Present: Madeleine Florent, Marion Crowley, Mike Wawrkow, Gerard Dunphy, Ross Traverse, Danny Gosse, Paul Snelgrove, Susan Boulos, Harvey Best

Regrets: Shirley Thorne

1. Welcome and Consideration of Agenda:

Madeleine opened the meeting and welcomed everyone, including new members Harvey Best and Susan Boulos. The agenda was approved.

2. Minutes of the Last Meeting:

The minutes of the August 29 meeting were approved.

3. Business Arising from the Minutes:

a. Report on the Gully Project:

The Strategic Plan was presented to Council on September 24. Council has approved a contribution of $15,000, including in-kind, for the Gully project in 2002, subject to dollars being approved during the budget review. A proposal for funding will be submitted to EcoAction by October 1. The cost of the project is over $100,000 which is based on 50/50 cost-shared funding. Our share is contingent on obtaining a Green Team from the Conservation Corps; an application for this will need to be submitted in the next few weeks. The EcoAction proposal covers the first year of the 3-year strategic plan and focuses on conservation, education and community awareness. Year 2 will look at a walking trail, blinds and an outdoor classroom; the wetland interpretation centre is slated for Year 3.

It has come to our attention that the Town can issue tax receipts for donations to our project. This is being done by other stewardship groups and could include cash donations or donations of land or other material items. For example, if someone wished to donate some land or an easement to the project, they could receive a tax receipt for the appraised value of the land. Madeleine is checking on this to see exactly how this works. Tax receipts could make donations to our project attractive to individuals.

b. Trail’s End Update:

The development plan is before Council and some changes have been requested. The plan will be sent to EHJV for review. The real estate sign on IML mentions "waterfront" lots, which is technically not correct because of the 30 metre buffer zone. We will point this out to Council and point out the need to emphasize to the developer that they have to enforce the buffer and

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include it as part of the property deeds. Some questions remain, such as whether landowners will be allowed to put up fences. It was suggested that signs be put up at key points in the development reminding owners of the buffer restrictions.

c. Habitat Management Plan:

Council is reviewing the final draft and the Plan is expected to be approved at the next Council meeting on October 1. Ideally, more signs could be put up announcing the wetland areas.

d. ECTA Official Opening, September 9:

Cyril Power attended the official opening on behalf of the town and signed the charter for the northern section of the trail. The offices of the ECTA will be located in Torbay once they move from Bay Bulls.

e. Town Web Page:

Mayor Bob Codner is keen to update the town’s web page and a student has been hired to do some upgrading. Once this has been done, we will be able to link our committee’s web page up with their server and start publicizing our new web site.

f. Walk for Pat McGrath, September 8:

The walk was well attended and raised several thousand dollars. There is a strong desire to make this an annual affair.

g. TETC Terms of Reference:

Mike will review the old terms of reference and prepare a draft update. The document will include a section on our relationship with Council and on lines of communications. Danny Gosse and Gerard Dunphy offered to help.

h. Cox’s Marsh Battery:

Shirley contacted the town regarding the state of the fences and they have already been repaired.

4. Treasurer’s Report

Counting the printer purchase ($180) and the expenses for the Property Beautification Awards, the Committee now has a balance of approximately $500 in its account. The Committee has received a $50 donation from Caul’s. In addition, a $1,000 donation has been made to the Gully project by Sandy Sandeman.

5. New Business:

a. Municipal Elections:

Bob Codner has been elected Mayor. He has served as our Council representative for some time and has been supportive of our work. Peggy Roche is Deputy Mayor. Councillors include Mary Thorne-Gosse, Jim Cantwell and newcomers Joe Dunphy, Barry Walsh and Pam Evans-Manning. It is not yet known who will be our new Council representative. Marion will send the Council a letter of congratulations.

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b. Stewardship Association of Municipalities, October 11-12, Bay Roberts:

Shirley will attend as the secretary of the Association. Madeleine and possibly Gerry Hayes will represent the town. Harvey is interested in attending so Shirley will check to see if we can send more than two representatives.

c. Dead Calf Ridge, October 7:

Danny will lead the walk which has been renamed "Walk to the Mountains". This walk starts somewhere off Bauline Line. Danny will contact Madeleine on details of where to meet, etc, so an announcement can be posted on email and in the Telegram and radio stations. Gerard will do a poster.

d. Water Quality and Water Supply:

The quality of the town’s water supply is good, but there is mounting concern about the quality of the water in private wells. A high colliform count has been found in wells on Patrick’s Path and Garden Road. No explanation has yet been found for these results. Residents here have been advised to boil their water. The town will be recommending that all private wells be tested.

e. Backyard Habitat Workshop:

Ralph has offered to do another Backyard Habitat Workshop for us, with a special focus this time on feeding wintering birds and wildlife. Everyone is busy these days, especially with the Gully project, so if any member is interested and would like to volunteer their time to organize this, they should let Shirley or Madeleine know so we can book a time with Ralph.

f. Location of TETC Meetings:

The town has asked us to either change the day of our meetings or our location since the library is no longer open on Wednesdays and this means special arrangements have to be made to open the town hall for us when we meet on the last Wednesday of each month. Everyone agreed the town hall is our preferred meeting location since we are a committee of Council. Concerning a change in the day, it would be very difficult to change to another day of the week because we have been meeting on Wednesdays since the beginning and some members are not available on other week days (eg. Madeleine, Marion, etc). We will ask the town if one of us could be given the key codes for the town hall or, alternately, we will look at other locations, such as the Kinsmen Centre or Liddy’s. Neither of these locations however are considered ideal so we will try to maintain the town hall as our meeting place if at all possible.

6. Meetings Attended by Committee Members in September:

Madeleine has been attending Council meetings and she recommends that members consider going whenever they can as there are many items that come up for discussion that are relevant to our committee. If everyone takes a turn, it would mean attending only once every three or four months.

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a. ATV Problem:

The problem of ATV abuse is surfacing again. There was one near accident on Garden Road recently. There were at least two serious accidents this summer that we know about including one child who was seriously burned when his ATV caught fire and another where a child hit a cement wall on Convent Lane. There appears to be lots of new ATVs around and problems were reported in many areas including Byrne’s Road, Charles Place, Bauline Line, etc. While the RNC has a policy of zero tolerance and they have stepped up their monitoring in the past year, enforcement is still the big issue. Many of the drivers are under age and still more have no insurance. Everyone agreed that we need to revisit this issue with Council. Gerard will prepare a letter to Council outlining our concerns regarding safety and environmental issues connected with ATVs. It is perhaps time that our town look at taking action similar to the town of Paradise which has hired a private company to police their trails. We will also raise the issue at the SAM meeting to get some idea how other communities are dealing with the issue.

8. Date of Next Meeting and Adjournment:

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 31, at 8pm. Although this is Halloween, it was agreed that we would not change the date since most of the trick-or-treating should be over by 8pm. Madeleine will confirm the location of the meeting after discussion with the town.

The meeting adjourned at 10pm.

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