Pittsfield Beautification Committee
Minutes
August 8, 2011

Members Present: Nicole, Theresa, Tina, Nancy, Judith, Paula, Gail, Jason, Carole

Members Absent: Ida

Carole opened the meeting at 7:07 p.m.

New Members and Guest:

Welcome to new members Gail Allard and Jason Isabelle. We are so pleased to have you join us. Also welcome to our special guest Susan (Nancy’s sister from Arizona).

Acceptance of Minutes:

The minutes from the June 30th special meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved.

Treasurer’s Report:

Last month left a balance of $1010.62 in our account. Tina reported the following activity since the last meeting:

Expenses: Granite for Tilton Hill Lot $675.00
Blue stone for Tilton Hill Lot 67.50

Income: Yard Sale Proceeds 402.50 (Paula still has money to collect
and this will be reported next month)
Donation from Judith 100.00

For a remaining balance of $770.62 in our account.

Theresa collected income from the three collection cans about town and Tina will report this income at the next meeting.

Old Business:

Carole reported that she had received a call from Mike Brewster who had found the sign from the Washington House Lot on his porch. He will put the sign back in the lot.

Nicole brought the five beautifully painted wooden collection boxes to show committee members. Each box has a lock and key. The consensus of the committee was to place these boxes at Jack’s Pizza, Bell Brothers, Danis, Jitters and Maxfields. Nicole will take care of the distribution of these boxes and Theresa will continue to collect the proceeds. (Thanks Nicole and Theresa)

New Business:

Judith presented a check for $100 in response to Dan Schroth’s appeal for donations for stones at the Washington House Lot. Dan has offered his services to build a wall there and wrote a nice article in the SUN regarding our next project.

Discussion ensued on that project and Nicole will do a presentation in the spring on her vision of how the lot could look. It was decided that the rock wall should probably be higher in the front and lower in the back to make it look more pleasing. Members were asked to continue thinking about just what we would like to see in that lot. Should it be smaller, larger, what types of flowers, greenery would you like to see?

The Aranosian Lot was also discussed and much work will also be needed there. Nicole noted that she had a vision of a skateboard park with flowers around and among the various jumps. She said she would probably need at least $10,000 and had heard of a famous skateboarder who had been part of these parks in other locations. Nicole will tell us more at a later date when she does more research.

The consensus of the Committee was to focus our fundraising efforts on the Washington House Lot.

Tina reported that she had visited Ida at Health South Rehab Center where she had been for approximately 10 days, and that she is in good spirits.

Carole reported that the Committee had sent flowers to Ida and hopefully she will be back with us real soon. (We miss you Ida – get well soon.)

Paula will do another article for the newspaper before our next meeting. Some of the topics should include thanking the individuals responsible for the collection boxes (Nicole’s uncle, Carolyn Hughes), Darrah Enterprises (Joe and Jim), Mike Brewster for putting sign back in lot, the businesses for hosting our collection boxes, Dan Schroth (Tilton Hill Lot), all the yard sale donations, welcoming our two new members (Jason and Gail), and any other issues that may surface between now and then. (Thanks Paula)

The watering schedule was discussed and volunteers are as follows:

August 13-19 Jason and Nicole
August 20-26 Carole and Paul
August 27-Sept. 2 Paula and possibly a student doing community service, if not she will call Gail and/or Nancy
Sept. 3-9 Tina and Paul
Sept 10-16 Jason and Nicole
A cleanup date will be scheduled in October and we will talk about it at our September meeting.

Nancy invited the committee members to her home on Sunday, September 18th at 5 p.m. It will be a potluck and everyone is welcome to bring a guest. (Thank you Nancy for hosting this annual event.)

It was decided that we have a short meeting at Nancy’s home to discuss a fall cleanup date and any other business that may come before our committee.

Nicole noted that she had looked at the Town of Pittsfield website and noticed that the Beautification Committee did not have any photos of the gardens or even a description of our activities. Nicole will check with Clayton Wood to see if he would put more information and the photos on the Town website. She also suggested we have information regarding our committee and our ongoing activities on the local TV station. Nicole will also check into this possibility. (Thanks Nicole.):

Next Meeting and Adjournment:

The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, September 18th at Nancy’s home. Whereupon the meeting adjourned at 8:23 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carole Richardson, Co-Chair