Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society Monthly Minutes Opening: 12-2-03 Call to order by President Dan Shade at 7:08PM. Eddie Shepherd of the Jennings County Council dropped in to update our group on the Council's recycling efforts. Nothing is solid and only in the talking stage, but the northwest part of the airport property is being considered as a possible site for a recycling center in a TIF zone. They have currently re-bonded through TIF to pave Golfer's Road. The pipe dream hope would be to build a sheltered drive-through facility similar to the one in Seymour. Eddie stayed through the meeting and offered insightful comment. Attendance: Dan Shade Ken Huff Tom and Sherida Moore JoAnn Hallawell Susannah Hole Larry Allsop Eddie Shepherd Amy Owens Steve Mobley Jennifer Ertel Everett Sparkman Minutes: From last meeting reviewed and accepted. Treasurer's Report: Local balance is $1071.63. There was a donation of $35.00 from Miller Chiropractic and $350 from Industrial Interests, Inc (with a promise of $650 more this year at the rate of 5 cents per pound of trash). HHH balance is $1000. Old Business: 319 Grant- JoAnn and Jennifer were very happy with the final contract from IDEM. The state condensed the grant into projects to which the invoices are to be matched. Jennifer produced a document on which we will keep track of our volunteer hours for the sake of the grant. We are matched @ $20 office work and $16 for labor. Writing these minutes is office work, monitoring the river quality is labor. These are to be turned in at the monthly meetings. Jennifer produced a financial report that documented $6,399.08 of spending of FMRS. Our QAPP must be written, approved by IDEM, and followed in the second quarter (Dec., Jan, Feb.) of our grant. Dan will contact Sim to get that ball rolling. It was suggested that for the 319 purposes e coli might be a more fruitful item to measure than dissolved oxygen. Recycling brochure- Goldie Jeffries has an original brochure of all the locally available sites, which we might put on card stock. Jennifer made an attractive flyer with pictures, Jennings County sites, and text. It is intended to be given out at PAYT sites, schools, the newspaper, and other appropriate places. It might also be used as a place mat in restaurants. Jennifer and Simeon will be making school visits monthly. Jennifer will be at the House of Great Care this month. We need to adjust our river sweep dates to accommodate the community. The APRIL RIVER SWEEP WILL BE ON APRIL 3RD (the race will be on the 18th) THE JUNE SWEEP WILL BE ON JUNE 12TH THE OCTOBER SWEEP WILL BE ON OCTOBER 2ND Jennifer and Tom will get with Roger McKinley to investigate cooperative efforts with the local Kiwanis and to schedule a presentation. Jennifer will attempt to present to the Rotary Club (Tuesdays, noon, Ponderosa) through Carolyn Frey. United Way- Jennifer is the Chair of the non-profits division and in being so must contact all the local non-profits. She gained approval to do so as our representative as well as the United Way's. Training in Indy- Jennifer received curriculum instruction for training water quality monitoring. Participants gain a better understanding of water quality, ways to clean water, macro invertebrates, and doing the paper work. She thought it was beneficial and useful in the future. Travelling display board- Steve Mobley suggested we check out Hamilton Display Company of Indy in order to be economical and explore possibilities. A local group (Rotary) may want to purchase something like this for us. Solid Waste Advisory Board- Jennings county has no one on the board. May not be a bad thing. River Watch sign- IT IS UP AT THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE VERNON HWY. BRIDGE! Earth Team- release form from us was secured. Our meeting hours count and awards from this program could lead to other grant opportunities/approvals. Joann Moore got us on the PDS Community Calendar. New Business: This was the first meeting at the Visitor's Center and the staff festooned the interior in holiday décor for our meeting. We were very appreciative. Susannah presented information on a grant that Jennifer is taking under advisement. Steve Mobley, Executive Director of the Jennings County Community Foundation, offered us a proposal to help the Calli Preserve by helping build bridges for the trail and receiving a permanent plaque at the reserve in return. We agreed to give it a shot and will meet Mr. Mobley and Cliff Chapman, reserve director, at the entrance to the Calli Preserve at 9:00 AM Saturday 12-6-03. If you are willing to help build the bridges, please attend. Steve then educated us on the aspects of endowments. We will meet with him on Monday, December 22, at 9:00 AM in his office on 75 Pike Street in Vernon. We will investigate the logistics of our group going the endowment route and report the findings at the January meeting. You are invited. Use the TIP LINE. Call 1-800-847-4367 (1-800-TIP-IDNR) Adjournment at 9:00 Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003, 7:00 PM in the kitchen at the Jennings County Visitor's Center in the Muscatatuck County Park. Agenda: Minutes Treasurer's report OLD BUSINESS: 319 Grant- update of committee work and HHH T-shirt order update Annual Meeting Foundation status Bridge report NEW BUSINESS: Let us know of any new business that we need to put on the agenda. Set agenda for the next meeting. Adjourn