RPA Meeting minutes
Recent Minutes
Draft RPA Meeting Minutes
April 25, 2023 via Zoom
Welcome – Ken opened the meeting by asking for a moment of silence in remembrance of Pat O’Brien, a recently deceased long-time cottage resident of Branch Farm. The material distributed before the meeting included the agenda, minutes from October 25th2022, the 2022 annual report and the RPA board member contact list.
Approval of RPA minutes of October 25th meeting – Doreen asked for a motion to approve the October 25th meeting minutes. Minutes approved.
Approval of RPA Annual Report 2022- Doreen asked for a motion to approve the RPA’s 2022 annual report; it is posted on the RPA website & will be included in the Town of Richmond annual report. Report approved.
Updates to the RPA’s contact list - Ken asked for the list to be reviewed and if there are any updates to let Doreen know. He is also in the process of updating the emergency contact list.
Updates from Town Hall – Danielle reported that the Baby Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 1st at 6:00 pm, and the Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for 7:30 pm, Saturday, May 17th. The Town has hired 4 boat launch pond monitors and is extending the duration of their employment to start 2 weeks before Memorial Day and continue until 2 weeks after Labor Day. The kayak launch dock at the boat launch is scheduled to be put in. She is still advertising for lifeguards, but has no applicants yet. The town beach floating dock that was destroyed by vandals last summer is being rebuilt, with plans for it to be in the water this season.
Danielle has emailed Joe McGovern, the director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires, to coordinate a date to begin the remediation of the detention basins at Camp Russell. She has not heard back from him. She would like to have this project completed before camp starts; otherwise, it will again be delayed until after the camp season ends. Ken will also reach out to Joe to try to expedite the project.
Neal reported that the Town Hall/Library construction is on schedule with the goal to be finished by the end of the year. Good weather this winter has helped to move the project along. They have been waiting for the generator to arrive.
Danielle reported that the Town of Richmond’s administrative hours have changed. The Town Hall will be open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8am to 4pm and Thursday from 8am to 6pm. They will be closed on Fridays. They will re-evaluate this in September.
Financial report– Carl presented the budget for the coming fiscal year. A motion was made to approve the budget. The budget was approved.
Carl and Laura have been meeting to bring Laura up to speed on the RPA accounting process. They have been to Berkshire Bank to add Laura to all the bank accounts. Two CDs were renewed on March 1st for 6 months at a 4.65% rate. This is much better than the 0.1% our CD money had been earning!
The annual fiscal report was filed to the state of Massachusetts last October which was due on November 15th. In the past it is reviewed by the state, then made available on the Mass.gov/charities website. Carl recently checked the status and has found that the state is still processing the paper filing. He has since found that the state now has an online system for filing, the preferred method. Carl has re-filed online and that is in the final stages waiting for Ken’s electronic signature.
Carl and Laura are discussing changing the fiscal year now ending on June 30th to the calendar year ending December 31st. The treasurer would then close the books after Dec. 31st and then file the reports to the federal and the state. This amended timing will help with planning and budgeting for the next year’s projects, and would allow real contracts to be signed with vendors earlier in the spring to get on their work schedules. Carl recommended that the process of changing the fiscal year should be coached by an attorney to make sure it is done correctly. Ken asked Danielle if this would be an issue with the Town if the fiscal year did change. She did not think there would be any issues.
RPA participation in the Awarding Committee for the Anita Chapman Scholarship Fund - Jan Hartford, manager of the scholarship fund, proposed the RPA to be one of the 5 civic associations on the awarding committee. The Anita Chapman Scholarship Fund awards scholarships each year to Richmondstudents. As a committee, they manage the funds. The actual selections are done by a separate Awarding Committee made up of representatives from 5 community organizations. In the past, the Community Health Association has been a member of this committee, but now needs to be replaced as it is no longer an entity. Jan was asking if the Pond Association would like to take its place.
The commitment is one person (can be any board member) who can attend one meeting and help select the recipients of the scholarships. This year she expects there will be 14 scholarships to award. Applications are read and rated. The committee will determine the amounts to be awarded so the Awarding Committee does not have to worry about that. The committee will meet during the day on May 8th at Jan’s house.
A motion was made for the RPA to be a sponsoring organization for the scholarship fund. The motion was approved. Jonna volunteered to represent the RPA on the Awarding Committee.
Project updates and other developments at the Pond
Goose management plan assessment results & possible plan development for 2023 – Laura reported that the survey she sent out to the 2022 participants resulted in mixed responses. With her transition to the assistant treasurer role, Laura had asked for a volunteer to fill the role as the liaison for goose management. There were no volunteers. This will result in a gap year. Dick Stover asked if Laura could give the vendor contact information to the communities that were still interested in goose management. She will do this.
Weed Management – Doreen and Linda reported that there has been little progress regarding a weed management program for 2023. Solitude has reached out to Natural Heritage with suggestions of alternate herbicides for the management of curly-leaf pond weed and Eurasian water milfoil and asking for the threshold of each. There has been no response from Solitude or Natural Heritage as of this meeting. Jim McGrath has been involved with the conversations with Solitude and Natural Heritage. Linda felt that having a contract with Solitude to help with permitting and weed mapping would be helpful. Tom Potter will reach out to the Pittsfield Conservation Commission to discuss weed management.
Doreen will contact Laurie Rock to explore scheduling a weed pulling session for the canal. The area would be from the bridge to the Pond. Linda relayed that she has been told that the City of Pittsfielddoes not need a permit for hand pulling of weeds and this may be a possible treatment for the Pittsfieldside of the Pond. Holly Stover will follow up with Pittsfield ConCom to see if this is their policy.
Beach, tributary and cyanobacteria testing update; updating of protocol – Carl and Jonna will be doing the tributary testing and will schedule a time to begin the testing. LAPA-West coordinates the cyanobacteria testing; Ken will follow up with them for the start date. Louise has volunteered the use of her boat; Ken’s will serve as backup boat. Ken is still working on updating the working draft of the water testing protocol. E.coli testing is expected to be done weekly by contracted vendors at all of the camp, community & town beaches.
Camp seasons for Camp Russell and Camp Arrow Wood - While Cam and Matt were not present for this meeting, Ken reported that Camp Russell’s camp season is July 3rdthru August 24th. Camp Arrow Wood’s season is June 24ththrough August 13th.
Community Association Reports - Ken asked for an update from each of the community associations about any news that may be of interest to the RPA. Doreen reported that the Richmond Shores roads are the biggest issue, and that she had sent an email to the Shores residents asking them to do the water run-off survey from the Town. Carl reported that the gate to Branch Farm opens on May 1st. Branch Farm properties are owned by long-term families. One of their cottages is being replaced. Jonna reported that the presidents of the Whitewood Association and Richmond Shores Association have met to discuss a plan to ask the Town for more financial assistance with their roads. She also reported that a new family has moved into the Benners’ former home. Laura reported that there are no major changes at South Pond; there has been no turnover in owners and maintenance is being done to all the buildings.
Educational initiatives with Richmond Consolidated School students - Louise has been in contact with the 4th grade teacher, who is excited to work with the RPA and have her students learn more about the Pond. The hope is to make this a hands-on learning opportunity. Tom has worked on a program with the 5thgrade in his position with the Housatonic Valley Association. He suggested that HVA may be a resource for her, along with Mass Audubon. Ken would like to donate a History of Richmond Pond book to the school library, & potentially to each student in an entire classroom of students, if they’re studying the Pond. Louise will discuss this at her next meeting with them.
Pond history book sales to date & marketing plan going forward – Carl shared that of the 750 books purchased, there are only 150 remaining. The book remains for sale at Bartlett’s, Balderdash, Shaker Mill Books, & The Bookstore in Lenox.
Updating the RPA website- Ken & Bruce Wintman have been in communication about this project. They will meet soon to discuss the editing process & transitioning the website’s management to Bruce.
Projects still needing volunteers- Ken will write the Richmond Pond Update article for the Richmond Recordthrough the summer but after that he asked for a volunteer to take over. He reported that the editor of the Richmond Record is stepping down after the summer, so her position will also need to be filled. Holly and Miles will meet to make a plan for removing the invasive purple loosestrife around the Pond. A volunteer is still needed to manage the Facebook page.
Decision on format for May 23rdRPA meeting - Doreen recommended that continuing to meet by Zoom worked best for most of the participants. It was approved that the next meeting will be held by Zoom.
Odds & ends:
LAPA-West’s lake & pond management symposium: There is no date yet set for the spring symposium, but it will be held via Zoom. The meeting will focus on cyanobacteria management. Ken will also present a brief session on the process the RPA used to write, publish & market the History of Richmond Pond book, encouraging others to do likewise.
Trout stocking - The pond has already been stocked twice this year with trout.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.
ATTENDEE LIST:
Directors present (voting): Ken Kelly (president, independent cottages), Louise Brogan (vice-president, At-Large), Carl Foote (treasurer, Branch Farm), Doreen Donovan (secretary, Richmond Shores), Laura Rosenthal (assistant treasurer, South Pond Farm), Jonna Gaberman (Whitewood), Miles Garfinkel (At-Large)
Ex-officio present (non-voting): Danielle Fillio (Richmond Town Administrator), Tom Potter (Richmond Conservation Commission)
Alternates present: Gordon Dinsmore (South Pond Farm)
Guests present: Jan Hartford (Anita Chapman Scholarship Fund), Linda Kay (Richmond Shores), Holly Stover, Dick Stover, Faye Lessner, Neal Pilson (Town Selectman)
Directors absent: Matt Linick (Camp Arrow Wood), Cam Stockton (Camp Russell)
Ex-officio absent: Jim McGrath (City of Pittsfield)
Alternates Absent: Kais Abderrahim (Camp Russell), Brian Grebeldinger (Richmond Shores), Kerry Hamilton (At-Large), Barry Kellogg (Richmond Shores), Kitty Levitan (Whitewood), Tim Mason (independent cottages), Joe McGovern (Camp Russell), Jon Millburg (Camp Arrow Wood), Al Nardacci (independent cottages)
RPA Meeting Minutes
October 25, 2022 via Zoom
Welcome – Ken opened the meeting by acknowledging Louise Brogan, our new VP, as she was unable to attend last month. He observed that most boats have been taken out for the season, most docks have been removed, and seasonal cottages are buttoning up for the winter. This is the final RPA meeting of the calendar year, but the RPA has work to be done over the winter. This meeting will shape how much the RPA can accomplish both off-season and in 2023.
The material distributed before the meeting included the agenda and a list of the tasks that are in addition to what the officers perform. As this list is reviewed, the hope is that all will volunteer for one or more of the projects and tasks listed. Ken reminded the attendees that the RPA is only effective at preserving the pond if we all pull together to help the officers by sharing a piece of the workload.
Approval of RPA minutes of September 20 meeting – Doreen asked for a motion to approve the September 20th meeting minutes. Minutes approved.
Approval of proposed meeting dates, times & locations for 2023: Doreen listed the dates for next year’s meetings. The dates for the meetings are; 4/25, 5/23, 6/27, 7/25, 8/22, 9/26 and 10/24, all Tuesdays at 7 pm. A motion was made and approved to have the first meeting in April by Zoom and then evaluate our options for the year. She will schedule the dates at the Town Hall in case the meetings change to in-person.
Updates from Town Hall – Danielle reported that she has been in contact with the maintenance person for Camp Russell to coordinate a date to begin the remediation of the detention basins. Cam will also follow up with this.
The town beach vehicle gates were locked for the season at end of September. Pedestrians can still access the beach.
Danielle will discuss at the next BOS meeting whether the Town will continue to participate in the goose management program.
The tree that is leaning over town beach road may need to have a tree company come in to remove it. She will check with the Town’s highway manager.
Danielle discussed the importance for her to be updated on the status of weed management permitting and the vendors as the plan evolves, especially if the Town is the holder of the permit;
The Town has applied for an MVP grant. The grant’s focus is developing a storm management plan for roads and properties in Richmond. The first step is a survey for Town residents to take to gather information that will help with the development of a plan. The survey is available in the Town’s newsletter and can also be done at the Town’s library. Ken will send the link to the survey to RPA website subscribers. Once the survey is completed, the Town will report the results to the public.
Financial report– Carl reported that as of 10/24/22, there is $62,222 in all accounts. This includes $20,062 in the Dam Maintenance account, $6,037 in the History Book account, and $2,036 in the Canal Maintenance account. All dues have been paid and all invoices for Goose Management have been paid. The annual financial report has been prepared, edited and mailed to the state, and the federal filing is now completed. Laura and Carl had a first meeting to review the current accounting procedures. The history book project has about 200 books in inventory which could add up to $4,000 to that account.
Pond history book sales to date & marketing plan going forward – Ken discussed that the RPA purchased 750 books and have received payment for 519 books sold. A total of 31 free books were donated (free of charge) to libraries, book sponsors, and donors of $200 or more in this year’s annual fund-raising solicitation. There are 200 books left. Ken and Kerry have 157 of these, and the other 43 books are out at our vendors, for sale.
Seven sponsors donated a total of $2,413, and the RPA put up $6,000 in “front money” to enable payment of initial publishing costs before book sale revenue started coming in. Our income from books sales to date is $10,096, plus the donation of $2,413 from books sponsors, for revenues of $12,509. Publishing expenses of $12,151 and marketing expenses of $301, total $12,452, for a net income to date of $37. The RPA’s up-front funding of $6,000 is now fully recovered, so we have a net revenue of $37, with the potential to add another $3,000 to $4,000 when the remaining inventory is sold.
While book sales have slowed down, as expected, four of our six sale venues continue to sell the books. (Hancock Shaker Village & Arrowhead close for the winter). Marketing plans include using Richmond Record& Local Yokel to encourage holiday gift purchases, and selling the book at the spring LAPA-West symposium.
Project updates & other developments at the pond:
Weed Management- Linda, Doreen, Carl and Jim McGrath attended a Zoom meeting with Dominick of Solitude to discuss 2023 options. At this meeting Jim requested that Dominic follow up with Natural Heritage for clarification on why there was a change in decreasing Diquat quantity and their new stance on the bridle shiners. He will also ask about the timing of treatment and the areas affected by the shiners.
Jim will handle the permitting and the hope is weed harvesting, hand pulling of weeds and herbicides will all be in an amended permit through the Con Com which would enable us to have a flexible weed management plan for the Pond. The permit for Richmond needs to be renewed by May 2023. Pittsfield’s Con Com just renewed their permit for a year. Jim will ask about amending this to add in weed harvesting and hand pulling.
Solitude did not conduct a weed mapping this year. This is important to have this done yearly to be able to make a plan for treatment.
Beach, tributary and cyanobacteria testing update; updating of protocol – Carl met with Jonna and Bruce to review the tributary testing procedures and plan on doing the next tests in 2023 when the weather warms up. LAPA West does the cyanobacteria testing every other week and the RPA provides the boat.
Ken is still working on updating the working draft of the water testing protocol, merging several components. This will include E.coli testing at the beaches and tributaries along with cyanobacteria testing. Once the draft is completed, it will be circulated for corrections and approvals by the various responsible parties. He is also working on a pond-related emergency contact list.
Goose management plan assessment results & possible plan development for 2023 – Laura reported that she sent out a survey to the 2022 participants to the program. She has heard back from four of them. A summary of the feedback includes: 1) Do more chasing rather than less, and include egg addling at the beginning of the season, 2) Keep the program as is, 3) Keep the program as is but add decoys on the property, and 4) Would prefer not to participate next season.
Identification of volunteers for most RPA tasks:
Ken stated that the coming year will be one of restructuring, in part to spread the workload more evenly across all board members of the RPA, as well as other volunteers. Two “task lists” were shared in advance with all board members and with all 82 subscribers to the RPA website. The two lists, Pond Management Tasks and Marketing & Communication Tasks are in addition to the tasks that the RPA by-laws assign to each of the officers. He stressed that each of the officers already has a full workload and most of us are volunteers.
The lists were shared on the Zoom screen and Ken asked for volunteers for each task. Any tasks, for which no one volunteers, could well be tasks that don’t get performed. He encouraged members to share if they are “maybe interested” in stepping in to prevent a task from being scratched off the RPA’s list next year, although potential volunteers would need to know more about the work entailed first.
See the two separate lists (at end of these minutes) with volunteers noted.
Identification of winter projects:
Doreen will do the annual report which needs to be submitted to the Town in February.
Weed management permitting and plan will be ongoing, with Linda and Doreen
Ken will update the water testing protocol.
Louise will reach out to area schools to develop educational projects utilizing the Pond.
Odds & ends:
Pond drawdown plans – Matt reported that the drawdown begins November 1st, and will go down 1 or 2” a day until 2 feet is reached. Refill is in spring, bringing up to normal level by April 1st.
LAPA-West’s lakes & ponds management symposium: The symposium was deferred until spring. Ken will be doing a presentation on his experience with writing a book about the Pond.
Carl kayaked the lake on October 23rd and saw 3 power boats still at docks.
Bruce is working on signage for boating safety that will be displayed at the boat ramp.
Louise will follow up about remediation of the drainage swale at Branch Farm.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 8:30
ATTENDEE LIST:
Directors present (voting): Ken Kelly (president, independent cottages), Louise Brogan (vice-president, At-Large), Carl Foote (treasurer, Branch Farm), Doreen Donovan (secretary, Richmond Shores), Laura Rosenthal (Asst. Treasurer, South Pond Farm), Jonna Gaberman (Whitewood), Miles Garfinkel (At-Large), Matt Linick (Camp Arrow Wood), Cam Stockton (Camp Russell)
Ex-officio present (non-voting): Danielle Fillio (Richmond Town Administrator)
Alternates present: None
Guests present: Linda Kay (Richmond Shores), Bruce Wintman (Whitewood), Holly Stover
Directors absent: None
Ex-officio absent: Jim McGrath (City of Pittsfield), Tom Potter (Richmond Conservation Commission)
Alternates Absent: Kais Abderrahim (Camp Russell), Gordon Dinsmore (South Pond Farm), Brian Grebeldinger (Richmond Shores), Kerry Hamilton (At-Large), Barry Kellogg (Richmond Shores), Kitty Levitan (Whitewood), Tim Mason (independent cottages), Jon Millburg (Camp Arrow Wood), Al Nardacci (independent cottages), Joe McGovern (Camp Russell), Ron Veillette (Richmond Conservation Commission)
Pond Management Tasks Assigned (at 10/25/22 RPA Meeting)
1. Manage the weed management program, including related collaboration with the Town Administrator & weed treatment vendor(s) - Linda and Doreen
2. Assist with the weed management program - Jim McGrath & Danielle
3. Study & implement strategies to control invasive plants (purple loosestrife, phragmites australis (common reed), others, (possibly as school project) – Holly & Miles
4. Manage the tributary testing program (4 tributaries & the outflow at the dam), including taking samples & driving samples (on ice) to the Lee testing lab & maintaining related historical records. Communicating results to others as appropriate - Louise, Jonna & Bruce
5. Assist with tributary water testing program (access to a boat by one of the two tributary testers is helpful but not required) - Louise, Jonna & Bruce
6. Provide twice-monthly boat rides for the LAPA-West cyanobacteria tester (summer only; requires boat) – Louise with Ken & Don assisting
7. Develop an updated merged water testing & related communications protocol (beaches, tributaries, & cyanobacteria) & solicit endorsements from all involved parties - Ken, Louise, Jonna & Bruce
8. Manage the Canada goose management program - No volunteers
9. Monitor & maintain the public shoreline fishing trail beyond town beach - Miles
Marketing & Communication Tasks Assigned (at 10/25/22 RPA Meeting)
1. Manage the RPA website, including keeping it updated (posting minutes, updates, etc.) – Bruce, Ken assists with transition
2. Serve as “backup” RPA website manager, with access password & editing instructions – Bruce, initially
3. Manage the RPA website’s subscriber list (now 86 members) & send out twice monthly email communications to that list (RPA meeting reminders, notices that the most recent minutes have been posted, & occasional special notices such as pond closings) - Doreen
4. Manage the RPA Facebook page - No volunteers
5. Update, print & distribute the RPA brochures (to boat launch kiosk holder & Bartlett’s) - Doreen
6. Maintain the RPA kiosk at the public boat launch - Doreen
7. Write a monthly Richmond Pond Update column, with photos, for the Richmond Record (April to November) - No volunteers; Ken will continue for a few more months
8. Manage the RPA Zoom account & serve as host for RPA meetings conducted by Zoom. Carl
9. Plan & coordinate the annual RPA meeting & picnic - Louise
10. Maintain RPA’s non-financial historical records (hard copy &/or electronic) - see separate list of project files) – Maintenance of these files may be split by function. Holly suggested they be stored in the new Town Library
11. Manage ongoing marketing for the book - A History of Richmond Pond - Kerry
12. Maintain & share with a select few a more private list of emergency contacts (cell numbers preferred) around the pond (both camps, the 4 community associations, key town officials, etc.) -Ken
13. Develop & support an educational outreach initiative to engage local school students with pond management - Holly & Louise
