Attendees:

Evan Weststrate, Paul Roberts, Don Ross, John Mordes, Amy Kahn, Ben Kahn

Agenda:

1. Date for Fall Cleanup
   1. October 24. 9-12. Boy Scouts have a conflict but Cub Scouts can make it.
   2. Paul will contact the Cub Scouts
   3. Amy will send out a reminder and put on the website
      1. Announce that there will be pizza
   4. Pickers/gloves in stone building
   5. Ben/Evan will set up sign
2. Treasury Report
   1. $6800 in the account
   2. Don paid the musicians 🙂
3. Staffing at Newton Upper Falls Village Day
   1. Evan will be there
4. Who has the box with the FoHG business cards? John has a bunch. We think Evan has the box.
5. John has another copy of the poster, this time inscribed to Ken Newcomb. Good candidate for framing.
6. Update on conversation with Rep. Schwartz about Needham property line
   1. John gave the history of the property line on the ridge in Needham where the trees were cut down
   2. Requested a survey to see if the trees were cut down on private property v. park property. No feedback yet.
   3. Sent photographs of the interior of the Stone Building where there is still water seepage despite the renovation. Pointed out issues with the foundation that remain (West corner on Rte 9 side of building). Requested a record of where earmarked funds went. Rep. Schwartz responded that he will meet with representatives on the DCR.
   4. Received word from Kathryn Howard from Newton Conservators that there is approval to issue a $100,000 bond to go toward renovations to the Stone Building, if said renovations were included in the final state budget. Not clear whether said budget has been signed yet. Thanks to Greg Schwartz for representing us in this matter.
   5. Shared pictures from our picnic and the location on the grassy knoll behind the stone building. Suggested grading that area. Also wrote to Erica about this matter.
7. John is planning to retire as President at the end of December to be able to work at the free clinic more frequently
   1. Who writes the holiday letter?
   2. Who is taking over as President?
   3. John can stay on as community liason post Presidency.
   4. Let’s define the role of the President.
      1. Lead schlepper
      2. Organizer of the things
      3. Primary Contact
8. Happy birthday Amy!
9. Google Calendar?
   1. Amy can set up calendar invites for our upcoming meetings
   2. How about AI for doing things like summarizing meeting minutes, planning events, etc?
   3. Constant Contact?
      1. There are multiple possible solutions but we need a way to automate adding people to the mailing list and manage the list.
      2. It’s $30/month. Seems worth it.
      3. Can be used for donation management as well
      4. Other options:
         1. Mailer Lite
         2. MailChimp
         3. DonorBox
         4. HubSpot
         5. There are others as well.
      5. Ben and Amy will come up with a proposal.
10. Website traffic report and other information about the website
    1. We are no longer hosted by Network Solutions
       1. John had some other websites hosted under the original URL and will need to move them.
11. Next meeting October 7 (Wednesday!)
    1. Amy will put it on the website and send a reminder as we get close
12. November meeting November 11 (Wednesday)
13. Holiday party TBD. Suggested: at Waban Library Center.
14. Getting into the Newton Beacon and the Mayor’s newsletter.