Attendees: Paul Roberts, Benjamin Kahn, John Mordes, Don Ross, Julie Irish, Rena Getz, Alex Fee, Jean Fisher, Robin Dexter, Chris Osborn, Evan Weststrate

1. Election of Officers
   • Who will take over for John in the presidency? We don’t have a quorum to elect people by vote. John has come to an agreement with individual members to do the following:
     • John will continue to handle correspondence & create agendas. He will ask either the webmaster or secretary to mail out the agendas to the group. Ben has been asked to create a new mailbox for Amy to receive and send out agenda. Ben will send emails. Ben and John will coordinate at a later time for whom to send things to. Ben will need access to the db of current members as well for correspondence. Ben will set up a meeting with John to transfer information, including closing out our relationship with Network Solutions. Ben will set up monthly meetings via Google Meet, and will put those on the website. In the future anyone with a hemlockgorge.org email address will also have access to the Dropbox. John has asked Ben for dropbox access.
     • John has asked Evan to handle event logistics and physical labor to set up events. Will also negotiate with Chris Osborn to continue to set up our picnics.
     • Karen Osborn has agreed to handle our paperwork for NGOs.
     • Evan has agreed to tag team with John in managing the meeting when John is unavailable.
     • John has spoken to Robin and Don about the role of treasurer. Don has stepped up to be treasurer. He is currently treasurer for Friends of Cold Spring Park and Green Newton. Responsibilities include managing donations to PayPal and our PO box, bank account. Robin will need to meet with Don to transfer records/checkbook. John will have to sign a signature card for Don. Don will also take control of the debit card.
     • Amy will continue as secretary. Will continue to take notes. Will continue to work on PR. Will continue to manage website content.
     • Chris will take care of the yearly task of sending out the federal 501c3 postcard. He will take on the responsibility of yearly state 501c3 registration; the process is currently on Dropbox.
   • President: John Mordes
   • VP: Evan Weststrate
   • Treasurer: Don Ross
   • Secretary: Amy Kahn
   • Webmaster: Ben Kahn
2. Election of  the Board of Directors
   • Rena Getz (continue)
   • Paul Roberts (continue)
   • Robin Dexter (new)
   • Chris Osborn (continue)
   • Julie Irish (new)
   • John Mordes (ex-officio)
   • Evan Weststrate (ex-officio)
   • Amy Kahn (ex-officio)
   • Don Ross (ex-officio)
3. Annual Report and request for donations for 2026
   1. Annual Report has been published. It will be added to the website as a post.
      • Big thanks to Robin for proofreading.
   2. CLICK HERE TO DONATE early to The Friends of Hemlock Gorge for 2026, securely, via PayPal. We’re tax-deductible!
4. Treasurer’s Report
   • $7085.00 in the bank right now. We can ramp up our fundraising but we haven’t spent much. It would be great to do more/bigger projects, with cub/boy scouts perhaps.
5. Set a tentative date for the Spring Cleanup
   • Tentative date: May 2 (same weekend as Newton Serves)
6. Update on website and related matters
   • Address needs updating on the website (PO Box 62, 02468)
   • Ben will send out Google Meet/Agenda.
   • First Tuesday in 2026 is January 6
7. Update on the Stone Building
   • No news. Issues are already known. Nothing has changed. Still have leaks, issues with the foundation. There are also issues with the roof. Greg Schwartz will continue to work on it.
8. Update, if any, on rental fee for meeting at the NUF  Community Center and whether to have future meetings in person, if possible.
   • Julie! Can you talk to the new mayor to make the Upper Falls Community Center free for us to meet? Custodian union wants payment for opening the building. Maybe another committee will meet on Tuesday nights and let us in? Robin may be able to arrange for us to meet there.
9. Quinobequin Trail news?
   • Trail has become difficult to manage/walk. There was talk of an Eagle Scout project to build steps on the Rte 9 side. No progress yet. DCR, watershed association, Newton Conservators need to agree. Maybe we can bring Greg in on this. On another note, Friends of QB trail is part of the Waban Area Council, and doesn’t have a lot of resources. John has asked Paul to follow up. Paul has agreed to talk to the Scouts to spearhead projects to make the trail more passable. Box steps, better boards, etc. Friends of Cold Spring Park has just done a similar project.
   • Julie mentioned work being done at the end of the greenway. Mass Trails offers a grant/funding to get work done. She will reach out to Ted Chapman to come up with a solution.
10. Scouts’ news?
    • Scouts want to use Google for nonprofits
    • It may be possible to give them a user account; maybe we can do this without sharing our EIN, keep this on the up and up. We are their sponsoring organization. Ben will coordinate with Alex Fee.
    • Scouts will be informed of upcoming cleanup.
    • Scouts commitment will be reinstated.
    • We don’t currently link to their websites from ours. We will link to them when they say they are ready.
11. Matters arising 
12. Holiday Cheer: A toast to our accomplishments and hopes for the New Year