HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/23/2003
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FISHERS ISLAND CONSERVANCY, INC.
BOX 553
FISHERS ISLAND, NEW YORK 06390
Fishers Island Conservancy
Annual Meeting
August 23, 2003
The meeting was held at the Fishers Island School and was called to order at 4:05 P. M.
Present were Barry Bryan, Alicia Cleary, Chippy duPont, Barbie Riegel, Tom Sargent, Nick
Spofford, John Thatcher - President, Jackie Williamson - Recording Secretary and Robert Wall
by written proxy. Total attendance was 25 members, which constitutes a quorum of members.
The reading of the minutes of the previous annual meeting was waived.
Treasurer's Report - Nick Spofford
The Conservancy has $207,000 in its accounts now, which is expected to generate $14,000 in
income. Most of this was the net Navy settlement of our recent suit. It constitutes a contingency
war chest. The November annual appeal usually raises $30,000 for our ongoing expenses.
Nomiuatiu!! Committee Report - Jackie Williamson
The Committee recommends the re-election to a full 3-year term, expiring in 2006 of Alicia
Cleary, Elly Kelly, Margie Purnell, Barbie Riegel, Nick Spofford and John Thatcher.
In addition, we nominate John McGillian to the Board for a full 3-year term. The nominations
were moved and accepted.
The Committee regrets to report the resignations of Elsie Parsons and Liz Furse. We
thank them for their service. Barry Bryan has also tendered his resignation, but has agreed to
continue actively working on our lobster situation. He has spent massive amounts of energy and
countless hours on behalf of our lobster industry. The Conservancy, the lobstermen and the
whole island owe him a huge vote of thanks. The meeting warmly applauded.
Starting with the October Board Meeting, we offer the following slate of Officers:
Chairman John Thatcher
President Elly Kelly
Exec. Vice President Barbie Riegel
Treasurer Nick Spofford
Secretary Jackie Williamson
Until October, the present officers will remain in their positions. The slate of Officers was
moved and accepted.
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President Thatcher's Openinl!: Remarks
John announced that this would be his last meeting as President. He will become Chairman and
since there is no provision for a chairman in our present by laws, there has to be a change in the
by laws. John praised Elly Kelly for her past cooperation and very hard work. He is confident
that the Conservancy will thrive under her stewardship.
Mosquito Control - John said that this season was a particularly difficult one for mosquito
control, due to the huge amount of rain. We had four girls this year rather than three. Two are
already gone. Another lives in Ledyard and will continue working into September.
Housing was a problem as always, but Diane Dexter offered a cottage at a reasonable rent. The
girls are responsible for over 100 wetlands 7 days a week.
In response to questions, John said that the ultrasonic exterminator invented by a high school
student shows promise, but has some glitches. We are following it.
Large fields cannot be treated. The larvicide we use for mosquito and black fly control only
works on standing water.
Report on "Nature Davs" - Barbie Riegel
Barbie said that the full week of programs; nature walks, lectures, movies and play would not
have been possible without the enthusiastic help of a huge number of volunteers from all over the
island. A partial list was read. She paid particular tribute to John McGillian. The meeting
applauded all the volunteers.
Barbie showed some of the items we had for sale, T-shirts, visors, toy ducks, etc. All expenses
added together came to $19,841.38. Starting with a special grant of$II,OOO, additional income
from sales, contributions, etc. came to $19,660, with a few hundred still to come from sales at the
Beach Plum (a virtual wash). Barbie hoped that Nature Days would be repeated next year in
August. In conclusion, she thanked the Board of the Conservancy for giving her and her
committee free rein. The meeting applauded this report. Mention was made of the special
petition to Gov. Pataki asking for the creation of the FISMA (which is still available for
signatures).
VIII. Bv-Law Chanl!:e - John Thatcher
Our by-laws require the physical presence of a larger number of directors to constitute a quorum
than is frequently feasible, particularly in winter. New York State law would allow us to have a
legal quorum with five plus one. John explained that the 8 plus days notice required was
impossible to comply for this meeting because the power blackout delayed the printer. He asked
for a waiver of that requirement. So moved and passed.
John then read the full text of the proposed change in the by-laws as follows:
By-Law change - Quorum Section 4,c,iii (Quorum) shall be amended to read as follows:
"At all regular and Special Directors meetings, the presence ofless than a majority of the entire
Board of Directors, in person or by telephone, may constitute a quorum and be sufficient for the
transaction of business provided that, in the case of a Board consisting of 15 Directors or less, the
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quorum shall be at least one-third of the entire number of Directors, and, in the case of a Board of
more than 15 Directors, the quorum shall be at least 5 Directors, plus I additional Director every
additional 10 Directors (or fraction thereof) in excess of 15. Any act of a majority of Directors at
a meeting at which a quorum, as defined herein, is present shall constitute an act of the Board of
Directors, except as may be otherwise specifically provided for by Statute, by the Certificate of
Incorporation, or by these By-Laws."
The Board of the Conservancy, through its legal advisors, recommend that the above By-Law
change be adopted at an Annual Meeting of the Conservancy by a quorum of the members
present.
The draft was moved and passed by the legal quorum of members present.
IX. Hav Harbor Dredl!inl! - Tom Sargent
Chuck Hamilton of the D. E. C. has said he is not adverse to hydraulic dredging of the Hay
Harbor channel using a Geo Tube. This is a 50 - 100 foot tube which would suck up the material
to be dredged, evaporate the water from it and deposit the sand onto Stony Beach. The last time
the channel was dredged the material was super clean. Using this method is a huge money
saving. Southold, New York State and the D. E. C. have approved it. Army Corps is expected to
follow suit.
Next, we need actual permits, a survey proposal and the survey itself - for a total cost of$10,300.
After that the actual project would cost $17,000 to $50,000 depending on what the survey
showed. It is projected that the Hay Harbor Club and the Hay Harbor property owners would
share the costs. Tom said that he expected a much clearer picture by the October meeting and
would report then.
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Lobster Update - Barry Bryan
There have been 2 major battles in court, 4 lawsuits filed and 2 appeals. In one case, the F. I.
Lobstermen were protected from Connecticut lobstermen but not from Montauk. The other case,
opening up F. I. waters to Connecticut is still on appeal without a decision since 2002. Barry is
not optimistic. For a while it looked as though a
F. I. S. M. A. would be put in place since Gov. Pataki proposed it and the D. E. C. came in with a
compromise. Our lobstermen gave up a lot but the Montauk fleet would have been severely
limited in their fishing our waters. Surprisingly, Gov. Pataki put in a pocket veto after all that.
We surmise that Montauk exercised a lot of political clout to effect this action. There is very
little hope that our petitions will make Pataki reverse his field again.
Various suggestions were made as to applying pressure to the governor. Tom Kean offered his
expertise and suggestions. We're not giving up but it looks as though our lobstermen are going to
go under. The catch is already way down and there is a lot of shell disease. In spite of many
studies no one has come up with a cause or cure for shell disease.
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Feral Cats - Jackie Williamson
Cynthia Riley has been our volunteer in charge of our West End Trap, Neuter and Release
program. In the late spring, she became seriously ill. She is now under strict orders not to even
think of her volunteer work until September 1. She said she and Dr. Sminkey "did a bunch of
cats", but simply cannot be more specific. She can't do anything until after September I and
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probably not much after that. If she says that her feral cat volunteer days are over, we will have
to find another volunteer or maybe pay someone. No one wants to put any strain on Cynthia who
contributes so much to the island. There are groups of cats around the Mansion Houses, behind
the food store and by the gates, in addition to the Transfer Station and BID ordinance building.
Jackie will follow up.
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New Business -
Peter Crisp offered the report submitted by Jim Carney's firm on Plum Island. Plum Island is
now under the Homeland Security Dept. There is a possibility of changing their mandate from
animal to animal disease study to animal to human study. This might adversely affect Fishers
Island. John said he would continue to monitor the situation with his contacts and thanked Peter
for the report.
Ken Edwards wanted to know if anything could be done about the cormorants. A discussion
followed with suggestions like shaking the eggs, coating the eggs with vegetable oil, removing all
but one egg, etc. Since the cormorant is protected under the migratory bird act, permits are
needed for any action. Permits can be obtained, it appears. Ken was named chairman of a
cormorant reduction committee.
XIII. Next meeting will be Columbus Day at 2:00 PM presided over by our new President, Elly Kelly.
XIV. The meeting was adjourned at 5:23 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jacqueline Williamson
Secretary Pro Tern.
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