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October 19th Minutes : |
Treasurer’s Report: Joyce
O’Hara, Treasurer for the Friends of Tully Lake (FOTL), reported
that we have received $950 in donations.
As of
Tax ID Number and Non-Profit Status:
Prior to the meeting, Dave Small had spoken with Mason
Phelps of the Millers River Watershed Council and suggested that the
Watershed Council “adopt” the Friends of Tully Lake.
This would enable the FOTL to use the Watershed Council’s
non-profit status and tax ID number.
Folks who donate money to the FOTL could then claim their
donations as a tax deduction.
After some discussion, it was decided that this
arrangement makes sense for several reasons, including:
(1) the Watershed Council has name recognition and having the
FOTL affiliated with the Watershed Council would give us some
“clout” and (2) it would save the FOTL all the effort of filing
the paperwork and requesting a non-profit tax ID number.
Any request for donations should now state that
Checks should be made
payable to the
Joyce will ask those who have already written
checks to write new ones that are payable to the Watershed Council.
Also, checks should still be mailed to Joyce and she will
take care of recording the donations and then bringing the checks to
the Watershed Council to be deposited.
Publicity Committee:
The minutes from the first meeting and a Press Release were
posted on the web site. A
draft of the fundraising letter is currently circulating and being
fine-tuned. It was noted
that the letter should contain the reference to checks mentioned
above, Checks
should be made payable to the
Mt. Grace Staff Report:
No report due to staff attendance at a conference in
Trustees of Reservation Letter:
Maureen Blasco offered to track down the letter that the TTOR
wrote appealing the Athol Planning Board’s approval of the
preliminary subdivision plan.
Legal Representation:
Several lawyers have been suggested by people who have
visited the FOTL web site. There
was much discussion about when a lawyer would be needed and whether
we need an engineer on-board first to review the subdivision plan.
The timing of hiring experts and legal representation was
also discussed. It was
agreed that a Legal/Expert
Consultant Committee needs to be formed (one Committee would
probably do) to research lawyers and engineers that could help the
FOTL, arrange interviews, call references, etc.
Action Items:
1. Rudy Perkins offered to go to the next meeting of the Athol Planning Board and to get a copy of the subdivision regulations.
2. Joyce O’Hara offered to get a copy of the current zoning bylaws, zoning map and the groundwater protection district map and bylaw. Athol was holding a Town Meeting on October 20th and there were several items on the Town Warrant related to zoning. Joyce offered to get a copy of any zoning changes voted on at Town Meeting. (note: no changes in the zoning bylaw were approved at town meeting)
3.
Maureen Blasco offered to contact the Army Corps of
Engineers and discuss potential stormwater and runoff impacts to
4. Joyce O’Hara graciously offered to host future FOTL meetings at her home.
The
next meeting of the Friends of
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