good evening everyone this is um Regular monthly meeting of the Southwick agricultural commission it is May 8th 2024 we are recording the meeting we do have a quorum with myself Bert Hansen Jessica Whitmore par Parker Zack Barnett Angie Simone and that's it in terms of we have Cindy Barton and ningle hiling too but that doesn't count towards a war so um we can get going um couple of quick things for communications uh today's Westfield news has a nice um you can see it on owl whatever anyway nice article about the community garden and today's Westfield news um Gardener Al ranjo on the cover and then inside Dan and Dan and Ron doing the uh the tilling so always happy to see that how many people see print news these days I don't know um I also sent around to you guys uh we got I got updated uh Farmers Market material the Springfield farmers market and she sent and it still wasn't quite clear because it still said Saturdays and it is on Saturdays it is on Saturdays it is on Saturdays oh last time they tried to do it it was on Sundays and that didn't work oh oh okay it is on Saturday and the clarification about the cost so it's 120 for the whole season uh let's see that's all I have originally did say Sunday and they CR yeah okay so that's all I have for communications um public comment did you say Angie you had something um so as a member also of the Southwick Land Trust um we're going around to all the boards and commissions to kind of introduce ourselves I know you guys got A Sneak Peek already with Marissa yeah um so we're just going around and we're officially inviting everyone to the first annual Southwick spith upup it's going to be the um cleanup and we're co-sponsored by the Southwick Rotary Club and in Partnership ship with the great Global cleanup and it's going to be May 18th from 9: to 11: rain or shine and it's going to start at 9 at The Daily Grind and then we'll like hang out for a little bit and have they'll they're going to have coffee and donuts and then we'll form groups and head out from there do they have like plans where to send people yes yeah we have different all different like routes like roadways or like roadways trails and stuff too or no I tried to sneak into sanowski but I heard it was just roadways okay there might be like some playgrounds for like okay familyfriendly areas sometimes people clamping Forge and stuff like that right I think that's another group who does that I could mention could be another day yeah yeah okay well thank you for that we're happy to do you guys have um your next meeting scheduled yet tomorrow tomorrow okay I have a question sure Inga hoteling Inga hoteling 45 Klein Road Angie I know when we were at the last um Adcom meeting Marissa was going to take stock on safety vest any update if there's any additional safety vest needed for participants um at this moment um kind of up in the air because we were going to ask the Rotary Club to see if they could sponsor that but we haven't received an answer yet okay so we're still we should have an answer by tomorrow night and I can let you know okay because in the the bags that Bert has from open Farm day there's at least two to three vest in each one of those bags okay yeah I haven't I should have counted them but I didn't but there's a there's a bunch yeah there was yeah there's quite few so okay thank you good okay um and we had talked at our last meeting about um South land trust and EDC co-sponsoring the open Farm day so I don't know should I come tomorrow and invite Mak official invitation right now we're just planning the cleanup okay so maybe after our next meeting after that are your meetings open to the public or by invite only currently but I mean I think once we get we're just trying to get through this first event and then I think after that we'll figure everything out okay and Inga EDC meets next Wednesday yes correct May 15th or excuse me May 14th 14 no excuse me May 15th yes and I already have Marissa and Angie on the agenda first thing to introduce the land trust to the EDC thank you Marissa and I were at the planning board meeting last night that was cancelled because they didn't have a quorum so we talked about it then yeah okay good good okay uh our memb membership for next year there's actually a handout here and by emailed everyone yeah yeah two so just kind of a check in as to where we are right now um we talked last time that um sage and Zach could be potentially be chair and vice chair um there's not a co-chair no situation so it's um it's chair and vice chair and what we'll do I read through the handbook quite a bit oh good thank you I've actually not done that yet um talking to Diane Gail um what we'll do is the first meeting after all the appointments are made we should have we should have one vote that would say the vice chair can act on behalf of the chair um it does say that in the handbook actually it's already default oh it is okay oh she thought we should have a vot on it we can we can back it up probably wouldn't hurt yeah it wouldn't hurt it but yeah it does specify all that in the hand book Y and um so so as it stands right now uh Jennifer uh has applied to become a full commissioner cool which I'm pretty sure will you know work um Tammy is stepping down but she wants to be a friend of EG Sage is here oh here's Sage hey Sage hello we were disoriented since you weren't on you know half an hour ago are you in a different time zone no I'm I'm driving home actually okay good but unfortunately I won't be home until the next hour so okay I was trying to make it before the meeting but I didn't realize it was already seven well keep your eyes on the road yeah yeah well thanks for joining that's good good to see you so we're just kind of talking about our our lineup for next year with uh you as chair Zach as Vice chair and obviously the the commission votes on who's chair Vice is he gonna be chair I thought he I better have Zach chair because I'm not on the ground all right okay yeah because he's not around enough should be backup because I'm traveling yeah okay that's all right with you Zach that's perfectly fine I mean yeah we can switch it down the road if we need to or whatever yeah I just don't want to I just don't want to end up messing things up because I'm not around you know I can't talk to people like I need to be able to right yeah right okay well that's a good solution um now on the on the town website Angie it says that your term is up this June yes too yes reapplied reapplied and so that would be a threeyear yeah because you're a full commissioner right yes as full commission yeah continuing on as full commissioner um uh Ron's not up till 2025 Dan's not up till 2026 um Jen as an alternate is up this year but applying to be a full commissioner uh lenita wants to stay on as an alternate Tammy is stepping down but wants to be a friend of egg in other words open Farm day you know other events he wants to be able to help out but doesn't want to have an official role um and we have Tom and Jessica and I don't know if either if you Jess might want to step up to be a full commissioner or if Tom might I mean there's there yeah I I'd already uh reapplied to reup my alternate um but I don't think I don't think I want to step up this year just with the just having a baby I just Ste down from the riding from riding plug president so I don't want to step up to something that I can't maintain so I'd rather just stay as an alternate do what I can and then maybe maybe next year room for me Tom sign on we should ask him yeah he probably already put his letter of in Kenton I'm guessing I'm not sure I thought he had but I haven't you hav heard I haven't heard seen it either okay um we'll see I mean he's got this crazy schedule with his kids and sports coming up I mean they're not even in Massachusetts they're like Portland Connecticut or someplace you know so he's gonna a lot of time in the car we have any new people that want to join that we know of um not that I know of and we can uh so if you guys you don't know of anyone or we I'll ask you know selectboard as well if they know of anyone and last year tons of people wanted to join yeah so yeah do you have to live in town you know that's a good question I think you have to which has it's actually come up and I I haven't confirmed I don't know if that um I out well I I think if I remember correctly because I went to one of selectboard meetings I think as long as you own property in Southwick you actually can't apply if you have business in town I think some kind of property you gotta have establishment that's all yeah so an obvious to me an obvious possibility would be Alex priy he comes to a lot of meetings anyway he owns a business in time yeah yeah it'd be great if you wanted to yeah I you know I'll get in touch with him okay and I add something to that absolutely Okay Serena Fuller is on my Economic Development commission she's been there for years along with Craig samelson they both own businesses in Southwick but they live in Westfield okay so it can be done oh I see okay so that's an example of how they're on a commission y but they here they are business owners that okay good thank you yeah Al it be great to have yeah yeah okay um I think that's that for now who else has come well Dwight has come to our meetings um yeah there him or his wife yeah Karen I don't know if he has time well yeah right it's tough but yeah iiy I tried to I think I yeah I had said to Karen before that she should try but drag again yeah I see the field is tilled where the sunflowers will be oh yeah that's good I haven't been down there yet I just killed my garden I broke my rotor I know multiple times do we do we know the age the age the age of the person to to come on the board officially because isn't Lucas 18 yes I think you have to be 18 I you have to be a vote you know a voter yeah I believe it says that in the handbook you have to be 18 yeah so we ask Lucas yeah he's going off to college though so he's not around unless he's staying local but yeah I'm not Al I'm not around I'm still on it did someone mention last time too that you have to have a certain number of um Farmers on is that there's supposed to be yeah I don't think it really is that like yeah I wasn't sure like is that I think that's what the select board wants but I don't think it's not like something that they would hold you to and I mean I think actually the Bible reads that way and the the Massachusetts uh bylaw reads that you know the community should be made of of farmers if not then other people can okay step in as a you know needed or something like that I I went to the select board meeting where they were discussing that exact topic and from what I remember they said that they prefer and this is the old select board not new select board they preferred four farmers at least on the commission I don't think it was written in stone they just preferred that so we'd probably have to ask the new Council how they feel about it yeah I was just curious where we stand like where do we currently stand on that or if it was something that we needed to look at how do they Define a farmer right exactly because I mean yeah Jessica you're a farmer right and the certainly is you have chickens chickens that's I'm saying like where's the the definition there you know you have to fall under a certain tax bracket I rais kids that count right me too I know we were talking about kids as livestock last time right they kind of pre- range though I mean but like the hobby Farm you know yeah hob yeah so I mean I think it's kind of a gray area to me yeah I think when it comes down to it they want people who who want to yeah serve you know who want to be on right whatever's in the best interest for farming so right okay um oh so one more thing on that when I first Tom hi Tom can you hear us you're muted yeah one second sorry guys that's all right okay you're a hey Sage this is not safe don't go off mute concentrate on driving we said earlier Tom what was that picture that just flashed up there was that your like your high school graduation or something uh no work yeah there we go it's a much better much better uh picture of me yeah so we were just talking about who's who on the commission for next year um uh looks like uh Zach will run for chair and and Sage as Vice chair since he travels so much um this I just it's an appointment though not like running we don't have to advert right I'm not going to have a street sign for these guys in my yard well you know happy to do it if we need yeah bring you know bring some you know awareness a bullhorn I'll go I'll go stand at the mobile and with the sign out yeah uh Jen has applied to bfo commissioner um lenita Stang on as an alternate um Angie Ron and Dan are on so we have an we have an opening for a full commissioner uh Jessica wants to stay as an alternate for now so we're wondering Tom if you would be interested in being a full commissioner and you can think about it I I'll think about it did the and we can chat separately but do the responsibilities change like what like what's different not much you just don't have to get reappointed every year yeah right Voting Rights Voting yeah a little bit I do vote a lot no I mean yeah that's fine uh ber I can send that email that you had uh reminded me that I'm delinquent on sending and I could just say hey if there's an open spot for a commissioner I'm happy to happy to be considered for that oh okay oh awesome that'd be awesome we also thought about you know potentially uh Alex grifty you know who come to a lot of meetings and been been involved and some others but if you'd like to do it that'd be great if you can yeah he's he's excellent I really I really like him and I've been impressed in my discussions with him y yeah so but I I know we've talked about your crazy sports schedule um yeah I just may be in the car like sages more more often uh but I I'm you know enjoy everyone on the team and everyone who who comes regularly so I'm happy to happy to help yeah good that's great um and when I first heard from uh Lisa Anderson a month ago or so it was kind of like seemed like we had to get our yeah declare like right away and I was talking to Doug moglin just a few days ago he said well it's you know we just want to have it in hand you know for appointment season right which is kind of like end it took them a while last year yeah end of June early July wanted it for for May that's why I was like oh because it was the end of April right it's wishful thinking I yeah yeah so anyway we're yeah I think I think even on this commission one year it was like August so you know you know just kind of go with it I think I gota point you in the I think we were later even for the alternates for Jen and I right I mean yeah quite late yeah uh for our new boards commissions and committee's handbook I have to confess that I have not really spent time with it yet what I was hoping was in there and it doesn't seem to be too much is how to get reimbursement or how to put in anything about you know making purchases legally yeah uh there's a very tiny little blurb oh C do really that should certainly be in there it doesn't explain because it's very complicated not that I saw yeah so it' be nice to have that added in a future Edition yep my guess is they don't really have it in writing it's a fun ride well I think it's important too because you just went silent can't hear you to whoever what sorry you guys hear me now yeah kind of breaking up sorry what what I was trying to say is with this taxability issue which really I've been thinking about and it's bothered me that the town unilaterally chooses not to reimburse tax because I think they legally can well then we need to provide our our volunteers with better information so that they don't get stuck with that amount yes absolutely so that needs to be in the handbook like what is the form where do we have access to it easily so that anyone who's purchasing on behalf of a commission that you know that by right is is allowed to do that they we have that path to provide it to the vendor I think moving forward we shouldn't try to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed um the proper procedure is to get you know submit a quote Yeah and then get a PO get a PO and all that yeah which is why I brought two quotes today for the oh good the water things water but we should we should also plan for the eventuality that there's not an option for that like how do we have access to this uh this tax form does the tax thing apply to our gift account as well I don't think so because that's that's not uh tax taxpayer money right so maybe anything that you know we decide to reimburse with comes out of that account we're just gonna have to do it way in advance great if we can yeah right right yeah I just again I just come back to I feel badly for the volunteers that are doing what's right for their commissions and you know that there you know granted it's a nominal amount in the grand scheme of things but there should be at least availability of the right information so if they could provide that you know sales and use tax form where it's non- taxable I mean it really should just be something on available to the Commissioners or alternates aside from our gift account in our budget is it possible to get like a petty cash account where we could pay people back without having an account for it I don't know if that's legal or potenti they'll never do that because the controls around petty cash are a nightmare I we have that like at company the com like obviously I work at a very large company and yeah like petty cash is like the worst and lowest controls issue and the most ripe for for um you know that right right all right point taken we actually when there used to be the tractor rally in Spring um people would buy raffle tickets you know and and there would be cash and then we would pay the band and there was technically petty cash left from that and it was you know $10 that probably be enough toay people's taxes back well I don't know I don't know I'm not a warrior have to look into that hey Zach I was down1 earlier today and I did see one of those metal crates with a plastic bin like abandoned on the side of the highway oh really you should have grabbed it at exit 38 my car is not big enough I thought about it drag it behind you I I could drive down again tomorrow see if it's there bring a little TR I do have a little trailer access to a little I'll try to do that that' be awesome you need is that like a two two person job or can you get it yourself think they're pretty I don't know how heavy they are but like I'm sure I could muscle they're heavy it depends if there's water in it too yeah well the other thing I don't know what was actually in it before yeah that's that's that's one of the things I came across it has to be food grade A lot of them are not that are out there H maybe I'll pop down there and see if it's still there what's the worst case you bring it to the I'll bring it to the transfer station they would love it actually probably use it yeah yeah yeah um so I'll bring some of these questions to the select board about you know the handbook and paying the bills and you know I mean maybe there's a separate procedure for that somewhere just not in there but and then we so I just as I mentioned I have to confess I haven't really spent any any time to speak of the good news is I mean it's like 58 pages but the last half last half is appendic yeah and yeah the first six pages of that that is the whole list of all the commissions and I think I'm very first on there actually yeah on the whole list I think I think so I think EG is first yeah um I skimmed it yeah there's some parts I kind of skipped over but yeah stuff that applied to us I kind of read through yeah good thank you um so expenses there's three things um we want to vote on um for to get them in for this year and one uh Zach you said you have um so I got I was able to get two quotes one is actually from a business and one is from just a person um the one from the business is the most expensive but it's legit um my easier the other one and they're from Massachusetts the other one is just a person and they're from Connecticut so I don't know about using our tax money across state lines that could be a problem I don't know um the difference is like $140 okay so what's what's the what are the two total the most expensive one is $330 for two 275 gallon totes delivered to Southwick okay well delivery is a good thing yeah figured we need to have delivery and then um the other one is 190 for two totes delivered to southw oh also delivered y okay are they food grade and yes they're both food grade um one of them had what they had in it one was like soap or something something it be rinsed right out the other was like cooking oil or something like that they could also be they're pretty much empty they just need to have be scened out Rin out and the one from the business is nothing in it they're brand new or no they're used but they're um they're food grid what's your recommendation I guess like of the two yeah I hate to say go for the more expensive one but I think it's probably the most legit one yeah it's in state you said I don't know if that's any kind of an issue but they're in Wales I think Mass which is about an hour right but they're they're going to deliver that's included in the 330 so it's it's 1225 each per tote and that $80 delivery feed it's spelled out here okay and they're an actual company tiny moving and [Music] transportation um I hate to say it but I feel more comfortable with that one you know I do and per your recommendation you never know someone could have bought it from someone else and oh it was food grade but it wasn't and then you know yeah true okay um so I I'll make a motion that we approve uh $330 for what's the company again pinese moving and transportation Pines moving and transportation for two food grade um water tanks or storage tanks I'll second okay second Sage set [Music] uh roll roll call for Hansen I Jessica Zack Angie hi uh Tom hi and Sage I think Sage right yeah yep then the other one the other things were um for the community garden do piece of paper uh that actually Dan had recommended these um the picture I did look at those already I mean I'm I'm fully supportive we've talked about this multiple times at prior Adcom meetings I mean it seems like it's a need for for us and for the community garden right you my question is where are we going to store it your house for now the the generator yeah yeah um yeah it can be okay could be in my house um so it would be at Harbor Freight uh there's a generator a gas power generator for 229 there's always coupons there too hold on let's just I I hate to be a stickler but a water pump not a generator I'm sorry yeah water pump I'm sorry but it's gas powered right yeah I just don't I just don't want the like whoever the accountants are at well WHYY need a generator versus a water right good point no it's a gas powered water pump um also hoses and stuff yeah I didn't look at those yet but we obviously need that and I think I feel like Dan said there was a a pump for like $60 there might be but I haven't been able to I get their coupons like emails every day I'm part of their inside Track Club too so I get the discount okay yeah so I thought we could approve the 229 yeah if it comes in less then you know we how do we pay for these things that's my question yeah but we have to get we get a check written out get a check cut I don't know they're going to take a check oh um well it it comes back to my comment around the taxability yeah you know if we could get the form we could as long as they approve it at the amount we could go and you know show the tax form where there's no tax charge and if it's something smaller then we can you know provide the receipt with the you know right yeah yeah yeah supposedly uh you know estimated estimates are okay to get a purchase order so that's essentially what this would be um do they pay up front or do they have to get buil I think they like to get built yeah so I don't know how it's going to work for this either I'm afraid that doesn't work at any of these point of sale places that's not going to work yeah it really doesn't work doesn't the town have a credit card they use I think they also have to list them within the town as a vendor right that's why I got I wanted to go with this one because I have his they have to like verify their real company yeah can I make a comment sure please okay if you choose to use the gentleman out in Wales and Harbor Freight if they're not already assigned as a vendor within the town hall you would have to go there physically and get a W9 form from them they will not accept electonic w9s and I'm I'm going around about this but it's right now this is how it is yep and my recommendation Bert because the PO is going to be generated by the request for payment this might be a situation where you're going to have to pay for it upfront bring the invoice and have Laura do a reimbursement to you directly I thought they didn't want to do that anymore yeah there are situations where you you can't avoid it which I think I'm okay but we need what are you saying we need the W9 form for the tax for so the business doesn't charge it charge the person tax the the W9 Form what that does Tom is it sets them up in the accounting group as a vendor so then once they're signed up as a vendor then Bert or another assigning Authority within the agricultural commission can then put through a purchase order request a PO request do you know if there's a way for us to go buy it but have a Southwick Massachusetts tax form that says we're exempt as of right now that has not that's not been needed for myself on the EDC because I'm dealing with local vendors um that are in the town I've brought in a couple of new vendors outside of the area but for very minuscule amount for what I purchased from them um but that would be a question that b you could just contact Laura tomorrow and ask her directly and Laura interest time if in the interest of time like if they can provide us a form that we could provide to whoever we're buying from and then seek reimbursement that's to me B I don't know if you if the commission agrees but that would be the preferred path you know absolutely then it could also be taxfree too right so we're not stuck paying for whatever the taxes on a $400 bill or a $230 bill right right so B I'm happy to chat with you or whoever the the accountant is that we need that but that should be a form that's easily available within our town that we can share with potential vendors I mean even like look I like I've told you I work at a60 billion dollar company and I can call my tax group and say hey look I need a form and I can get it within a day like if we can't do that in a municipality within Massachusetts that's a huge problem I could do it in a gigantic company you know like right which I'm not gonna hold my breath because I know municipalities tend to like hit rock bottom and dig deeper but um you know like there should there should be a path to do that is my thought right I I'm trying to get a path to where a vendor out of the area can actually send me electronically at W9 that can be submitted to the Accounting Group and have it be approved instead I'm having to get people to send me the original because they do not want anything electronically or a copy of so it gets a little stickier Tom um I understand your frustration I was with mobile oil for years and things went a little bit smoother yeah yeah but we're we are looking at making some Headway and making some improvements one of the requests that I'm looking at bringing it up is to be able to accept a W9 electronically especially if it's coming directly from the vendor yeah yep so stay tuned okay good well thank you for that Ina for looking into that okay well let's um I think as a commission we should we should approve the expense and then we can work out all these uh Logistics um I just have a question when do we have to spend the current budget by June 30th uh June 30th Tech but actually in reality it's more like it's a little earlier in June just because it takes time you know for the you know never work to so we should be thinking about like about within about a month yeah we really got to spend I was just looking at there we got a lot of money to spend I know so this would be uh under supplies um we'll get to farm day in a minute but last meeting we approved $240 for some signs for Farm day that would come out the farm day line item um so yeah okay okay so I'll make a motion that we approve um let's call it $230 up to $230 to get a gasoline uh operated water pump for the community garden hi Su seconds okay um uh roll call vote Bert Hansen I Jessica I Angie I Zach hi and Sage hi and Tom hi okay and then a similar motion these are um also something that Dan came up with uh they're called um post base spikes okay so it's a it's kind of a square thing a 4x4 go and then long yeah that thing goes in the ground anything that goes in and then you Bolt the B Bolt the 4x4 to the to the base SP them out of the ground yeah so the the spikes are 3407 each each and I thought we maybe do 12 and there's actually a total of 55 fence posts at the community we just trying to do like one side yeah do do section by section right um so we do 12 this year that would be 408 84 and then the 4x4s you can get 4x4 by six feet I mean I think for six yeah you don't really plus you want to do get 12 and cut them in half yeah but they're harder to transport right so let's say we go with the six feet those are 908 a piece times 12 that's 10896 so here let's see if we can do this in one yeah I think we should vote 99 is 18 17 we're need Hardware too yeah so I'm gonna say I'm G to make a motion that we approve up to $525 for uh post based base spikes and 4x4 for a section of the community garden fence second second okay we car Bert Hansen I Jessica Whitmore hi Angie SW hi Zack Tom Jos hi hi and Sage Fury I okay that's good not yet yeah yeah figure out how to actually spend it like that was Home Depot right but yeah for the for the 4 by5 we must have an account with them imagine I'll find out I'm not sure I mean I would imagine how would you not yeah I mean would imagine IBS has them as well yeah I can get them but they tend to be I haven't seen any of the spikes there they may have them but yeah they may not be out in the open yeah and of course they tend to be more expensive I mean it's more expensive it keeps the money in town well true it's good to shop local but can I say something sure Ino yes please okay um I've got a really good relationship with Mike who is the manager over at IBS he has supported other events that I have hosted in the community um my recommendation would be because we do they are already approved as a vendor in the town of Southwick if you would like bir I could make you I could offer a personal introduction to mik to see if they would be able to do any kind of a discount on the items that you need okay knowing that it's going to be contributing to the community garden and it's keeping the money local it's not bad thing to try and leverage those relationships right sometimes they're not more expensive either no IBS there's a couple things that we've purchased recently and IBS was less expensive than going into buy my Plumbing stuff from them any day yeah maybe they could at least match it yeah I'm sure they would yeah okay that be great I'd rather keep it in for sure right okay great we're that that will partner with the yeah with the master plan objectives too to really promote the shop local shop small too yep yeah that works yep good um or if we only get 11 I mean whatever right work true yeah so we approve the amount and we can yeah we can get them we can always approve more if we need to we have plenty of budget left sure absolutely okay good well thank you everyone that's um we've been talking about some of this stuff a few times so do you want the quotes big Quote us yep yes okay you good okay a few let's see some work can progress things um the Historical Society presentation was April 25th that really awesome it was it really went well there were they do a dinner and then the presentation so they had like 40 people for the dinner 30 people no 30 people for the dinner and 45 40 or so yeah for the presentation um really worked out well we did uh uh Southwick farming past present and future Jim putam did past and he basically told the story of farming in Southwick uh by puam Farm in blossoming Acres um and then I did present I talked about us and some of the things that are going on like with AGR voltaics and hydroponic farming and stuff like that and then Marissa talked about the future with Sil culture and very so was robots robot robotic irrigation yes right um so it really went well we went about 40 minutes plus yeah and some good interaction with the crowd got we got some Applause the food was really good the food was really good that's right um so there's some handouts here if you want to take um the Mas grown that's a new we've talked about this a new publication from mdar um there's a sheet uh with the history of farming that Angie put together and then on the back of that is oh some down there on the back of that is like the mdar website land for good and then we have this um Andy uh anyway it's uh all the eggars in Massachusetts there are a lot yeah the bad news is they don't start till like July all the same same weekend yeah they're all you know crammed into like a four week period but anyway so um Mike petrusa from the hamton county Improvement League was there and he really enjoyed it he wants to use a a past present future type of thing for the farmerama this year at the Big E so um I'm gonna give them our presentation and we'll be working with them to see yeah so that was our first time doing anything like this and pretty good how often do they do it just once a year once once a year they have um that dinner type thing they have another program coming up may 23d I believe it is with um it's their annual meeting but then a presentation about amasa hul the yeah the um what do they call them the Thomas cison of Southwick or something like that you know things he invented and things he did um and there's a fellow who's going to do a presentation about about that so my wife and I were definitely the youngest at the dinner oh man I was even on the younger side you but it was fun it was good and I was surprised too that it was plated as they say in the restaurant business you know they served it yeah wasn't like a b Bay type thing that was good um let's see the community garden um we had a work day on April 28th spruce up that area where the sign is um Ron Chini and Dan Cook plowed down a bunch of invasives so really opened it up quite a bit I me it doesn't look too great right now but you know we can get it cleaned up um and we talked last time about Adcom having our own garden plot yes so do we want to do that now who I mean who would be planting stuff you know I don't know do we need to pay ourselves the $20 I don't think we really do I wouldn't take the best spot there's one you Bert you could always say instead of paying if it's an available spot that no one's claimed for this year that we chose you know what I mean yeah yeah and actually on the handout with the list of commission members there's a a map of the garden I don't know you can see this online but um we're getting more and more reservations uh and on this map uh what's number two there right behind the sign that's that's available okay and that's a little bit out of the way from uh some of the others that are more in the middle um so I'm might suggest you know number two the ones all the ones on the far left there 1 6 11 15 19 22 25 I'm sort of holding those in reserve I think we may have talked about there's a lot of trees on that south side and so those plots get less sunlight than the rest so I try to get the best ones to the early cers you know I mean they're not those would be good for like lettuce and stuff doesn't need much y so um I don't know if this needs did we vote on having a I don't think we need to vote on having a no then we have to show up um I mean I got lots of Siege I don't know how viable they are but okay certainly donate them yeah so let's do number two that's actually in a no till area yeah the neighbors there number three and number eight is Al ranjo and number seven is person named Lee Hazelton they've been gardening those plots for five years if not longer so they're good neighbors Sage think you can get your girls down there to help out with the gardening that age yeah but I I'm going to try yeah okay um see so for our marketing um we have the website obviously sage has re-engineered our Facebook page so it's not tied to our former member Lauren kerki so that's great um the um and this is some other stuff you know Banner Sign Station those are some other that we could spend some money on this year banners that we might use on the float parade for example so um open Farm day I don't have a lot of updates uh Sage you did talk to somebody you talked to Granville scoop right about participating with their actually have to talk I have to talk to them uh again later on to tell them what details are and stuff but they're very interested in joining with us on it um I just unfortunately have been traveling between so many states in this one week alone I haven't had a chance to call them right that's that's okay um and where would they go yeah well I think sage and I have talked so someplace where there wasn't already ice cream you know so they have a truck an ice cream truck yeah some know that yeah some like a dingdong cart I don't know I don't know it's a dingdong cart type of thing but they they have a mobile unit of type so maybe that could be at the Historical Society that's a good idea actually yeah um and um uh we need to do some specific you know mapping out of in terms of advertising you know what the deadlines are for the various Publications um get our uh our co-sponsors in place um I'm I'm planning to come to the EDC next week to invite you officially invite you guys as co-sponsors um okay yep and I know you have an idea about having signs at the various registration tables um we rolled those out at the art show oh okay oh you said you were going to do that yeah two weeks ago and they're um they're quite large they're a double of a typical lawn sign similar to the size they're going to be exactly the same size of the larger open Farm Day signs that are going to be at all the port of entries coming into the community yep and it's a QR code that says scan me and it just says dine Southwick and it goes directly to my dining guide through the economic development commission um we already we got a significant amount of hits and the the feedback has been very positive nice so I know what we were looking at when um from our last Adcom meeting Marissa was going to have a proof for the for our marketing piece did she deliver anything to you Bert uh not yet no okay because as soon as as soon as I can get my hands on that then I want to start talking to the sponsors to be able to deliver to you um sooner than later what we have for donations that you can then utilize how do you want to spend those for the advertising with the Publications right right like last year yeah so let's um we do need to do some nitty-gritty on this so our next meeting is May 22nd so why don't we dedicate that to to the uh open Farm day you know do some homework in the meantime excellent in terms of uh you know we have all those files from last year for the passport and for this we have the lawn signs you know we have Ang already has the stickers so and see uh you know a big thing might be um you know new or additional uh Farms maybe Rays like Rays we never got last year I don't know be good to get them yeah they already have the green houses that people go through anyways for sure yep to do right so um yeah so I'll be in touch with with folks on that with our kind of to-do lists and see who who can do what okay and of course we have the 75 volunteers we I mean we're using the number 75 you know we'll see uh my goal is to bring in 25 of those okay well if anyone can do it Eng it's you so if you get from Marissa Bert the mock uh Pro uh promo piece yep um feel free to bring it to the EDC meeting next Wednesday okay and I believe what we had communicated at the last meeting was Marissa was just going to add another Critter or something to it so we don't didn't have to recreate the wheels so that we actually can be consistent with our branding right because that was such a fun piece and people I'm sure people still have some at their homes yep we want to uh have them be a little collector's item you know of some kind you know yeah that's fun y um the other stuff all the other stuff is kind of TBD uh we don't know about the chapter 61 protocol meetings yet might be June 4th but I haven't haven't actually heard B of farmers with Grant weding experience TBD I I heard actually recently again from Lynn Blair about starting a hobby farm and she's been talking to some folks but hasn't really gotten anywhere so I'm going to try cisa and you know some others of our contacts to see um if they may I mean I know that like mdar has a they have grants and stuff for for New farmers you know so know there must be some info out there somewhere American Secretary roles and finding our way as we go and um we don't have minutes tonight oh go ahead a lot of that in the handbook in the handbook yeah okay that's a good know um if anyone comes across any grant information at all that we can put on our website let let me know and I'll add it right to our uh roster as well yeah so this way whenever we find information we don't just lose it good idea right because because we're keeping track of it on our website Lively so I mean you got let me know and I'll add it as we go okay we'll do I saw something actually in the Wall Street Journal to yesterday um about the Cancer Society wants donations of real estate and you can if you donate to real estate you can get a you can get a tax break of some kind now I'm assuming they're going to sell it so they get the money you know for to support their research and stuff so I'm I'm not sure that's one we want to really promote I don't know about that um anyway I thought was kind kind of different yeah yeah uh let's see election day next Tuesday and early voting is going on right now my wife voted today I'm voting tomorrow okay because we're not gonna be here next week okay oh was next week Disney yeah okay yeah oh yeah whole family well yeah it'll be good kids are gonna love thanks for a reminder I'm actually in town good okay good um now meeting May 21st and then our next meeting with a laser focus on Farm day will be Wednesday the 22nd so anybody else have any comments questions suggestion 8 o' exactly look at perfect timing ber I know are playing yeah 7:3 I'm seeing a good lightning storm above you guys so you might want to get home yeah it was it was hailing that's why I stepped away my house had like small hail so I was like got pull my car garage Cindy said that too yeah have any of that this year yeah no ruin your tobacco don't is your tobacco in no not yet she's in the greenhouse but hail's just not how many years will insurance pay out before they Dro you it's a good question luckily like a lot of people was last year was the first year in a while so I'm G say good night to everyone okay thank you so much thank you so much for joining thank you so much for coming take care yeah okay yeah and Tom I just want you to know I've been practicing all I've been rehearsing all day so this meeting would be exactly one hour yeah outstanding and you trying to make a record oh man so um I'm make a motion to adjourn second Zach says second all those in favor I I thanks everyone I appreciate much thank you everyone take care drive safely always good night Cindy thank you it's been an hour thank you Zach I'll text you to connect at some point yeah you got to get a hold of me before Saturday we're leaving Sunday so on a freight train uh on a Boeing a little scared uh oh go airb don't sit near the door did you see the one today the land front landing gear didn't go down yeah where was that