Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee Meeting #32, Minutes September 13, 2011.

Officers in Attendance: David Labonte, Chair, Marc Kaplan, Co-Chair, Annette Labonte, Secretary Pro-Tem Officers Absent: Steve Rossetti, Treasurer Attendees: Paul Remington, Mark McKeown, Donna Johnson, Brian Newell, Tim Quinlan, Beth Dahlstrom and Ron Clough, DCR. Introduction of New Attendees: Derrick Mathiew, and Chip Maurer for a total of Ten (11) present in the meeting. Derrick is working with the Town of Franklin on an internship from Clark University in Worcester. He is assisting Beth Dahlstrom and Brian Taberner in the writing of the DCR Grant that is due on October 1st of this year. Chip Maurer is a new member of the Committee. He lives in Bellingham on Fox Run near the rail trail at Center St. He works at EMC Corp. Approval of the minutes from the August meeting. The minutes were amended to note that the overall Goals and Action Items of the Strategic Plan Committee were approved at the meeting. The Chair noted that he would amend the minutes for the record. The amended minutes were approved. Report from the Treasurer: E-mailed report shows the following: Last bill paid was to Dave Labonte for $75.40 for Printer Ink for inkjet printing over past several weeks. Cash on hand, as of 9/12/11, is $5,163.89. Recent membership dues received were 1) Richard Tomaino of 923 Washington St., Franklin, Ma richcraft1@comcast.net , 2) Marc Kaplan and 3) Mark McKeown. General: Newly printed brochures were given out to all in attendance due to the donation from Paul Derbyshire Ameriprise in Franklin of a high volume, high quality Laser Jet Color Printer. This printer uses toner cartridges, not ink, and we should get several times more for the same amount of money spent. Dave ran off about 200 double sided color copies of the brochures with the toner that came with the printer. A list of brochure locations was passed out with suggested names of individuals that could keep them in stock. Brochures and brochure stands can be picked up from Dave Labonte at any meeting. The printer has four cartridges, each costing about $150 to replace. At present, only the red color is low, but we may not need to replace until next year. Thanks much to member, Paul Derbyshire. Donna Johnson brought in several copies of the Bellingham Bulletin that contained an article on the SNETT, as written by Marjorie Hollman of Bellingham. A key part of the article states the following: Bellingham residents and other organizations from Bellingham are partnering with the Franklin Citizens Rail Trail Committee to create a regional organization, with the goal of making the SNETT a reality. Agenda Action Item A, Grant & Funding: Marc Kaplan spoke of meeting with member Brian Newell and making the initial listing of Grant and Funding Agencies. This list was passed out to the members and members were encouraged to notify Marc should they think of another funding source that could be added. The Grant Sub-Committee is now Marc Kaplan, Brian Newell, Bart Pinchuck, Bill Desantis and Dave Pellegri. Ron Clough is also on the committee, but only as a consultant. Dave Labonte noted that he should be looking into the Fidelity as a funding source because one of his relatives works out of the Boston office. Franklin Town Planner, Beth Dahlstom made our meeting this night to report that they have walked from the YMCA to the Rail Trail and have found a suitable path that could connect the Y to the Trail. The Town is assisting us in writing for a $52K DCR Grant for the development of this connecting trail and also upgrades of the Rail Trail from Grove St to the area near the connector trail. They are pulling together last minute data and need to meet with Ron Clough. The grant, if approved, would go to the YMCA because they are the organization that is putting up the necessary match. Dave Labonte gave Derrick a copy of the approved DCR grant that the Grand Trunk Trailblazers were successful in receiving last year.

Agenda Action Item B, Organizational: Marc Kaplan passed out copies of our current Mission Statement as it resides in the Web Site - and also examples of other organization mission statements. Reasons for reviewing, and possibly changing, our mission statement is because it was written more than two years ago and our role has been evolving. We are contemplating working in the Town of Bellingham and the very name of our committee may be changing. Dave passed out sheets with some possible new names for the committee, but nothing was decided on at this time. Ron Clough noted that DCR is more inclined to fund organizations that are listed as Friends. Marc and Dave noted that they would put a list together for voting on it at our next meeting. Also, where do we fit in with the Grand Trunk Trail Blazers, our parent organization? This is not made clear in the current statement. It should also say that we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Marc and Dave pledged to look into this further and report on it at the next meeting. If we change our name, we will also have to change our Logo and our Web Site. Agenda Action Item C, Alliances: Dave Labonte reported that he and others from the GTTB are planning to make a SWAP meeting to try and build a regional alliance with them for possible funding on the state level. Dave will send time and place information to those interested. Agenda Action Item D, Outreach: Discussion on the possibility of setting up a table at the October Harvest Festival in the center of Franklin. Dave Labonte looked into this too late in the year and all the spots were taken. We will look for other opportunities, such as the Strawberry Festival next year. The next meeting is scheduled for scheduled for October 11th.

Attest: Annette Labonte Secretary Pro-Tem