MILTON CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
PO Box 310
Milton, NH 03851
Meeting Minutes
September 18, 2013
Members in attendance: Chairman Cynthia Wyatt, Charlie Karcher, Emery Booska, Tom Gray, David Levin, and Steve Panish at 6:40.
Chairman Wyatt called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm.
No public comment
MOTION: Charlie made a motion to accept the minutes of the September 9, 2013 meeting as corrected. Tom seconded. Motion passed 5-0.
David made a motion to pre-approve payment of up to $700 to Berry Surveying and Engineering for boundary marking work on the Lancey/Ward conservation land. This amount reflects the $650 bid plus an amount not to exceed $50 for hardware purchased by the surveyors to mount Milton Conservation signs to the metal fence posts. Charlie seconded the motion. Motion passed 5-0
Cynthia then opened discussion of possibly updating the water resources section of the Milton Master Plan. She suggested that this update focus on the Three Ponds/Salmon Falls watershed and pointed out that there has been a lot of attention focused on the Salmon Falls watershed by UNH, PREP, US EPA, etc. Also, the Three Ponds Protection Association came into existence as a result of the current Master Plan. This focus would be a logical progression for the town. David and Cynthia had contacted Jack Mettee to ask if he might help with this project and what the costs might be. Cynthia read a response from Jack in which he suggested that the cost for a comprehensive review and report would be in the vicinity of $10,000 and suggested lower cost alternatives would be possible by narrowing the scope of the study. Funding this project was taken up again in the budget discussion below.
David read the items and values in the draft 2014 budget. Items added during this discussion included a good faith donation to the Strafford Regional Planning Commission in recognition of their work and their generous help in the past and because it is probable that the Conservation Commission will be turning to them for assistance with the proposed water resources update. Emery made a motion to give $250 to SRPC. Steve seconded it. Motion passed 6-0. The next item added to the budget was money to either purchase a fireproof, waterproof safe or for off-site storage for conservation easement documents. David was tasked with contacting Iron Mountain to get an idea of the annual cost for storage. It was generally assumed that this would be a less expensive alternative. However, lacking actual figures and with a view to completing the budget David made a motion to add up to $4000 for a fireproof safe or off-site storage for easement documents. Steve seconded the motion. Motion passed 6-0.
There ensued a lengthy discussion of the proposed water resources update. Cynthia looked up and read the appropriate RSA and the conclusion of the commission was that this was not an item that could be included in the budget and that we would have to expend money from the conservation fund to pay for this.
Charlie then made a motion to approve the 2014 draft budget of up to $8,372. Emery seconded the motion. The motion passed 6-0.
There was another lengthy discussion of the costs of bringing the two Nute easements to completion and the stewardship costs that will be associated with them. The increased costs are directly related to the fact that the Nutes specifically requested two easements, one on each parcel. Steve and Cynthia will work on drafting a letter to the Nutes asking if they would consider making a donation towards offsetting some of these costs, especially the stewardship costs.
At 7:40 Tom made a motion to adjourn. Charlie seconded the motion. The motion passed 6-0.
Respectfully submitted,
David Levin
Commissioner
1