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- Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Paul
Vincze, Mario Blaum, Ed Jackson, Sam Drake, Holly Davis,
Woody Collins, Martin Hendess
- We have $193.44 in our account.
- Mike E-mailed Eric Goodrich about security problems in the
park. Eric sent the information to his staff.
- Mike talked to Matt Anderson about the security issues at
Manila Drive and Santa Teresa Spring.
- Matt said the CEQA document for the new trail is coming
along, and the new park master plan the historic area is on schedule.
- Ed said the response time for calls to the sheriff about
problems at Santa Teresa Spring has been getting worse. He has been
calling the number given by the rangers to call in case of emergency.
The dispatchers usually don't know where the spring is. Ed even gives
map coordinates, but it doesn't help. It's been taking about 40-45
minutes for the sheriff to respond.
- The rangers were coming by the spring first, before dark,
then going up to close up the park and then go on to Hellyer. They were
missing what was happening at the spring in the early evening. Now they
will close up the upper park first, then drop by the spring before
heading to Hellyer.
- Ed suggested putting a camera on the hill to record illegal
activities at the spring and another one on a tree by the street to
record them getting in and out of their cars.
- The canal road near the spring has been tagged. The
retaining wall is missing some caps.
- There is a new camp host at the Mounted Ranger Unit.
- Mike talked to Joe Schultz. The master plan is on-schedule,
and the planning is funded. They are working on the CEQA document for
the new trail.
- We saw a copy of the new negative declaration document for
the new trail. The old document said the trail was for hiking and
biking on one page and said it was for hiking only on another page. The
new document doesn't specify the usage of the trail at all. It only
says that it is a single-track trail, 4'-6' wide. The Board of
Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the neg. dec. on 9/26/06. Comments
must be sent before then.
- There is a small fence to the left of the Brockenhurst car
gate, blocking entry to the Mounted Ranger Unit on that side. The
homeowner to the left of the gate complained about not being able to
back out of her driveway because of traffic coming out through that
side. A sign on the gate says to use the right side of the car gate.
There's a gap there.
- Sam talked about geocaching. The county is drafting a
policy. Ed Souza will write the policy. The rangers don't have time to
police the caches and find out who owns what. They are looking at a
self-policing policy. They asked for geocachers to help monitor the
caches.
- Ron said he was monitoring the Santa Teresa Park caches by
reading the logs for all the caches in the park. Ron read a quote from
the log for the cache at Santa Teresa Spring: "2nd time back looking
for this cache. Still new at this game but im catching on. Most people
dont kow this place exists but its really kind of a cool place. Saw a
turle sunbathing and another 1 swimming around. Plan to go back to pick
up trash as people have dumped stuff around. Plan to take a trash bag
with me from now on."
- Kathleen Hooper wants to get recreational activities in all
the parks. She wants to spread the activities around. Almaden
Quicksilver and Santa Teresa are already heavily. She wants Mike to
lead senior tours, but outside of Santa Teresa Park.
- The county counsel said that volunteers can't drive county
vehicles. This means the staff has to drive, and it means more work for
them. The county is self-insured. No accidents with county vehicles
have involved volunteers.
- We talked about the documents required for us becoming a
5013c organization. Ron had some questions about the bylaws. On page 3,
section 2, Qualifications for directors, it says directors must "Reside
within five miles of the Santa Teresa Park neighborhood." We had some
discussion about whether that was necessary and that the reference to
"neighborhood" was vaque. We agreed to change it to just "Reside within
five miles of Santa Teresa Park." Ron also questioned page 9, Section
8, Duties of Secretary, where it talks about keeping documents at the
principal office of the corporation, which is Mike's house. Mike said
that as long as he has access to our website, he has access to the
documents. Mike has to fill out a 26-page form, the Application for
Recognition of Exemption, as part of the 5013c process. We have to list
what we do as an organization. Sandy Soto, Zoe Lofgren's aide, reviewed
our bylaws and helped with the form. It costs a one-time fee of $150 to
file the form.
- Mario reported on the trails. They are in good shape. The
Coyote Peak Trail has been graded. They graded many of the trails on
Wednesday. The Calero unit got the grader for a month.
- Woody said there is a radio in the lockbox at the BGJ Ranch
for Trail Watch volunteers. He used it once already. Volunteers walk
the trails and radio for help if they see problems.
- There is a trail day at Uvas Canyon on Saturday. It may be
on the Nibb's Knob trail.
- There is a pig meeting sponsored by the Forrest Williams'
office on Wednesday 8/23 at 6 pm at Southside Community Center.
- Santa Teresa Community Fest: Ron is organizing this event.
It runs from 11 am to 5 pm. We get a 10'X10' space. It's first-come,
first-served to get spaces. We can start setting up as early as 7 am.
The tables need to be ready for Fire Marshal inspection by 10 am. We
need to man our area the whole time the fest is open. We need to bring
our own tables, chairs, and shade. Otherwise, we can rent them. Mike
can't be there, but he can run off flyers. We'll need park maps to hand
out. We need volunteers to take turns manning the booth, hand out
literature, and pass out flyers. Ron will be there the whole time. Art
Boudreault wants to come for awhile and sign his books. Mike suggested
giving away a night hike as a prize. Ron suggested doing a hike for
everyone interested and getting sign-ups.
- We pay $200 a year to UNSCC for dues, which pays for
insurance. We also need to volunteer time. They require 2 hours per
month, plus 8 hours at their annual conference. (See the UNSCC FAQs.) We talked
about whether it's worth the time and money. It may become more or less
necessary after we become a 5013c.
- Ron showed a slideshow showing: new radio box on the BGJ
Ranch restroom, 2 logs pulled from the Joice Trail, bulldozed trails
from the Joice Trail to the Bernal Hill Loop Trail, burned area near
the free parking lot on Bernal Road, burned areas in the Pueblo Area
(controlled burn for fire training), signs on the Brockenhurst Gate,
new camp host at the MRU.
- Upcoming events:
- Dog Days of Summer: Saturday Aug. 5, 10am - 12pm, Pueblo
Area, dog walk with ranger.
- Praying Mantis Night: Saturday Aug. 12, 7:30-9:30 pm in
the Bernal Ranch Barn. movie and bug expert with real praying mantises.
- County Parks Links: beginning golf for kids 3-9,
Saturdays July 29-Sept. 2, 1pm - 2 pm, Santa Teresa Golf Club.
- Calling All Coyotes: Saturday Aug. 26, 8-10pm, Pueblo
Area, night hike.
- Coastal Cleanup Day, Saturday Sept. 16, 9am-12pm, Stevens
Creek, Coyote Lake, Calero, Los Gatos Creek @Vasona, Coyote Creek
@Hellyer, Uvas Reservoir.
- There will be no meeting in October.
- Volunteer Hours for July
- Ronald Horii: 19
- Mike Boulland: 10
- Kitty Monahan: 3
- Holly Davis: 2
- Sam Drake: 4
- Woody Collins: 2
- Paul Vincze: 15
- Ed Jackson: 5
- Mario Blaum: 12
- Martin Hendess: 3
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