TVCA Board Meeting Minutes
January 12, 2026, 5:30 pm

Meeting summary 
Attendees: Lynn Pickard, Jack Lippincott, Mark DeCamp, Bernadette Romero-Jaramillo, Christi Clancy, Margo Cutler, David Dougherty, Cathie Sullivan, Jerry Barron
Decisions and Actions
• Lynn welcomed Bernadette and Mark as newly elected directors and confirmed the revised agenda for the meeting, which was approved

• Approved December 1 and 9, 2025, Meeting Minutes as corrected to add persons in attendance and correct people who gave the update regarding the Water Committee during the December 1 meeting

• Approved Treasurer’s Report, which stated that the current bank balance is $3350.02 of which $2143 is earmarked for possible future legal fees based on prior solicitation of donations for this purpose
TVCA Officer and Project Assignments:
TVCA Board Officer Assignment - Approved
• Lynn: Chair
• Mark: Recording Secretary
• Christi: Corresponding Secretary
• Jack: Treasurer

New TVCA Projects

• Cathie and Mark will co-chair a Safe Septic committee and begin organizing this group. This committee (and others) may meet between meetings by email or Zoom, as well as in person, and will recommend action to the board for approval
• Margo will serve as board liaison to the Firewise effort that Rachel White has led for the past several years and will also try to put together another fire prevention and preparedness committee by contacting Annie Laurie and Jim Coogan about co-chairing this committee, which may identify high-need areas for tree removal/thinning this winter and plan for fire evacuation drills in the future, among other initiatives
• David and Mark will co-chair an Aamodt Preparedness effort to develop a communication plan for pipeline/elections information
• Mark will explore Funding Opportunities and Partnerships by researching options for 501c3 status or partnership with existing 501c3 organization for grant funding
• A new fire camera committee was established at the December 1 meeting, with Chris Romero as chair. Bernadette agreed to be the board liaison to this committee. In connection with this committee, it should be noted that the camera on Tesuque Peak is operational and may be accessed in real time on the TVCA website (tesuquevalley.org) on the last tab on the right, perhaps by clicking on the word “More” and then clicking on the drop down (or perhaps at the bottom of the menu on a phone)
Membership and Dues Updates
The group discussed membership and mailing lists, with Christi providing a report on current membership status, and Lynn proposing a positive affirmation process for list management. There are 374 people on our mailing list, but only about 15 paid dues in 2025, most in December. After discussion, even though people offered conflicting proposals for the dues amount for 2026, when and how to collect them, and requirements for membership as opposed to simply remaining on our mailing list, it was decided to:
• Increase the dues to $15 a year in 2026
• Wait until after the February 9 meeting to send out notice that dues are due
• Try to obtain an electronic method of collecting dues before that date
• Require payment of dues to become or remain a member of TVCA unless the person is unable to pay, as provided in the bylaws, and in such a case require the person to so state by return email
• Allow people to stay on the mailing list even if not members if they so state by return email
Board Terms
Since we now have nine directors with six being elected in December, the board decided that one recently elected person should take a one-year term so that a roughly equal number of directors would be elected each year. Cathie volunteered to take the one-year terms. The board is therefore comprised of the following people with a term ending in December 2026: Jerry, David, Christi, and Cathie; and the following people with a term ending in 2027: Mark, Bernadette, Jack, Lynn, and Margo.
Next steps (Board members agreed to take the following next steps):
• Christi: Send out updated membership/dues reminder email once electronic payment options are determined, including new $15 dues amount and instructions on becoming a member versus just remaining on the mailing list
• Jerry, Mark, and Jack: Research and propose electronic payment options (PayPal, Venmo, etc.) for dues before February 9th board meeting
• Christi and Mark: Update and send around administrative tasks list showing current responsibilities and gaps
• Board members: Review distributed administrative tasks Word document and provide feedback at next meeting
• Board members: Send email with phone numbers to Mark for board member contact list
• Bernadette: Contact Chris Romero about fire camera committee status and report at next meeting
• Christi: Resend list of 29 volunteers to relevant committee chairs
• Christi: Include request for initiative participation in upcoming membership update email
• Margo: Contact Annie Laurie and Jim with the idea of identifying board members or others in different valley zones to identify local fire risk areas and potential leaders for neighborhood-level efforts
• There was general discussion about who should contact whom to see if the fire risk assessment is still available. It appears to be through the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition website: https://www.santafefireshed.org/communitywildfiredefense