Berkshire Conservation District Monthly Meeting
Tuesday, January 7th, 2020 at 5:00 PM
Conference Room
78 Center Street, Suite 206, Pittsfield, MA 01201
Minutes
1. Call to Order at 5:11 pm, and Determination of Quorum
Present:
Board members - Ned Kirchner with Holly Aragi & Ron Kujawski (via phone).
Staff - Cynthia Grippaldi
Guests - Mike Balawender (associate), Donna Kittredge, David Ellis &
Adam Galambos
2. New Business
Ned suggested that Ned is acting chair tonight and going forward the board will decide who
will be acting chair at each meeting until a chair is appointed. Moved by Ron, Holly
seconded, all approved.
Introductions: Mike, Donna, Adam, David, Cynthia, Ned, Holly and Ron.
a. Secretary’s Report – Submitted by Cynthia Grippaldi, Program Administrator
a. Review and Approval of December 16th Minutes. Holly moved, Ron seconded,
all approved.
b. Treasurer’s Report for November and December
1. Bills Due. none
2. Reimbursement sent to EEA on 12/27 for November & December expenses,
total $3,398.26
3. Monthly/Yearly Budget planning TBD
4. Ned suggested including a breakdown of grant dollars left and period of
performance in treasurer's report. Holly moved, Ron seconded, all approved.
5. Mileage for Cynthia reimbursement $113,68. Ron moved, Holly seconded,
all approved.
6. Saturday Jan. 11 at 9am Mary will transfer GFCU check signing to Holly and Ned.
Ned to allocate money to the debit card account. $500 motion to move to debit
card limit. Ron moved, Holly seconded, all approved.
3. Old Business
A. District Supervisors
1. Board of Supervisor Recruitment. The Board of Supervisors voted to approve
Donna, Adam and David as new Supervisors. Commission meeting is on Jan. 8 to appoint
them. Cynthia sent their bios & letters of interest to Tom Anderson. Vote to approve was
moved by Holly, Ron seconded, all approved.
2. Designation of Titles and Committees. Interim Chair: Ned Kirschner, Vice Chair:
Ron Kujawski, Treasurer: ? Secretary: ? Tabled for next meeting.
3. State Commission Member? Tabled for the next meeting.
B. No-Till Program Updates
1. Promotion. Public presentation late Feb, early March. Mid-day during the week,
Thursday or Friday in the Pittsfield area. Serve refreshments. Adam has data on small farms
in Berkshire County.
2. Scheduling rentals: procedure. Mike agrees to train farmers in the use of no-till
and deliver and pick up equipment to farmers. Make rental agreement available on web site.
3. Promo card. Donna’s layout. Small run to start, 150. Donna will get a quote from
QualPrint for a postcard sized mailer. Get it out to farmers by February. Cynthia promote
the early discount incentive on our Facebook page. Donna will check with the post office
regarding size, postage etc.
C. Program Administrator Update.
Website update. Marita needs content. Find Berkshire photographers to provide images.
Adam is an amateur photographer and a commercial drone operator and is willing to help.
Also Cynthia will check with Dan again.
Possibility of a Supervisor retreat to plan our year goals and budget, and to brainstorm new
initiatives. Check that we don’t interfere with open meeting laws.
D. Basic & Innovation Grant Update for FY 2020
Nutrient Management phase 1 is for researching and understanding existing regulations.
Phase 2 is to reach out to farmers. Clarify grant amounts with Tom Anderson.
4. New Business
A. Audit - Cynthia reached out on Dec. 18, 2019 to McMahon and Vigeant in Dalton who
did a compilation for the year ending June 30, 2018 for BCD and asked that they perform
another one for us.
B. Spring Plant/Tree Sale. 8 yrs ago netted approx $10K, then profit margin began to slip,
and there was a lack of volunteers. Donna will contact Amy Burdick and Amy A. Adam and
Donna want to be involved in the sale.
C. Computer files backup from Google Drive to a flash drive. Adam is willing to help with this!
D. District Annual Work Plan - goals, objectives, activities. Postpone to the next board meeting.
5. Comments and Announcements
6. Adjournment 6:50 Ron moved to adjourn, Holly second. All approved.
Upcoming Events/Meetings:
Berkshire Conservation District monthly Supervisor meetings are scheduled for the first
Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 4th at 5pm at
78 Center St., Suite 206, Pittsfield, MA 01201, Conference Room.
