Town of Sutton Selectmen Meeting Minutes

Sutton Conservation Commission (SCC)

DRAFT Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Present: Chuck Bolduc; Don Davis; Lynn Wittman; Yvonne Howard; Joanna Murphy; Jim Morris and Bonnie Hill.

Absent: Henry Howell, Chair; Debbie Lang.

Others Present: Doug Hamilton, Judy Parkinson, Helen Bolduc.

Call to order: Chuck Bolduc called the meeting to order at 6:34 pm.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: The minutes from the last meeting on September 11th were unanimously approved.

Financial Report:
Debbie sent out a spreadsheet before the meeting. There were no expenditures in September, and there is $4420 currently left in the admin budget. Henry has submitted invoices for $874.80 for trail maintenance materials that will come out of Special Projects next month. Dave Carey has submitted a mowing bill for $2975, and $2400 of that will come out of the admin budget next month, with the remaining $575 coming out of the Sievert King Hill Gift account. Our remaining expenses for 2024 will include secretarial expenses, $100 for a GIS license, and $250 for NHACC membership. Here are the Bar Harbor Bank account balances as of the end of September:

  • Conservation Fund: $229,111.99 (sum of all sub-accounts)
    • Conservation Fund Unrestricted: $212,765.80
    • Sievert King Hill Gift: $15,249.07
    • Donation Holding Account: $1097.12
  • Capital Reserve: $79,649.59
  • Non-Capital Reserve: $1,000.00

Henry met with the BOS and budget committee and presented our revised 2025 operating budget.

Trail Maintenance and Development

Trails Advisory Committee Report

Update on the KHR donation system – Chuck has made the necessary changes to link Blackbaud to the new Bar Harbor bank account. He has cleaned up his code and connected to Blackbaud and is able to process a payment, but he can’t get it connected to the town website. He has emailed Kristi Kisler, the town website admin, to see what her capabilities are to assist. Jim suggested that we spend some money for professional help with this in order to have it working before winter.

KHR Penacook Path culvert rebuild/replacement – Chuck brought this up at the last ASLPT Outreach meeting. Ken Cogswell from the Warner concom told Chuck that they had gotten ARM funding for a project like this. Chuck is going to talk to him about it. Chuck has looked into ARM funding before, and said there is a high bar to meet. It appears to be necessary to have an engineering plan before applying for funding.

Mowing at KHR – Chuck said Dave Carey completed the mowing over 3 days last month, and billed us for $2975, the same rate as always. Bonnie said she walked up there this week and it looked great; because of the brontosaurus mowing last year, the trails are very wide.

Snowmobile agreement – Chuck said this needs to be renewed for 2024/2025, and we need to send the Sutton Ridgerunners club an updated agreement. He emailed Aaron Flewelling, the club president, about it. Chuck said he will write up a list of items that we need assistance with, and we can talk about this at next month’s meeting. Jim said that when he was walking at KHR he ran into a disgruntled hiker who complained about snowmobile usage of the trail. Bonnie said that we talked at our March meeting about some problems with snowmobiles driving on trails 1 and 2, and running over our signs. At the April meeting, Don said his grandson reported that snowmobilers were driving around the fallen trees, going on to private property. Adding more directional signage was discussed.

Trail maintenance at KHR – Doug Hamilton said he is interested in helping with this. Chuck said he would give him a map of KHR and provide instructions on what needs to be done.

Review of Intents to Cut and Logging Issues

  • None

Wetlands Review

Joanna attended the Planning Board meeting last night, and said that the PB is looking to meet with the SCC to discuss wetlands regulations.

New Business

Old Business

Status of dog waste stations at KHR – Joanna said she talked to Henry about this. He didn’t have time to install the bag dispenser posts before he left on vacation, and may need some help with it. Chuck said he will put up the dog etiquette sign at the Maple Leaf trailhead.

Update on Stockwell property donation – There is no update on this.

Property Reviews

Camp Wabasso – Chuck reported that the anonymous donor has pivoted, and wants to donate the camp parcel to a non-profit organization instead of to the town. Joanna said she heard that the donor has ties to SPNHF and wants the undeveloped parcels to be conserved with an easement held by SPNHF instead of ASLPT.

Publicity

SCC-sponsored community presentation – Chuck spoke to Andy Deegan of ASLPT, and he is definitely interested in giving a talk on “How to Conserve Your Land”. Bonnie said Betsy Forsham suggested we also have a representative from SPNHF, as was done in past years. Betsy also said that the SCC tried to have the talk during the season when the summer residents are in town, since some of them are large landowners. Joanna suggested having 2 talks, in summer and winter. Jim asked how the talk would be publicized. Chuck said Andy would like us to coordinate with him to plan when it would happen, and ASLPT would send notices to large landowners. Chuck said it is especially effective if we give personal invitations to any property owners that we may have connections with. Joanna volunteered to coordinate with Andy, and Jim said he would serve as backup. Joanna also volunteered to talk to Dave Anderson about presenting alongside the ASLPT on behalf of the Forest Society.

ASLPT King Hill Reservation foliage hike October 16 – Chuck said this is sold out, with 14 people signed up. The number is limited by parking. He will be there to lead the hike. Joanna asked whether this might be a good opportunity to publicize land conservation, and Chuck said he would certainly be pointing out the benefits of doing that.

Miscellaneous – Joanna asked if anyone knew what is going at at Chadwick Meadows. Chuck said the silt fences are there to protect the wetlands from the effects of the I-89 paving project. Lynn said the weird-looking basin is from back when Kezar Lake was being remediated.

Correspondence

  • Forest Notes, magazine of the NH Forest Society, summer 2024 issue
  • Notice from the Eastman Charitable Foundation about a presentation on wildfires, October 16th at 7pm at Grantham Town Hall.
  • Email from Betsy Forsham with some helpful suggestions about our upcoming talk on land conservation.
  • Notice from NHACC about next webinar in the Office of Planning and Development’s (OPD) Planning Lunches at Noon (PLAN) Monthly Webinar Series: “FEMA’s Risk Map Process” at noon on Thursday, Oct. 17. Chuck said he would attend this.
  • Letter from NHACC with invoice for $250.00 for membership.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 7:16 PM.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 6:30 PM, at Sutton Town Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Bonnie Hill, Secretary