TOWN OF TEMPLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE

CONSERVATION COMMISSION

January 6, 2003

Final Minutes of Public Meeting

 

Present:     Chairperson Mike Conolly: members Rich Beringer, Marty Connolly, Bruce Kantner, John Kieley

                  and Vince Mamone; alternate members Doug Guy and Linda Homer; junior member Eric Foley.

Absent:      Jim Koster.

Guests:            Anne Foley, Honey Hastings, Connie Kieley, Bruce Kullgren, Mark Salisbury, Ben Tirey & others.

                   

Rich Beringer called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. because Mike was going to be late. He welcomed new member Vince Mamone to the board.

     

Minutes: December 2, 2002

Under New voting member & new alternate: In the second paragraph, line three should read… and Mark left

a letter of intent.

MOTION:  John moved to accept as amended, Vince seconded. Motion passed.

Financial Report: November 2002

Beginning balance:         $55,184.60

Doyle Project payment  :       36,555.75

Interest earned:                           13.50

Ending balance:             $18,642.35

OLD BUSINESS

Chris Weston Conservation Area Dump Site: John reported that the selectmen decided not to fence the dump

site. Health officer Pete Caswell is moving ahead with soil testing/site assessment. John will be in charge of

burning the brush piles in the spring when the right weather conditions are present. The board wants this entire

topic kept on the agenda under old business.

Adopt-a-highway Cleanup: Will schedule the April cleanup later in the year and see how the participation is for

that cleanup. If it is good will continue, if not, will give up the project. Many members in the audience said that

they would participate but felt that 8 a.m. was too early. Weekend days are best. Try different times.

Temple Mountain:  There have been no meetings and no new information.

Easement Inspection Report Forms:  John brought draft forms for the board to study. One is a Baseline

Documentation Report and the other is an ongoing Monitoring Report. Marty said that a Wetland Investigation

report form is also necessary. He also said that a notification form is necessary so that a property owner can be

officially notified that the Con Com will be doing an inspection. This will eliminate the problem that has

occurred in the past, when a property owner felt that one member of the Con Com was singling them out.

Bruce said that he would contact Coral Olson to see if she knows where the notification forms are. He also said that he would see if the Selectmen want to draw up a notification form that all Town boards could use. Linda

Homer offered to go through the files in the Town Office and compile a table of contents so that everyone will

know what is in the filing cabinet. The board agreed. The board want to do Baseline Documentation Reports on

Pratt, Banker Meadow and Doyle. Rich agreed to contact Dick Ober re: Doyle easement information and survey

map. The board agreed to do Baseline Reports on Pratt and Banker Meadow in the spring of 2003 and

Monitoring Reports in the fall of 2003.

Post Office Box: Marty spoke to the Temple Post Mistress about Con Com mail. She said that the board has mail

going to P.O. boxes 191, 201, 179, 64 & 149. Marty informed her that all Con Com mail should come to Box 149, which is the official Con Com P.O. Box. Rich suggested that if individual members are working on a project and need something sent to them, that they give their name and address and NOT use Conservation Commission if they want something sent to them. Ben Tirey suggested that a return address be included on

every letter that is sent out so that people know how and where to respond.

Meeting date & Time change: The board discussed changing the meeting date to the 4th Monday at 7 p.m. Ben

Tirey said that the Fire Dept. Auxiliary meets at that time. Rich said that Monday night is the only night that he is free and 3 members of the board are on the Fire Dept. and they meet the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Mondays.

                                                                                                                                   

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                                                                                                                                    Temple Con Com

                                                                                                                                    January 6, 2003

MOTION:  Rich moved to amend the by-laws to state that the Conservation Commission will meet once a month

                  with the exception of July, deleting “the first Monday of the month at 5 p.m..” Vince seconded the

                  motion and all were in favor.

Natural Resources Inventory: John said that the first thing to complete is to finalize the base maps by adding

additional conservation easements and water sources. Then there are several projects: Map all the hiking trails in

town; map and identify all farms, forests, fields, orchards, flora fauna, homes, businesses etc. Southwest Regional

Planning recommends ordering new aerial maps to begin this process.

Mike said that he would contact the New Ipswich Con Com to find out how they went about completing their

Natural Resources Inventory. Marty said he would contact Southwest Regional and try to find the binder of

photos/maps that Temple had a couple of years ago.

There was a discussion about whether aerial photos should be purchased now or later. Since the Con Com funds

were frozen in October, they would have to be unfrozen in order to purchase photos. There was a discussion

about how much money to set aside for dump site cleanup on the Chris Weston land. Vince said that the Con

Com should work on an operating budget. Mike suggested that Walt, the Town Treasurer might be able to

provide printouts for the last two years to help plan the budget.

MOTION:  Rich moved to set aside $5,000 for the future cleanup of the Chris Weston site if it is eventually

deemed to be the responsibility of the Con Com, and to further release all funds that were frozen at

the October 7, 2002 meeting. The motion was seconded by John and all were in favor.

Vince agreed to put together a draft working budget for the board from which to put together a budget.

MOTION:  Mike moved to appropriate $150 to purchase the most recent aerial photos of Temple from EROS.

                  The motion was seconded by Bruce and all were in favor.

Marty and John will work together on what photos to buy.

NEW BUSINESS

Is our Town farm friendly: Marty brought some a 3-page checklist from the New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture. He was not able to copy the sheets because they were on colored paper. He will call and

try to get more copies to distribute at next month’s meeting.

Con Com section of Town Report: The report is due by January 15th. Marty will write the report and put it in

the Con Com box so everyone can read it before publication.

Bragg Fund: The Trustees of the Trust Fund’s Bragg Fund reimbursed the Con Com $100 for the talk given by

Digit Taylor.

Future Talks: It was suggested that someone come and speak about protecting agricultural lands/farms. Marty

will research this.

File Cabinet: Mike passed around the booklet “Saving Special Places” put out by the Society for the

Protection of NH Forests. He said he would put it in the file cabinet so people can come in and read it or borrow

it. Rich suggested that if people borrow things from the file cabinet that they but a card in the place where the

thing was that they are borrowing, with the date, the name of the item and their name.

Conservation Lands in Temple: Vince would like to put together a document that would list and describe all

types of conservation lands in Temple. He will bring a draft to the next meeting.

There was a motion to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Diane Nilsson

1/13/03