Present: Alex Bernhard, Tom Frantz, Craig Heim, Lindy Heim, Charles Martin, Myra Mayman, Steve Rayno, Peter Southworth, Nita Tomaszewski, Bob Ward, and guests Joyce and Ellsworth Morton.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 16, 2013.
1. Approval of October 17, 2012 minutes. Moved and approved.
2. Treasurer’s Report. Steve summarized his monthly report including recent payments for the Boscawen trail building. The Franklin Savings Bank generous support was noted. The report was approved.
3. Correspondence. Tom Frantz sent an update on the Fourth of July foot race administration.
4. Old Business
a. Action items (all) Reviewed by Myra, including the trailhead agreement at the Irving Station in Franklin.
b. RTP 2012 (Nita) Nita reported on the completion of the Boscawen trail and the start of planning for next year. A suggestion to hold a future meeting in Boscawen was discussed to reach out to some Boscawen board candidates.
Nita requested authorization to serve as the grant administrator. The motion was moved and voted in unanimous support.
Alex reported that the Grafton group is seeking a grant for gravel and materials to upgrade one mile of trail north of the Danbury town garage.
c. Fundraising (Craig) Craig shared an update of foundations, trusts, businesses, and individuals for development planning.
d. Maintenance (Peter) An East Andover landowner expressed concerns about brush clearing after recent work. Alex noted the Trails Bureau indemnity agreement recently expired, but he spoke with Chris Gamache to renew that.
We discussed clearing branches to open a view of the Blackwater River in Andover as a future workday project.
e. Land and Water Conservation Fund. (Bob) [carried]
f. Technology Report (Steve Darling) Steve had no major updates on the Web site.
g. Strategic Action Plan. (Myra) Myra noted the desire to plan an annual meeting – future discussion was carried.
h. Fourth of July Race – future administration (Tom) [carried]
i. Signage- blue state signs (Alex) [carried]
j. Reprinting rack cards. (Lindy) The new cards were printed and distributed.
k. Update on the Enfield Bridge (Alex) Alex summarized the constituents who have weighed in on preserving or taking down the bridge. It will be approximately four months before a federal decision on the bridge is made.
5. New Business
Upcoming meetings and events. The Andover Snowmobile Club’s Spaghetti Dinner is Saturday, January 26. The next FNRT meeting is Wednesday, January 16.
a. Annual Appeal mailing (Myra & Lindy) Myra and Lindy proposed to spend no more than $700 on the printing. The proposal was moved and approved.
b. Carl Knoch’s offer to present on publicity/increased usage (Charles). Charles will talk further with Carl about speaking with the FNRT about promoting the rail trail.
c. Granite State Rail Trail progress and logo. Charles explained the Granite State Rail Trail designation, map, and logo use. Would the FNRT want to be part of the Granite State Rail Trail? There was some support for being part of a larger trail system, but also concern about maintaining our local identity and having too many signs. Charles will summarize our feedback and respond in the near future.
d. Myra noted that we need to find a new data manager.