Huff Run Watershed Restoration Partnership, Inc
July 19, 2005 meeting minutes
Carl Harsha acted as President in Ed Taggart’s absence.
In attendance: Merv Burton, Carl Harsha, Phil Rufener, Judy Rufener, Bo Hysong, Mike Steinmaus, Mike Patterson, Glenn Beatty, Mike Farber, Cheryl Socotch and Maureen Wise.
Carl called the meeting to order at 5:40.
Maureen invited the members to renew their memberships. Carl stated that we would raise the price from $5 this year to $10 next year.
The terms for President and Treasurer were up. In Ed’s absence, nominations for President were tabled until the next meeting. Judy was nominated to be Treasurer for the next term and accepted. The group still does not have a secretary. Mike Farber was nominated but declined. Carl urged all members to search for a person willing to help in this position. He also asked that Maureen make a presentation at the Mineral City Senior Center about the HRWRP and ask if any of the seniors would be interested in being secretary.
The June minutes were approved by all members.
Judy Rufener gave the Treasurer’s Report: $742.74 in June
$50 donation to MC UMC
petty cash replenished
$125 added in donations for 5K and memberships
now: $786.72
Phil Rufener motioned to accept the report. Bo Hysong seconded.
OLD BUSINESS
VISTA: Maureen stated that Terri will start on July 21, that following Thursday. A note was passed around the group to welcome Terri. The office still needs a phone for her desk. Maureen asked that a member donate one for her to use.
At this time, the group deviated from the agenda and discussed that Rural Action started putting their “wish lists” online at Amazon.com. Maureen said that there is now a Huff Run wish list there as well.
Fun Day: Maureen went over different ideas and events that were held at the last Fun Day to see if the group still wanted to do them: dunking booth (although there was much discussion of the unsanitary water used, the group decided yes), watermelon eating contest (yes), basketball foul shot (yes), bake sale (yes). She then discussed additional items she was planning: the music has been lined up, a watershed skit with puppets, fair food venders (pending), and crafts. She said that she will really need help for registration in the morning for the 5K. The Fire Department is planning on having sausage sandwiches and so is the American Legion. Carl asked Maureen to contact the Fire Department to discuss who should do the sandwiches. Mike Steinmaus said that we should send out press releases about these events early.
RA/HRWRP MOU: Carl and Bo met with Mike Steinmaus at the last meeting to discuss some minor changes in the MOU. We are waiting to hear back from Rural Action.
Insurance Letter: Maureen received a letter from RA’s insurance company that day about how the HRWRP can’t be a rider on RA’s insurance. She read the letter to the group. It did not clarify that if an event or project is organized by an RA employee (Maureen or Terri) that the event will be covered by their insurance. Maureen is to contact RA again to ask for an additional letter.
NEW BUSINESS
Project Update: Cheryl gave a brief update about the Lyons project. Two impoundments have been eliminated and a lot of soil has been moved around. There have been some problems with the amount of trees removed. Usually, all the trees are piled up on the edges of the site for wildlife habitat but there are limestone channels on the edges of this site. A chipper has been hired to chip most of the trees. Jim (through Maureen) reports that 75% of the earthwork is done and that the project is ahead of schedule.
Again, out of order, Maureen announced that there will be an exclusive tour of the Lyons project for HRWRP members that following Thursday. Meet Jim Gue, Maureen and Terri (the new VISTA) at the Village Café at noon for lunch and with the tour starting at 1:00.
Recycling Ink Cartridges: Maureen has been doing some research on free fundraising. One of the easiest fundraisers is the collect ink cartridges and send them to companies who recycle them. They pay between $1 and $12 (unusual) per cartridge. We would ship them back to the companies for free and get a check cut each time we send them in. Maureen’s husband’s company has already committed to donating their cartridges. Maureen asked that all members turn in theirs to the HRWRP office and ask other people to as well as look for additional companies to help out. The printer cartridges at the HRWRP office will be turned in for $1. They also take cell phones. We will have to give $20 of this to Rural Action.
Illegal Dumping: Maureen reminded the group that illegal dumping is the number two priority in the watershed after the new prioritizing we did at the Watershed Planning meeting. She may have found some funders to clean up dumps in Tuscarawas County and will continue looking for others. In addition to cleaning up dumps, the plan includes promoting recycling in the area. There are recycling drop off sites at the Sandy Township garage (which takes aluminum, plastic, cardboard, and glass) and Pike Township garage (which takes the afore mentioned products plus paper). Maureen has also found a web group in the area called Freecycle where people trade items instead of throwing them into a landfill. Maureen signed up the HRWRP to be part of the group. If anyone would like to participate, contact Maureen or visit their website (there is a link off the Huff Run site). Mike Steinmaus said that we should have a press release about this as well.
Correspondence:
Maureen presented the OSM newsletter with a page long article about the Lyons ground breaking events.
We also received a thank you from the Mineral City United Methodist Church for our donation.
Maureen thanked Carl and Marlene Harsha for the minifridge they donated to the HRWRP office.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:50.
Respectfully submitted by Mike Steinmaus and Maureen Wise.