Thursday, October 8, 2020
Friday, October 2, 2020
Monday, September 7, 2020
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Agenda BCD Supervisor meeting Aug. 4, 2020
Berkshire Conservation District Monthly Meeting
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 5:30 PM
Agenda for Tuesday, August 4, 2020
MEETING RESCHEDULED TO THURSDAY AUG. 6 DUE TO POWER OUTAGES
MEETING RESCHEDULED TO THURSDAY AUG. 6 DUE TO POWER OUTAGES
Agenda BCD Supervisor meeting Aug. 4, 2020
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Minutes BCD meeting June 2, 2020
Berkshire
Conservation District Monthly Meeting
Tuesday, July 7,
2020 at 5:00 PM
Remote Meeting
Call-in number is
1(646) 876-9923. Meeting ID 132436088 #
Minutes from June
2, 2020 Meeting
1.
Call to Order at 5:02pm, and Determination of
Quorum
Present:
Supervisors: Adam Galambos, Ron Kujawski,
David Ellis, Donna Kittredge
Program Administrator: Cynthia Grippaldi
MACD Representative: Jane Obbagy
2.
Public Comment Period
Adam checked the waiting room where no
members of the public were present.
3.
NRCS Report/Comments from Gary Blazejewski
Gary was unable to attend but sent a report
from which Adam read: NRCS has funded approximately 30 projects in Berkshire
County. Gary is optimistic we will be able to reach out to many landowners in
Berkshire county regarding the Nutrient Management program. For the record, Cynthia
will ask Gary to clarify when the aforementioned projects occurred.
Adam asked if Jane Obbagy wished to comment.
She said MACD was awarded a contract with NRCS headquarters. The project is for
NRCS to produce a manual on how NRCS can interact with small farms. Work will
probably begin in September and will be done in Massachusetts.
4.
Secretary’s Report — Submitted by Donna
Kittredge
Cynthia had two small edits — Jane Obbagy’s
name was misspelled under #1 in the May, 2020 Minutes. Under item #4, add a
dollar sign in front of the numbers. Ron moved to accept the minutes as
amended, David second. All in favor.
5.
Treasurer’s Report — Submitted by David Ellis
See Treasurer’s report for May 2020 numbers.
David mentioned we need to find another insurance carrier for next year as they
extended it for one more year due to COVID. The May 28 invoice from Mike of $570
includes storage which is a new item. David can mail a check to Mike on June 3
for storage of the No-till. Ron moved to accept the Treasurer’s report, David second. All in favor.
6.
District Supervisors
- Ron asked about supervisor access to the field office.
He suggested we need to decide if we should all go through the background
check. Adam asked if conservation districts in the state or cross the country
meet outside the field office. Jane Obbagy said it works both ways — some meetings take place in the field office and others meet elsewhere. Cynthia said
the district began holding meetings in the field office, then the Athenaeum,
then Arizona Pizza. Jane said holding the meetings in a public space may be for
ease of the public to attend. Discussion will continue.
- Ron asked about the benefits of membership to
NACD. David found we paid $25 in the past. Jane said MACD has paid $750. Ron
asked what are the advantages of joining NACD. Jane suggested that the emails NACD
sends to members contain information about grants that may be of interest to
BCD.
- Adam stated his continued interest in getting
together to meet about framework, having ample associates and supervisors, working
with strategic partners, grants, goals, etc. for BCD.
7.
Program Status
- Cynthia emailed UMass extension with questions
related to Nutrient Management and is waiting to hear back on how we can work
with it in the Berkshires.
- She texted Mike who said Travis Atwell plans to
rent the drill from us. Mike planted 4 ½ acres recently and has a few others
lined up for August.
- Adam is happy with the No-till Feedback Survey
that Cynthia wrote asking farmers for their feedback. He suggested it be sent
as a google form to avoid paper use.
- Adam brought up advertising and how to best use
our funds to reach our target audience regarding No-till rentals. He had great
response using Facebook advertising on a project in the past with a 40%
response rate and 10-15% conversion rate. Cynthia has posted its availability
on our regular Facebook page. Ron suggested we look beyond Berkshire county for
rentals. Cynthia sent Hampshire/Hampden District info saying we can offer it to
surrounding counties but has not heard from them. Discussion continued
regarding reaching out to Columbia county and/or southern VT which is closer to
Cheshire. David suggested we talk to Mike to ask of his availability and how
far he could travel with the seeder and what the travel distance limits are regarding insurance. David asked if there are any ag fairs where we could show
off the seeder (when and if things get back to 'normal'). Jane suggested tapping
into UMass Extension for suggestions on advertising.
8.
Program Administrator Update
- Cynthia reported that we got funded for the
pollinator grant. Out of the $3,500 grant, we received $1,500. Out of the $1,500, we
would use $1,000 to purchase native plants and $500 for any signage, outreach,
education, etc. David asked about the purpose of purchasing plants for the pollinator grant. Cynthia said it would be to set up a couple of pollinator gardens
on public land, for instance at a school, or public office.
- Housatonic Valley Association Collaboration is
applying for a non-point source pollution grant and they would like us to
collaborate as they think it fits with our Nutrient Management and No-Till programs. They’re looking to hire someone to run this program. Cynthia and Gary
are talking with them to possibly have their new hire come work with BCD/NRCS
once a month. HVA is looking for a letter of support from us.
- We have three insurance policies: 1) liability
insurance that expires July 20 to protect 2M liability that Ned pushed to
protect the board in the event something happens with No-Till and we’re working
on renewal, 2) a policy that protects the No-till equipment and, 3) a basic
policy for business and workers’ comp paid on May 5.
- Cynthia received a letter from MDAR (Mass Department
of Agricultural Resources) stating our Nursery Agent License expires on June
30. We have applied in the past because we’ve held plant sales but the info
from MDAR does not state what the license is actually for. It is assumed we need it for resale to the public. Dave suggested we apply later if we decide to
hold the sale. We will ask Ned what the history of having this license is.
9.
New Business
There was no new business to discuss.
10.
Comments and Announcements
Cynthia received a note from Holly saying
she’s not going to continue on as a supervisor. We would still like to have
another farmer on our board. Our posting for supervisors in BEAT’s newsletter
had been removed but we will ask to repost for supervisor positions again. Adam hopes to reach out to more farmers with his new job at BNRC. Adam spoke with
farmer Greg Caprone who is unable to join BCD due to his many commitments.
11.
Adjournment
At 6:30pm, Ron motioned to adjourn, second by
David. All in favor.
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