and it has since frozen. Jess C. is concerned about damage to the valves and is asking for guidance from John or Ryan regarding this matter.
Davis Hill
While the next meeting of the Davis Hill/Community Garden meeting is not scheduled for December 22, Jess C. gave an update. Davis Hill received a $500.00 grant from the Holden Garden Club for a water catchment system. They are planning to reach out to Monty Tech and any local colleges that have an environmental or sustainable programs and/or engineering programs to help build the structure. The fifth graders will be working with Jess on this project.
Jess C. has also applied for a grant from Annies Grant which is not regulated for specific projects and is more flexible as to type of project and time frame.
On-going
Jess P. encouraged the members to go through either Peter Lukes or the Jacquie Kelly, Town Mgr, with all questions and again urged the membership to enlist more residents to serve on the committee.
Jess P. noted that the agenda needs to be emailed to Robin at least 2 business days before scheduled meeting.
No date was set for the next meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.