June 20, 2013
June Meeting of the Cornwall Conservation commission
The meeting began at 7:00 pm.
Present were Patrick Mulberry (acting as chairman in the absence of Kim Herkimer), Graham Underwood, Joe Markow and Brian Thomas.
Minutes from the previous meeting were approved, as was the Treasurers report
Bulletin
Joseph Markow updated us on plans for the next edition of the bulletin. Six more copies sold at Town Hall. We considered reprinting the bulletin, but no vote was taken on this.
We proposed spending the July meeting working on the next bulletin. FOIA concerns still apply, suggestions of names and contacts for artists and photographers.
Joe reported that we had a request from Melissa Andrews, who asks if they could use a few paragraphs on info plaques on the Cornwall Walks program. The group had no serious objections to such groups using our material, but we will ask the First Selectman to make sure.
FOIA Workshop
Everyone agreed that the workshop was productive and informative. We reviewed what we learned, and the places where we need to improve our compliance -- most notably in posting our minutes promptly.
Natural resources inventory.
The Conservation Trust convened a workshop on using GPS devices with Harry White and Steve Letterman, and Patrick participated.
We considered inviting Harry White work with us on these mapping issues. He worked in Colebrook on a natural resources inventory, and Patrick wants to examine that to see if we could use some of those techniques. Patrick will work on that, with a fall meeting
Bike trail or Trinity property
We discussed what our official stance on the bike trails should be. This led to a more general dialogue about the right method for gathering information about issues. Should we, for example, draft a form email that we can send to the DEP and other authorities?
We decided to make this general method a topic for future meetings
Increasing membership
Patrick described his recent work in persuading Celia Senzer to join the Commission. Perhaps we could start the second Thursday of month schedule in July. We considered how this should be dealt with under FOIA, since it changes the meeting schedule for the rest of the year.
Brian agreeded to provide orientation to Celia and give her a copy of the town plan.
New business
Patrick brought up the quorum issue. We haven’t explicitly decided what constitutes a quorum. Should we consider changing it to a lower number. The advantage would be a more resilient and efficient commission, able to conduct our business even with light attendance. But it poses the danger of a clique. Joe agreed investigate the rules.
We unanimously agreed to adjourn. 8:26