GOSA Annual Meeting Highlights
Hi everyone. We held our Annual Meeting on October 17th at the Groton Senior Center. It was an opportunity to deliver a year-end review, elect our directors/officers, and show our appreciation to our membership, supporters, and donors. It was a productive and upbeat event capped off with an incredible talk by our guest speaker Aundre Bumgardner, which succinctly summarized environmental efforts of the past, present, and future in Southeastern CT and beyond.
Our year-end review included the following areas:
- Finance: Our position is very strong thanks to your support and an impressive list of grants awarded to us. Our Finance Committee continues to be in great hands.
- Land Acquisition and Property Planning and Management: An update on our recent acquisition (Center Groton Preserve) was provided including our ongoing work with our surveyor to identify accurate boundaries, many of which were established many, many years ago. It is a painstaking process where “getting it right” needs to be our foundation. We are also working with members of local Native Tribes to help us identify and protect pre-colonial sites. This property is a treasure!
- Stewardship: Our properties are in great shape thanks to efforts of our dedicated stewardship crew. Bridges have been upgraded/improved including a new wooden bog bridge at Sheep Farm near the waterfall. Our trails have been kept clear, well-marked, and safe. Our grassy areas were mowed weekly until early October.
- Community Outreach: Our partnership with Groton Public Schools and Park and Recreation (GO GROTON) provided opportunities to be outdoors in nature for 600+ students and more than 100 summer campers. Volunteers led monthly community hikes and Thrive55+ hikes throughout the year on GOSA properties.
- Communications: Upcoming GOSA Video Series – production continues on a series of short videos highlighting Sidney Van Zandt’s contributions to our community and organization, past achievements, and a look at present and future efforts. All interviews are complete and in the editing stage. We look forward to sharing the final product with you early next year.
Our business section of the meeting included motions for directors and officers for the board. We had 2 directors retire from the board – Michael Maurice (Treasurer) and Robin Thomas (Secretary). They both provided a tremendous amount to our organization and will be missed. Fortunately, we elected Kevin Ryan as a new Director and Treasurer. Wendy Spader will take over the Secretary position and continue her Communications role. We continue to be in great hands with both positions. The other major change is with the President. After two years leading our great Board of Directors, I (Dan O’Connell) handed the reins over to Betsy Chittenden (refer to our Board of Directors page).
In summary, we have accomplished a lot this year and will continue to do so in the future. Betsy is well suited to lead our organization based on her experience, and I will continue to focus my efforts on the Stewardship and Community Outreach Committees.
Spotted Salamander awards were happily presented to two terrific people who go above and beyond to help make our organization thrive:
- Lynn O’Connell for her amazing work with the GO GROTON group providing children with access to nature via GOSA properties.
- Scott Berry for his outstanding work on our stewardship crew.
The meeting concluded with our State Representative, Aundre Bumgardner. Aundre shared his love of the outdoors and appreciation of GOSA’s contributions to our community. He talked about his work at the State level on conservation and climate change issues. His upbeat personality and can-do attitude were contagious for all present. We could tell he is proud of our community and the role GOSA takes in making Groton the great town that it is.
See you out there,
Dan O’Connell, former GOSA President