WHITE MOUNTAIN LAND TRUST

Minutes of October 9, 2007

Board members present: Jim Anderson, Sue Sitko, Lynn Krigbaum, Norris Dodd, Dottie Baker, Barb Bechler

Board members absent: Darryl Hagen, Roz Parkman, Richard Remington

Also present: Wes Alderson, Liz Jernigan, Tom Jernigan, Keith Justice, Barbara Teague, John Vuolo

At 4:05 PM Jim called the meeting to order. A quorum was present. The September minutes were reviewed. Dottie moved and Barb seconded a motion to accept the minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

Morgan Brown is drafting an amendment to our by-laws to have proxy voting. This amendment will be read at the November meeting and will be voted on at the December meeting.

Norris closed the old checking account which was under the TRACKS account since it was set up before we had an EIN (Employer Identification Number). He opened a new checking account with Compass Bank with our own EIN. He also opened a new interest bearing savings account for the “Save Our Park” contributions. The balance in our operating account is $3027.19 with no recent checks having cleared. (Actual balance after checks would be $1232.22. The “Save Our Park” account balance is $8290. The balance of the Wells Fargo Brokerage account is $215,746.88 as of 8/31/07.

Sue will contact Barb Davis for an invoice for the production costs of the Woodland Lake Park (WLP) DVDs. ($7000)

There was discussion of whether to liquidate any of the stock donations to use for operating expenses. Sue moved and Dottie seconded that we liquidate the 65 shares of Exxon and put the money in our checking account. The motion carried.

Tom Jernigan presented the Open Space Committee report. He said that Steve Campbell and Joe Russell are working on making a town park on land which the town owns across from the library. A group met at WLP and discussed priorities for open space in the park. A draft of the committee guidelines was presented and discussion followed about the make-up of the committee and the formalization of it as the “Open Space and Urban Trail Committee” with staff and a budget provide by the town. The committee would make recommendations to the Town Council. It will be desirable for a member of this committee to be included in meetings with developers from the initial stages of interest at the Predevelopment Conference and at the Development Review Board meetings. Finally, the Open Space Committee is working on prioritizing open space areas and trail connections for the town plan. Sue moved and Barb seconded that the WMLT supports the elevation of the Open Space and Urban Trails Committee to a standing committee which reports to the Town Council. Motion carried. (Norris abstained) Sue will draft a statement of support by WMLT for the Open Space and Urban Trails Committee and will circulate it via e-mail to all WMLT board members and it will be submitted to the town by October 24, 2007.

Next was the update on WLP acquisition. The development subcommittee met at WLP to prioritize parts of the park to save. The group attempting to acquire Big Springs under ELGA legislation by seeking to exempt Big Springs from the 583 acres of the park because it has been under lease to Blue Ridge School District for 25 years is meeting. The designation of up to 160 acres as a National Recreation area or National Monument by the Apache-Sitgraves Forest Supervisor is still a possibility. However, the basic problem is the difficulty in getting an appraisal for the park. The value of the various parcels is needed whether it is a private appraisal or one done by the Forest Service (which will take at least 2 years and only be valid for 90 days). Dottie gave an update on the “Save Our Park” campaign. She felt it was time well spent as she and Jack (her husband) had a table at the Car Show, marched in the parade and manned a table for the Woodland Wildlife Festival. She said the logo went over well and the students who marched in the parade were inspiring with their posters about saving the park. It should be noted that the wind was so fierce the Fall Festival weekend that it destroyed the canopy we had borrowed from Jim and Susan McEvoy. Jim took it upon himself to replace that tent, so we now have a possibly-mendable canopy for future less windy days. I gave the new one to the McEvoys.

Wes Alderson gave an update on the 2020 Committee. He invited the WMLT members to attend the Node meetings sponsored by 2020. The first will be the Old Town Node meeting on October 23 at the Senior Center at 6:30 PM.

Norris met with Jack Barker (Town Atty.) and Kelly Udall (Town Mgr.) regarding a memorandum of understanding (MOU). A draft is done, but there may be changes needed concerning the “Save Our Park” campaign and donations for other open space in town. He also requested that the town provide money to assist the campaign.

Holder Easement report: Sue and Jim went to Eagle Creek October 1 & 2. They felt that clarification needs to be done to the easement document to specify the number of houses which could exist on the property. Also, they asked that a listing of a Conservation Framework be done by the Holders which would be used to describe to future owners of the property (perhaps in 100 years) how to care for the land.

Show Low is proposing a new general plan. Barb will attend the meeting concerning this. She spoke with Gordon Curl (Vice-Mayor of Show Low) and said he is interested in trails and wants to utilize the old barn from the Show Low Meadow as a trail connection facility.

Barbara Teague said she would talk with LuAnne Frost to schedule a “Picnic in the Park” event next summer.

Norris met with Eric Penrod (Pinetop Realty) and he will facilitate a meeting with WMLT board members, Open Space Committee members, Kelly Udall, the owner and the broker for the land across from Blue Ridge School and the Lakeside HOA after Nov. 10^th when Darryl will return from New Zealand.

Lynn read a draft for an article about IRA donations to be submitted to TRACKS for inclusion in their newsletter in November. Wes offered to write an article for the White Mountain Independent about IRA contributions being used to “Save Our Park.”

It was decided that we should postpone discussion of Roz’s extensive comments and ideas to the next meeting as it deserves more than a cursory treatment.

It was decided that another meeting was needed with Morgan Brown to go over the MOU and the conservation easement clarification concerns.

Jim adjourned the meeting at 6:30 PM.

Minutes submitted by Lynn Krigbaum, secretary