Rail Trail Committee Meeting

JOHNSON RAIL TRAIL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES JOHNSON MUNICIPAL BUILDING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 Present: Committee Members: Adrian Schmidt, Lynda Hill, Jan Gearhart, Doug Molde, Mary Lou Kopas Absent: BJ Putvain, Peggy Williams, Kim Dunkley Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted. Although a quorum was not present, committee members began discussion at 6:16. Adrian said he doesn’t know if he can fulfill the responsibility of being committee chair. He is thinking of quitting the committee. He prefers more hands-on work, which he is able to do with the Conservation Commission. He is realizing that his passion is not here; it is with the Conservation Commission. He has not given this committee the time he should have. Lynda asked if he wants to be on the committee without being chair. Adrian said he would still show up to meetings. He doesn’t know if could take on responsibilities like presenting to the trustees or selectboard, but he would be happy to help build things. Doug said if Adrian resigns as chair, Mary Lou, who is currently vice chair, would become chair. Mary Lou said she is too busy to take on that responsibility. Doug said some institutional knowledge was lost when he was unable to attend meetings and Kyle and Adrienne left the committee. He would not want to take over as chair unless the committee first resolved everything that is pending. Doug said he met today with RJ Thompson, Tom Galinat and Diana Osborn. Carl Rogers told Doug that he has taken over trying to get the information the committee wanted from Brian Raulinaitis. Doug will try to connect with Brian. Doug said he is willing to be chair again. He thinks that would be useful because of his involvement with Reimagine Johnson. But he only wants to be chair if the issues that are pending get decided. He suggested that Adrian research how to resign. He thinks Adrian can step down as chair and then when Mary Lou becomes chair she can also step down. Doug said he thinks we should ask Kyle Nuse to resign from the LCPC Lamoille Valley Rail Trail Community Committee. She is Doug’s alternate but she is not able to go to many meetings. Jan told him she is willing to be the alternate. Doug said he likes having another person attend and provide an alternate view on what is discussed. He thinks Kyle agrees that she should resign. Doug gave an update on the most recent LVRT Community Committee meeting. The main subject was the Trail Friendly Business Program. The state hired a consultant to do signage. Doug submitted GPS coordinates for sign locations under the Reimagine Johnson task force, bypassing this committee, because he thought it was important to get the information to the consultant to help the consultant understand what communities need. The LVRT web page has a map that shows businesses. Businesses can get listed even if they are not in the Trail Friendly Business Program. We should be encouraging businesses to sign up. Lynda asked if businesses can be added at any time. Doug said yes. Mary Lou reviewed which Johnson businesses are already listed. Doug said he thinks the dining hall at the college, which is open to the public, should be listed. He would like to have individual college assets like disc golf, the pool and the Rail Trail Committee Meeting Minutes p. 2 September 17, 2025 weight room listed separately. He, Diana and Tom discussed with RJ Thompson the idea of converting dorm space at the college to hostel space. The next meeting of the LVRT Community Committee is going to have discussion about how people can set up to offer camping on their property. Jan arrived at 6:46, making a quorum. 1. Call Meeting to Order Adrian called the meeting to order at 6:49. 2. Agenda Addition – LVRT Community Committee Update Doug asked Jan if she wanted to share anything about the LVRT Community Committee meeting. Jan said someone who owns a campground in Jeffersonville will come to the next meeting. The committee also discussed having someone there to talk about using Hipcamp. Jan said she also learned that LCPC will print our rail trail map. VTrans will print the 6 ft. x 4 ft. one for the Welcome Center. We will have to get the maps mounted on foam board. 3. Agenda Addition – Kiosks Jan said Brian Currier is done with the kiosks. One will go at the Welcome Center and one will go on Legion Field. They are ready to be put together. She thinks the town can dig the holes with their auger. We have to determine whether we want to set them in dirt or in cardboard tubes filled with concrete. Doug asked if the committee got permission for putting one at the Welcome Center when we got permission to put one on Legion Field. Mary Lou said yes. Doug said he thinks we should tell Tom we are doing this. Jan said Brian Currier is willing to help put the kiosks together. Adrian said he will reach out to Tom about the project and see how much the town can help out. He agreed to get together with Jan to work on putting the kiosks together. 4. Bike Racks – Cold Spring, Jenna’s Coffee House, Vermont Studio Center Adrian said we got approval from the village for a bike rack location at the Cold Spring. Mary Lou said the village is willing to put in the cement slab. Jan said we have to dig out the sod and they will put in the concrete slab and anchoring. Committee members met with Erik Bailey and Nate Brigham to discuss it. The village will move the bike rack for the winter. They said it needs to move because they plow there. They did not want the less expensive Saris bike rack we had discussed previously. Mary Lou showed the committee pictures of bike racks that are outside Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem, NH. Jan said she spoke with Jim MacDowell at Vermont Studio Center about the area between the coffee shop and the Church Studio and he said we are welcome to do anything we want there. We could put in an e-bike charging station, a bike rack, or a picnic table. There are also other possibilities on VSC properties. She thinks for the VSC location we would need spaces for at least 4-6 bikes. Doug moved and Jan seconded to authorize buying 3 bike racks like the ones outside Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem, NH in a color acceptable to the village, with two to be placed between Jenna’s Coffee House and Vermont Studio Center property and one at the Cold Spring, if they fall within our budget constraints, and to delegate choice of color for the decorative laser-cut portion to the current committee chair. Mary Lou sent a message to Super Secret Ice Cream asking them where they got their bike racks. Jan said she will check with her son-in-law who has a CNC machine. He may be able to do the laser-cut part. The motion was passed. Rail Trail Committee Meeting Minutes p. 3 September 17, 2025 Doug said each rack has 3 spaces for bikes and we are ordering 3 of them. 5. Mason’s Project Jan said she talked to Jeanne Engel at the library, who is married to Steve Engel from the Masonic Temple. They looked at the property line for the area between the Masonic Temple and Marvin’s. The temple owns the flat area and we could put a map stand there. Jeanne suggested that if we put it there we would need bike racks for people who stop to look at the map. Doug asked if we have a quote on the map stand. Jan said yes. Mary Lou said it was put in our budget and approved to spend by the selectboard. Jan said we just need to get space for it. If we want to use the Village Green we need to go back to the village. Mary Lou and Doug agreed we should just place it across the street from the Green. Doug said there is talk of turning the space now being used by the library into a welcome center for Johnson when the library moves. Mary Lou moved to buy a map stand and have it installed by the Masonic Temple. She said she thinks the village would put in the pad and install it. Doug seconded and the motion was passed. Jan agreed to order the map stand. 6. Other Business Jan said if we want to pursue making benches, she has access to cedar logs to make them. A firewood producer has a lot of small butt ends that are a size he can’t use. He probably will give them to us. We have to split them. Duncan Hastings can do that, but we need someone to assemble the benches. Adrian said he is willing to work on that. Mary Lou said the bench by Dog’s Head is no longer there. Doug suggested contacting Jackie Cassino, who is in charge of rail trails for VTrans, to see whether we can put a bench in the rail trail right of way at Dog’s Head. Mary Lou said she will contact Jackie. 7. Bike Racks – Continued Mary Lou said she had already gotten a reply from Super Secret Ice Cream. Their bike racks were custom made by a fabricator called Wilco in Littleton and they were not cheap. They sent contact information for Wilco. Mary Lou said she will get a quote from Wilco. 8. Other Business Jan asked where we are with the stone steps. She noted that you can’t see the playground from the Welcome Center. There should be a sign pointing to the playground and the stone steps. Doug said Carl Rogers is taking over work on the Act 250 permit application for the project. When Doug last checked with him he hadn’t completed the application yet. It will only take one or two days to install the steps, but he believes it is too late this year. We still have to get Act 250 approval. The next meeting will be October 15 at 6:00 p.m. Doug and Adrian will communicate about what should be on the agenda and Mary Lou will prepare it. Doug said one thing he would like on the next agenda is discussion about more picnic tables for the Ted Alexander Welcome Center. He thinks we need to get two more so we can have tables on both sides. Other committee members agreed. 9. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 7:33. Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths