Members Present:  John Peska, Peter Palmiotto (Co-Chairs), France Menk, Lewis Shelley, Wendy Grossman  

Members Absent:  Alicia Flammia, Steven Dumont

Alternates Present:  Kara Dexter, Nicole Adams

Visitors Present:  Michael Nerrie, Jean Kobeski (Recording Secretary)

Call to Order:  Peter called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.  This meeting was recorded.

Review and Approval of Minutes:  Wendy corrected an error in the first sentence of page 3.  She asked that it read:  Peter sent a letter requesting the $5,000 for the RTP Grant from the Fanny Mason Fund.  He did not send the letter to the Trustees of the Trust Funs as stated in the October minutes.

Lew questioned the name in the sixth and seventh sentences on page 2 under Cranberry Meadow.  John stated it should read:  Mike (not Mark) Hubbard.

Peter asked that the second sentence under 2024 Budget heading on page 1 be changed to read:  He added $1500 for Rail Trail Maintenance and $1,000 to the intern budget line. Peter said the Commission has $2650 for Dam Fees and $2000 earmarked for Dam Maintenance in their budget.  He asked if fees and maintenance could be paid from the town’s General Fund rather than the WCC budget.  The answer is no. In fact, the Commission recently received an invoice for dam fees for Mill Pond, Cranberry Meadow, and Reservoir Dams.

With those corrections, Lew moved to accept the October 2, 2023 Minutes. John seconded and all voted in favor.  Motion carried.

Public Business

Report from the Chair:  Peter reported that the Property Stewardship Committee (formerly known as the Easement Monitoring Committee) met November 6 at 5:30. They discussed monitoring town-owned lands, easements and other properties for which they are responsible.  Their goal is to gather information on each of these properties so they can map them and answer questions anyone may have about the properties. Peter said they are working on this but, “We aren’t there yet”.

France asked that someone write a short, interesting article about this for the WCC website.  She said it is important to educate the public about what the Commission does. She asked that a picture accompany the article, if possible.

Michael Nerrie asked if the money for the intern would go for projects like this. Peter answered that the Commission has several projects on a priority list, such as reassessing town wetlands and rewriting the town conservation plan, that an intern could help with.  Michael asked if the Commission wants to involve Antioch students in projects like they have in the past and Peter answered they would.

Financial Report:  John said he does not have the breakdown of funds that the Commission is used to receiving monthly.  He said he would meet with Rich Kreissle to set that up.

Correspondence:  The Commission received a thank you note from Savannah Anderson, recipient of the scholarship for Barry Conservation Camp. John said he talked to Justin Cassarino about accelerating the selection of the next recipient because the name needs to be submitted by mid-December. 

The Commission received the Monadnock Conservancy Newsletter with a solicitation for a donation.

The NHACC sent a letter asking the Commission to renew their membership. The renewal amount was not included in the letter, so Lew said he would contact Barbara Richter for that information. The Commission will vote to pay next month.

Kate Buckman of the Connecticut River Conservancy will attend the December meeting to discuss the BF dam relicensing.

New Business

Dam Relicensing Fees:  John presented the invoice for dam relicensing. The fees are:

​Mill Pond Dam​​  $750

​Reservoir Dam​ $1500

​Cranberry Meadow.  ​  $400

Wendy moved to pay the $2600 for dam fees.  France seconded and all voted in favor.  Motion carried.

LaValley Invoice:  Kara presented Steven’s $248 invoice for materials purchased at La Valley for the bridge in Fanny Mason Forest. Peter moved to reimburse Steven the $248.  John seconded and all voted in favor. Motion carried.  John said he would see Rich about paying this invoice and the dam fees.

Old Business 

Adopting Meeting Norms:  Peter reviewed the norms previously compiled by the Commission.  Peter moved to adopt the norms.  France seconded and all voted in favor.  Motion carried.  Peter said the norms should be reviewed annually.

Walpole Gateway:  Kara proposed that the gate be closed on November 15. France will contact Steven for Gateway information that she can put on the WCC website. 

WCC Website:  France is now working on the website and asked for photographs (with identification).  She also wants Commissioners to send her information about what Commission projects they have been working on. If anyone has additions or corrections to the website, these can be done via France.

Fanny Mason Clean-up:  Before anything more is done, Commissioners need to determine if the individual who was cleaning the area wishes to continue and what the payment structure was. Was it hourly, fixed price, monthly, annually?  How was the town invoiced? 

Cranberry Meadow Update:  John emailed the dam bureau with the letter of deficiencies and asked what the Commission’s requirements regarding the deficiencies are. He learned that, if machinery is used for the clean-up, a permit is needed. 

John said he contacted Mike Hubbard about the clean-up but has not heard back.  John presented a back-up plan if Hubbard is unable to do the work.

Kara asked Wendy if she had researched the deed to the land.  Wendy reported she had but stated no one has found a deed showing the Knapps gave the meadow to the town.  It is not in the Cheshire County Register of Deeds. Sarah Downing has also looked several places for it. Wendy checked the tax parcel but it was very confusing and did not provide the information she was looking for.  She said she would also look through the files that Lauren returned hoping she might find some useful information there.

Nerrie Easement:  Michael Nerrie reported that the completion of the easement of the their property has been moved to 2025. A discussion ensued about when the Commission should pay the Monadnock Conservancy the $7500.  It was decided to table further discussion until the December meeting when Ryan Owens from the Conservancy will be present to explain the process and answer questions.

Lew said he would email the most recent information on the Nerrie Easement  from Ann McBride to the Commissioners.

Prioritizing Future Projects:   Prior to the meeting Kara read the RSA for Conservation Commissions and stated that the projects the WCC has been undertaking are in line with state requirements. After a brief discussion of future projects, the Commissioners agreed that the top three areas to focus on are:   

​​​Property stewardship 

​​​Trails

​​​An updated Conservation Plan 

Wendy shared copies of the Municipal Conservation Commissions Handbook and Conserving Your Land.

Kara offered to write the annual report for the Commission once again.  She asked for ideas to include and France suggested engaging more with the community.  It was decided to table this topic until next month’s meeting to give Commissioners time to think about what they feel should be included in the report.

PFAS:  France attended the recent meeting about PFAS arranged by the Chickerings and shared the discussion.  It included PFAS research, personal experiences with PFAS, and what is being done around the country.  France has information that she can email to the Commissioners. She also offered to find out about the proposed NH PFAS regulations that were due out in November.

Recurring Business

Walpole Trails Subcommittee:    Next Tuesday will be a work day to build the Fanny Mason bridge. Trail work at Mill Pond will take place next year.  

Rail Trail:  ​1.  Wendy thanked Lew for for the work he did to complete the RTP Grant work.

​​2.  Wendy said several volunteers did a variety of jobs.

​​3.  Next step is to complete paperwork and financial reports.

​​4.  There will be a guided walk on the Rail Trail on November 19.

​​5.  Wendy will write an extensive report on the Rail Trail for the Clarion. 

​​7.  Wendy and Lew stated there is an increase in Rail Trail usage.

Lew stated he contacted the Bureau of Trails for the return of the bond money.  He then gave a report on the work he did.  

Wendy would now like to have a discussion about what the town wants from the Rail Trail long term. How do they want to develop it and how might they go about doing it? Wendy proposed that she and Will put together a presentation for early next year for the Commission and Trail Committee to discuss this.

Property Monitoring:  Wendy offered to do the Graves and Ballam Farms. She offered to help someone else with the Aldrich property.

Kara asked that Commissioners get agenda items to her by the Tuesday before the meeting. 

Kate Buckman and Ryan Owens will attend the December meeting. The next meeting will be Monday, December 4, 2023.

Adjournment:  With no further business to discuss, Peter adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jean Kobeski, Recording Secretary

** These minutes are in draft form until approved at the December 4, 2023 meeting.

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