Friends of Sligo Creek Board meeting
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014, 7:30 pm, Jim Anderson’s house, 126 Fleetwood
Terrace, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Present: Jim, Kit, Bruce, Vanessa, Corinne, Terry, Mike S.
Note taker: Mike S.

• Meeting minutes taken by Corinne for February 24th, 2014 board meeting
approved with change suggested by Mike S. (replacing “Michael S.” with
“Michael W.” on page 2, section 7, natural history section).
• Kit recommended that board meeting minutes have two key parts: 1). Todo-list,
to be circulated internally by and for the board and 2). Decisions
made, to be posted on the FOSC web site
• Vanessa – liability insurance has been renewed; IRS 2013 form 990-N filed
March 4th, 2014. 2014 Maryland Property Tax return filed on February
24th, 2014; submitted 2014 budget of $10,400 approved by board; has
been visiting FOSC post office box to pick up checks; periodically checking
PayPal donations; Vanessa has been forwarding information about donors
who have contributed $250 or more to Susan Hunt who has been writing
acknowledgements for FOSC, an IRS requirement for donations over $250;
ideally all donations would be acknowledged; Vanessa hopes to roll off as
Treasurer at end of fiscal year, December 31, 2014 having served for
three years. Kit would like to know how much time Vanessa has been
spending as treasurer; Vanessa- familiarity with Quicken the key skill
needed to be FOSC treasurer; what to do with FOSC funds surplus—
Vanessa will investigate Parnassus socially responsible mutual funds as a
possible place to invest some fraction of our assets (Jim and Kit suggested
between .25 and .33 of the total).
• Mike – history of FOSC as a project of the Anacostia restoration office (now
known as Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership) of the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments with overall mission of
improving water quality of the Anacostia River. Mike would like to revisit
this subject when Sarah is present. Anacostia Watershed Citizens
Advisory Committee- citizens arm of the Partnership; board affirmed Mike
as FOSC representative to AWCAC. Bruce asked Mike to ask the Anacostia
Watershed Society about another Anacostia boat outing for FOSC.
• Terry and Bruce – Sweep report. Sweep largely successful. Some spots
have significantly less trash from year to year; other sites still have a lot
of trash; Bruce would like to work with Patton to create a list of high
priority trash hot spots so that volunteer groups can be steered most
effectively to where they are most needed. Terry- issue with Seven OaksEvanswood
Citizens Associaton—they had adopted parts of Section 5
under the County’s Adopt A Road program and now have been largely
superseded by FOSC’s Sweep. Terry will look into whether Adopt a Road
can be transferred from SOECA to FOSC. Terry asked about bottle bill;
Mike S. suggested Julie Lawson of Trash Free Maryland
http://www.trashfreemaryland.org/ would have most updated information
about trash reduction strategy.
• Jim- Carole Bergmann of MNCPPC has produced new tree huggers poster
to promote invasive plant removal and Weed Warriors; strategy needed to
have people adopt smaller areas for removing invasive plants; database
when ready could be potentially used to identify Weed Warriors by
location
• Kit- database; invite Andrew, along with Sarah and Michael W., to next
board meeting to discuss contract proposal to get database running. Who
will be trained to use it needs to be worked out. Database is a Salesforce
product.
• Bruce – advocacy; key Maryland bill on stormwater fees was not
overturned in General Assembly; WSSC says they are still waiting for
permits from the Army Corps of Engineers to start sewer line
improvement projects in the Sligo Creek watershed; could AWCAC have a
role?
• Kit – Elaine Lamirande is the new head of the FOSC-NNWB stormwater
committee;
• Corinne attended Maryland DNR Stream Waders training and gathered
macroinvertebrate samples at three sites on Sligo Creek for testing; these
were on Sligo near Kennebec, between Dennis and University, and further
upstream; update on Center for Watershed Protection grant to investigate
bacteria hot spots in Sligo watershed; Karen Cappiella and Lisa FraleyMcNeal
of CWP now the project leaders; AWS, ANS, and FOSC are also
participants; know thinking of a one day event in early fall with training in
the morning and investigating in the afternoon; site to do the testing still
needs to be identified; it was suggested that it might be good to contact
Daryl Braithwaite of the City of Takoma Park Department of Public Works
about this program as there is interest in this problem there. CWP still
figuring out how they want to do the event.
• Agreed that next board meeting held from 7 – 9 instead of 7:30-9:30; in
approximately a month to discuss database; Kit will send doodle poll.

To do list:
Vanessa – provide Kit with estimate of time worked as treasurer; investigate
Parnassus mutual funds as possible investment for surplus FOSC funds.
Mike – ask the Anacostia Watershed Society about a boat outing for FOSC; provide
Julie Lawson’s contact information: [email protected]; contact Bruce
about possible role for AWCAC in WSSC starting repairs in Sligo.
Terry – look into whether the Section 5 part of Sligo Creek Parkway now adopted by
SOECA under the County’s Adopt a Road program can be transferred to FOSC;
Adopt a Road web site http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dotdir/AdoptARoad/index.html
which is part of the Department of Transportation’s Keep
Montgomery Beautiful Program http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DOTdir/kmcb/index.html
Bruce – contact Patton and discuss making list of high priority trash hot spots where
volunteers can be directed when available;
Kit – invite Andrew, Michael W. to next board meeting to discuss database contract
proposal; send doodle poll for next board meeting.

Board Minutes:
1). February 24th, 2014 meeting minutes taken by Corinne Stephens approved with
change suggested by Mike S. (replacing “Michael S.” with “Michael W.” on page 2,
section 7, natural history section).
2). Friends of Sligo Creek meeting minutes will be posted on the Friends of Sligo
Creek web site
3). 2014 budget of $10,400 submitted by Vanessa Andrews approved. IRS 2013
form 990-N filed as required and general liability insurance has been renewed.
4). Future board meetings to be held from 7 pm – 9pm instead of 7:30 pm – 9:30
pm.
5). Mike Smith approved as Friends of Sligo Creek representative to the Anacostia
Watershed Citizens Advisory Committee.
6). The board moved consideration of the database proposal made by Andrew
Marcus to the next meeting, requesting to meet with Andrew and Michael Wilpers to
clarify the proposal and answer questions.