2025
Meeting Minutes

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chair John LaDue at 7:06 pm.

2. Roll Call: Present: Jessie Bastos, Vice Chair Linda Greck, Chair John LaDue, Mayor Judy Paul, Fred Segal, Uri Tkacz, and Frank Vidal. Absent: Adrienne Kaltman, Jacqueline Ladue, and Scott Weinstein. Also present: Eloise Holland, Lori Holland.

3. Minutes: Minutes from September 17, 2024 and December 17, 2024 are pending review. Motion to table by Fred Segal, seconded by Vice Chair Linda Greck, with all in favor. Motion passed.

4. Treasurer’s Report: Our iTHINK Financial CD has $45,969.71 and earned $193.03 for the prior month. The CD expires at the end of June 2025. Our iTHINK Financial Money Market Account has $5,219.96 and earned $18.77 for the month at a promotional rate of 4.33% which expires next week. Treasurer Fred Segal will investigate additional rate options. Chair Greck made a motion to receive and file the financial report. Uri Tkacz seconded the motion, with all in favor. Motion passed.

5. Old Business

• a. Status of easement monitoring reports: Linda Greck will be completing the report for Oak Park, and John Ladue will be completing Bristol Reserve. Jessie Bastos and Francisco Vidal completed Arbor Reserve in November 2024 and Zona West in September 2024.
• b. Website & Social Media: JThe board agreed to update the Board Member section of our website with headshots and a few bullets to serve as a brief biography by February 21st, the opening night of the Orange Blossom Festival. Jessie Bastos will be picking up a box of DALT documents to scan and send to Michael Bartlett to upload to the website. Vice Chair Greck suggested social media posts ahead of the Orange Blossom Festival.
• c. 20-Year Anniversary Community Presentations:Mayor Paul has a scheduled meeting with Plantation Mayor Nick Sortal and will broach the topic of presenting the 20-year DALT presentation at an upcoming Plantation Council meeting. Vice Chair Greck volunteered to be the liaison to set up the meeting. Jessie Bastos suggested setting a performance measurement goal of 3-4 presentations for 2025 with a focus on Plantation, Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, and either Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, or Sunrise. The goal of the presentations is to drive awareness of DALT, inform the public of the benefits of conservation easements, and help other municipalities identify parcels that could be candidates for additional easements.
• d. Review of DALT Standards & Practices, Stewardship Fees: no updates
• e. Short and Long-Term Goals/Review, Update, & Plan Development: Organizational goals include completing the monitoring forms for all four easements for the 2025 calendar year, presenting the 20-year DALT presentation to 3-4 municipalities in 2025, completing the digitization of DALT records, updating public outreach booth materials with revised info and engaging activities, and identifying future potential easements.

6. New Business

• --Orange Blossom Festival & Water Matters Booth: Fred Segal confirmed that the request for DALT’s shared Orange Blossom tent was submitted. Jessie Bastos suggested waterproofing the photo board and volunteered to pick it up from Chair LaDue while Frank Vidal volunteered to waterproof it. Discussion ensued on potential interactive activities including planting seeds, painting rocks, cornhole, and photo opportunities with a vintage tractor. Water Matters Day was also discussed, along with event changes to vendor placement from individual tents to shared pavilions.

7. Comments/Questions/Suggestions

• a. Guest Speaker, Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office: Frank Vidal suggested we invite a member of Marty Kiar’s Property Appraiser’s Office to an upcoming DALT meeting to discuss the financial impact of conservation easements on property owner taxes and revenue for municipalities. Fred Segal volunteered to reach out to schedule the meeting.

8. Motion to adjourn:Fred Segal moved to adjourn at 8:30 pm. Uri Tkacz seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,
Jessie Bastos