FNRT Board Members Present: Steve Darling, Craig Heim, Lindy Heim, Joyce Morton, Ellsworth Morton, Steve Rayno, Peter Southworth, Nita Tomaszewski, Bob Ward, and guests Bruce Crawford (Boscawen), Elaine Clow (Boscawen), Shawn Violette (District 3 Advisor, Trails Bureau).
Treasurer’s Report. Steve shared the balance of funds and noted that 97.5% of funds spent in 2013 were applied to trail construction and maintenance. Also, in the past five years we have raised a total of $258,504.
Old Business
Maintenance: Shawn commented on trail maintenance, and in regard to herbicide, he noted how expensive spraying would be (a licensed applicator is required) along with the prohibitive concerns for water contamination. His feeling about poison ivy is that when it encroaches on the sides of the trails, it will keep people on the trail surface.
Like us, he found a box scraper to be an effective tool behind a tractor to scrape off grass and weeds. Shawn recommended using a paver to put down a smooth layer of stone dust during initial construction (instead of a grader) or to flatten out the “waves” in a bumpy section. Shawn noted it is good to notify Margaret at the Trails Bureau when we do work.
Leon Nelson, Andover Snowmobile Club Trailmaster, has been invited to come to a future meeting to share the Club’s summer maintenance plans. Shawn noted that he has only one worker for his entire district, and he relies heavily on snowmobile clubs. A request was to “dummy lock” the gates when we are working on a section to prevent injury.
Recreational Trails Program: $30,000 application for construction Boscawen to Concord and one mile to Grafton County line.
Pop up tent: A suggestion was made to buy a separate FNRT banner that we can attach to an inexpensive tent. Barube’s in Bow sell tents.
Boscawen questions: Finish Line Celebration— it was suggested that we coincide with Boscawen Old Home Day at Jamie Welch Park on Saturday, August 23. We will set up our table and tent to provide information just the same as we do at Andover’s Fourth of July and the Andover Historical Society’s Old Time Fair.
Our final trail completion celebration is proposed as a separate event (early October?). Would we want to dedicate some of the trail to Peter Crowell? We’ll need a committee to plan the event.
Listing hotels on our Web site: Lindy noted that two of the links on our Web site “Lodging” page are not functioning. She suggested we do not use the page as a fundraiser by charging the hotels we list, but instead include the lodging link as a service to our trail users.
Craig proposed that we do not charge businesses we list on our Web site and include the links as a service. Lindy’s suggested wording on the lodging page: “FNRT is providing this listing of lodging choices as a convenience to rail trail users. It is not all-inclusive, but more a suggestion of the kinds of lodging available. FNRT encourages readers to visit Web sites such as those offered by local Chambers of Commerce when making overnight arrangements.”
Nita noted that we did vote on this issue a while back and stated that we need to adhere to our minutes and decisions better. She recommended we need to take a long-term view on fundraising – what will we do when we are no longer seeking grants?
Nita’s proposal: When there is a significant policy issue being discussed, we will wait (when possible) to vote until the following monthly meeting so absent members can weigh in. (We also need to decide on what our voting quorum is.)
Bob suggested we highlight votes in our minutes to underscore important issues. Nita’s proposal passed. More discussion about non-profit organizations raising money followed. Nita suggested we find a method of regularly checking all the Web site links on our FNRT page (monthly rotation?).
New Business
Saleable items with FNRT logo: Hearing interest, Lindy will get prices on a few items (hats, t-shirts, mugs, etc.) to sell as a “virtual” store and for us to sell in person at our FNRT events.
National Trails Day, June 7: A bike ride and walk (with leaders) is planned in conjunction with the Wilmot Library.