Minutes of Last Meeting

Old Business:

• We discussed the Quality Communities Program grant and decided that the scope of work for projects described in the Request for Applications was broader than the tree maintenance, which we would like to fund.  Evelyn mentioned that she is on the DEC list for grant opportunities.  We decided to look for opportunities for funding that would fit better with our maintenance needs.  Mark suggested we think about putting a proposal together next year for the Quality Communities Program if there is another Request for Applications.  Next Year's proposal could include plans for improving the grounds outside the Red Hook village building and the parking lot across Pine Street.
• Linda, Evelyn, Brenda, and Catherine met on January 30th to search for places where new street trees can be planted this planting season.  We identified 15 properties where new trees could be planted.  Two of these properties had hazard trees removed recently and homeowners would be offered replacement trees.  We wrote letters to these homeowners and sent them with stamped envelopes asking that the homeowners indicate whether or not they are interested in having a new street tree planted on their property this year.  We have received 3 letters in response to this mailing as of February 15th.  All three indicated homeowner interest in new trees, but 2 homeowners wanted to know where these trees would be planted first.  We have had 2 letters returned for incorrect address.  Catherine will work on finding the correct mailing addresses for these homeowners.  We decided that we would plant the trees along Firehouse Lane and consider planting more than one street tree per property if we don't get many responses from our mailing.

• There is $3919.90 in the Village's Village Green fund.
• There is $6642.62 in our personal Village Green fund.
• We decided that the names of these two separate funds were easily confused, thus our personal Village Green fund will now be referred to as the Village Green Development Fund.  Mark suggested using the term "development" because this fund contains the money that we raise through activities such as the Bakeless Bake Sale.  We use this money to augment our funding from the Village of Red Hook.

New Business:

• Village Green Board Members are planning to meet early in March.  We will strategize our spring planting at this meeting and announce a planting date at the next regular meeting.
• David pitched the idea of another pot luck at which volunteers could exchange ideas and express their interests in various activities of the Village Green.
• Evelyn reminded us that Arbor Day is approaching and we need to plan our activities.  Specifically, we need to advertise our Arbor Day plans in local newspapers.

Motion to Close Meeting

• The meeting was adjourned at 7:51 p.m.

Next Meeting

• Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15th, at 7:00 p.m. in the village hall.