TIMBERON DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting Held September 12, 2009

IN ATTENDANCE:

Everett Putney		Gwen Adams		Charles Reaves	Melinda Reaves		
Steve Griffith		Stella Griffith		Bill Brown		Bobbie Bown
Rick Merrick		Shirley Holstrom	Kent Huisingh		Jane Huisingh		
Frank Bullard		Peg Bullard		Cheryl Miller		Donna Millar
Linda Lea		Bert Rubinowitz	B.F. Adams		Joe Mainello
Karin Mainello	Jackie Fioretti				

The meeting was called to order by President Everett Putney at 10:05 AM.  The Pledge of Allegiance was given by all and a prayer was given by B.F. Adams.  Everett asked if anyone wanted the minutes read from the last meeting.  A motion was made by Donna Millar to accept the minutes as submitted, it was seconded by Peg Bullard. The minutes were approved.

A Treasurer’s report was submitted by Treasurer, Fran Trendler and read by Gwen Adams in Fran’s absence.  A motion was made by Charles Reaves and seconded by Jane Huisingh to accept the report as given.  Motion approved.  A question was asked did we make money on the July 4th activity.  It was mentioned we made about $700.00 

Bills for September totaled $1,012.82.  Donna Millar made a motion to pay our bills and Jane Huisingh seconded it.  Motion approved.

Officer’s Remarks:  President Putney advised he would save his remarks for later.  Vice President Merrick asked how was the last meeting?  Everyone present thought it was great.  Rick thanked the following musicians for their music:   Jake & Jen, Royce & Reba, Bill Gideon, Gene Burton and Steve Griffith.  He also thanked them for the Saturday before Labor Day Dance.  Someone said the proceeds from that dance were donated to the Timberon Volunteer Fire Department which was over $400.00.  He recently attended an economic development meeting and eventually this community will be asked to step up to the plate and decide on what they want.  There are several ghosts town in New Mexico and he doesn’t want to see Timberon become another ghost town.  There is life after highway 40 and there is a lot of things going on in the community.  The council has been working on a lot of projects for a long time, such as the airstrip, and sometimes it takes a long time to see the benefits.

OLD Business:
WUI Grant – Rick Merrick advised WUI stands for Wildland Urban Interface.  We do have WUI money available from State Forestry to thin private property.  Otero County has $250,000 which will be administered by the SCMRC&D, South Central Mountain Rural Conservation & Development, located in Capitan, NM.  The money will go fast and if anyone in Timberon is interested in taking advantage of this program please call Rick Merrick, Steve Griffith or Jim Ackermann in Timberon or call Andrew Fredrickson with State Forestry in Capitan, NM.  The paper work needs to be done as soon as possible and any one of these people can help you.
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The program will work as in the past.  Reimbursement will be a maximum of $1,150 for one acre classified as heavy thinning.  Steve Griffith is our Inspector in Timberon and will be responsible for sight inspection and marking the trees.  We will pursue getting the mitigation paper work on the web site.  

BLM Grant – Rick Merrick advised the fiscal year starts on October 1st.  The Timberon Development Council will submit the required paper work to the New Mexico Association of Counties prior to this date.  As for now, the money is on hold.

Cell Phone Status – Bert Rubinowitz advised he has not had a chance to contact David Hughs, the Engineer at NMNR Plateau which is a private company.  He talked about what type of service we might have in Timberon such as using your existing cell phone with roaming service vs. paying a monthly fee for a new cell phone.  Traveling on the back roads without being able to call 911 is a safety factor.  There will be more on this in the future.

VFW Scholarship Project – Donna Millar advised Scott Millar, Commander of Post 11999 in Cloudcroft, had a VFW meeting this morning and was unable to attend.  She has two things to present to the Council.  First, on Friday, September 18th at 1:00pm in the Timberon Chapel Annex there will be a POW MIA Remembrance Ceremony and invited everyone in Timberon to attend.  Second, she is asking for a donation from the Council to support the annual VFW Scholarship Program.  This program supports the “Patriot Pen” award which is for 6-8 grade middle school.  It also supports the “Voice of Democracy” which is for 9-12 grade High School.  The donation will go for the awards as follows:  The Middle School recipient would receive a jacket with a logo and a $100.00 Savings Bond.  The High School recipient would receive a jacket with a logo and a $200.00 Savings Bond.  The cost of the jackets is approximately $70.00 each.  The rest of the money would go for other expense.  Last year the total expense was $1,500.00.  During the discussion, Jackie Fioretti advised last year the Council donated $500.00 to the VFW Scholarship Fund which went to three projects and the officers recommend this year a maximum donation of $300.00.  Frank Bullard made a motion to donate $300.00 to the FVW Scholarship Fund this year and he will personally donate the money for one jacket.  The motion was seconded by Peg Bullard and the motion was approved.

Rick Merrick advised the council is working on a budget for next year.  He also advised the council has two new processes for requesting money from the council.  One is a “Donation Application Form” and the other is a “Project Application Form”.  He explained the process which is very simple and the forms with the instructions can be obtained from any of the officers.
We are also looking at accessing these from the web site.  

You will notice our email web site address at the head of these minutes.  It was recommended this be added in order for you to access the web site.  If you haven’t been there! Go there!  Judy Underwood does a beautiful job in keeping our web site up to date.  Thanks!  Judy

Everett Putney gave an update on the tractor mower attachment that was damaged.  He has met with the General Manager of John Deere and was told they feel we have hit something which damaged the mower.  Everett talked with a person who works with this type of equipment and he told Everett it sounded to him like the nuts on the gear box were torqued to the point that the gear 

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box would break no matter what you hit.  Everett relayed this information to the John Deere representative.  Everett is waiting to hear from John Deere on what a new MX6 cutter will cost.  The MX6 is a heavy duty cutter and would work better for us.  Everett also mentioned we will make every effort to pick up the rocks along the runway to eliminate any future problems.  He also mentioned the diesel fuel line on the tractor needs to be replaced and he has ordered a new one from Case Equipment in Las Cruces, NM and is waiting for them to call him.

Labors of Love Project – Linda Lea gave a report on the first “Labors of Love” Artist’s Showcase in Timberon, in many years, which was sponsored by the Timberon Development Council.  This was held on Labor Day weekend prior to “Putting on the Lips” in the Community Lodge.  The project was very successful there was a good flow of customers and lots of sales.  There were twelve vendors who participated and she passed out a brochure which tells about each vendor.  One thing she had a problem with is manning the TDC Booth so Fran Trendler helped her.  Linda says thanks! Fran.  She spent $67.15.  Her income was $90.00 and made a profit of $22.85.  Linda asked for comments and all she received was wow’s from everyone.  She thanked TDC for sponsoring the event and if she did it again next year she would sell the refreshments instead of giving them away and have more drinks available.  Thanks Linda from TDC for doing a spectacular job.  B. F. Adams advised Bert Rubinowitz is putting together a video of “Putting on the Lips” and it will be available in a couple of weeks.  The cost is $10.00 if you want to pick it up or $12.00 if you want it mailed to you. Contact B.F. if you are interested in purchasing a video.

Video Committee:  Which is Everett Putney, Rick Merrick, Gwen Adams, B.F. Adams and Jackie Fioretti.  Rick mentioned the committee has met several times and Linda Lea has volunteered her expertise which we appreciate.  We have purchased the KLAQ Video of the Timberon Fire which we will use in our video.  The committee is on hold until the BLM money is available to finish this project.

Community Action Team:  Rick Merrick advised there is no longer a Community Action Team.  It has been inactive for some time.  We have been working so well together as projects come up and committees are formed at that time.  The new process of Donor and Project Applications will keep the officers involved and make recommendations for the members to vote on.  As far as committees maybe we should do a survey to see what everyone is interested in and their expertise.  Linda Lea advised a lot of that information is in the survey taken for the Community Action Plan update.  

Gwen Adams advised we should promote our Web Site Address in the Mountain Times Newspaper and on any correspondence.  It should also be on our sign on Sacramento.  Everett Putney took the opportunity to commend Gwen on the article, “Fire…Evacuate...Now” she wrote for the Mountain Times newspaper.  Excellent aticle!

NEW BUSINESS:

Everett Putney gave a report on the meeting he, Rick Merrick and Jackie Fioretti attended on September 9th in Ruidoso at the Inn of the Mountain Gods.  The meeting was hosted by Tammy Bean, Community & Economic Development, Otero County Electric Cooperative & Tularosa  

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Basin Telephone Company.  This was her first meeting and representatives from Altos, Capitan, Ruidoso and other communities were there.  Everett gave an overview of what other communities were doing to stimulate economic growth. He read a few facts from a Mountain Biking brochure from Ruidoso.  A $50,000.00 Forest Service Grant was given to Ruidoso to promote bicycle races.  At the Ruidoso meeting, Hubert Quintana from the Council of Governments in New Mexico said there is a $50,000 Economic Grant that is available. A solitary home based economic worker program which is designed to pull artists out of the city and come live and work in Timberon was mentioned.  Gwen Adams mentioned we need a Visitor Center.  After discussion a final motion was made by Bert Rubinowitz for the TDC Board of Directors to identify and draft a letter to those who own commercial property and ask if they would like to donate their property to TDC for this project.  Linda Lea seconded the motion and it was approved.  B.F. Adams volunteered to identify the property owners.  

Economic Development – Eventually Timberon will have to decide if it wants to develop by Tourism or develop by growth.  Kent Huisingh introduced discussion on reviewing and changing the covenants. Other topics included Incorporation etc.  B.F. Adams advised Timberon needs to promote ATV recreation instead of mountain bikes.  There are very strict limitations right now as to who can use the existing trails.  Rick Merrick advised these were all good suggestions that need to be reviewed again, however, TDC is concentrating on finishing the projects we have going for this year.  

Everett Putney read a thank you card from he and Jackie Fioretti for the beautiful writing pens that were given to them at the August meeting.  The Timberon Youth Boosters are soliciting ads etc. for their annual calendar.  The ad in the calendar and to list the TDC monthly meeting each month costs $53.00.  B.F. Adams made a motion to pay the $53.00 to the Timberon Youth Boosters.  Kent Huisingh seconded the motion and it was approved.  It was suggested we include our web address in the ad and with the monthly meeting.  Jackie Fioretti will pursue this.  She also mentioned according to the by-laws, nominations for the 2010 Officers will take place at the October meeting and the election will be held at the November meeting.  The new officers, President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer will take office in January 2010.

The logo contest will run to the end of September and will be decided at the October meeting.  So far only two people have submitted entries.  The prize is $50.00.  Officers are allowed to submit entries but cannot collect the prize.  

There was a lot of discussion about the Timberon airstrip and tie down area.  Rick introduced Bill and Bobby Brown who are new to the area and have a hangar on the airstrip.  Everett introduced Charles and Melinda Reaves who have owned property in Timberon for many years and also have an interest in the airstrip.  Bill and Charles volunteered to help Everett in his effort to secure improvements of the airstrip.  

Frank Bullard made a motion to adjourn.  B. F. Adams seconded the motion and it was approved.  The meeting adjourned approximately 12:05 pm. Our next meeting will be October 10th at 10:00 am in the red barn.  These are open meetings and the community is invited.

Respectively submitted,
Jackie Fioretti, Secretary