Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting, 12/01/11




  • Attendees: Sam Drake, Ed Jackson, Maureen Kluska, Kitty Monahan, Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii.
  • Mike's neighbor has a large format photo printer. Mike had him print up some of Ron's pictures. He'll give some to Jim McGrath for the Santa Teresa Golf Course.
  • Volunteer hours: 39.5 hrs last month, 665.48 YTD.
  • Last month's minutes were approved.
  • Current balance: $494.95. All bills are paid.
  • Mike and his daughter Michelle went to a class for non-profits. They learned about the rules and laws for non-profits. For example, we are not exempt from sales tax.
  • "Santa at the Ranch" will be on 12/17 at the Bernal Ranch.
  • John Dorrance reported that the foundation for the east barn at the Bernal Ranch has been poured. It has earthquake supports. The framing is 1/4 done. Construction should be done by January.
  • The barn will be used as a goat enclosure. 4H will have a use agreement. It will only be used for animal husbandry, which will take 3/4 of the space. 1/4 of the space will be used for storage.
  • People with dogs have been cutting through the ranch.
  • Gangs have been tagging at the ranch, but it has been slowing down.
  • Rich in Park Maintenance is retiring.
  • John Dorrance recommends recognizing Cait Hutnik, Chuck Rambo, and Rick Leonard. We should invite them to our meeting for thanks. Ron suggests inviting them to our January dinner and give them certificates and pictures.
  • Ranger Aniko Millan said that there have been car break-ins at the IBM and corral parking lots. Some thieves were arrested at New Almaden, but not the same group.
  • The Parks department has a new director: Rob Courtney.
  • Gloria Gill has a new office specialist for the volunteer program.
  • Volunteers are recognized if they have >50 hours, get a parking pass if they have >100 hours.
  • Mike sent a letter to the Muwekmas requesting input for the sign on Coyote Peak.
  • There's a potluck dinner at Mike's house on 1/5 at 6:30.
  • Next year is our 20th anniversary. We need to celebrate with an event. We can promote the park with arts and literature. We can bring photos. We can have presentations at the library, ghost stories, talk about the park, have kids activities, art, painting, and poetry. No date set yet.
  • Mike will make a presentation to retired Oak Grove teachers in January at Sonoma Chicken Coop. He'll talk about Almaden and will make a presentation on getting kids to participate in local parks.
  • Maureen says we should get people to walk on the Norred Trail.
  • The Open Space Authority has trail walkers. The County Parks has a Trail Watch program. We have an informal park watch.
  • We don't necessarily have to have hikes on the County Parks calendar. We can do our own hikes, like on Meetup.com.
  • There will likely be no money for the CAP Grant next year. Mid-year report is due. We need money for the UNSCC membership, which gives us meeting insurance, and our website. We pay $12/month for our Bank of American account.
  • We are in need of a finance committee if we can't get a CAP Grant next year. Mike and Ron will do it.
  • Sam said that there will be a Bay Area Ridge Trail event in the spring. There will be three events for hikers, bikes, and equestrians. One of them is a family hike in Santa Teresa. The entire route starts at Lexington, runs through Almaden Quicksilver, and ends at Santa Teresa. The whole route is 21 miles.
  • Sam said that Hollister Hills SVRA is interested in setting up a geocaching program. They want to have a formal policy and will coordinate with other SVRA's.
  • Mike is trying to setup a trip to New Idria in Hollister. It had a quicksilver mine.
  • Sam did a 3-day 25-mile trip in Henry Coe. The trip report is on sammydee.net.
  • Ed said that the rangers and sheriffs have been responsive at the spring. There have been some activities.
  • Kitty said the VCC has been working on Adopt-a-Trail. They are looking at how to publicize it.
  • Gloria Gill said they would like to help the park friends groups. They can help duplicate publications and brochures on signing up for the groups. They can create links to friends' websites.
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    Created 1/30/12  by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park