9.18.19
In an August 15 letter from the Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy to the Town of Middleton board, the Friends informed the Town that they will be discontinuing their maintenance efforts at the Conservancy and instead concentrating their efforts on “Education,” going forward. We plan on developing more documentaries on the stories of the land including its history, Native American contributions, geology and land formation, and erosion and the CCC.  We are also looking to add additional self-guided tour pamphlets, and plan to continue and possibly add to our educational talks to the public. The Friends would like to help the school district learn about the lessons at PFC and the surrounding area. We believe this is a wonderful opportunity to utilize the Conservancy for what it has always intended to be.

On Sept. 12, 2019, the Middleton Times Tribune ran an article titled Fallout Continues Between Friends & Town. The Friends group wishes to issue a response to that article in a Letter to the Editor, written by FOPFC Chair Mel Pope.

Letter to the Editor – 9/18/19

I was dismayed by many of the quotations that were made in the article that appeared in the Middleton Times Tribune last Thursday (September 12th, 2019).  As I read the article, it became clear that many corrections and clarifications were needed in order for your readership to be accurately informed.

The Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy (FOPFC) is a 501 C (3) Corporation.  We have our own by-laws and board of directors, as well as our own assets and liabilities. We are responsible to our membership and the IRS, not to the Town of Middleton (TOM).  Every dollar FOPFC has spent since our inception has benefited Pope Farm Conservancy (PFC) per our by-laws. Over the years the FOPFC has put thousands of dollars into PFC to build interpretive signs, a garden shed, a parking lane, hired summer interns, burned prairies, and developed educational materials.  Now we have been criticized by comments made by the chair of the TOM.

The TOM owns PFC and since its inception the FOPFC has had a “memorandum of understanding” with the TOM.  It has worked well, and anything the FOPFC does on the property that would require funding from the TOM or anything the FOPFC does that changes the aesthetics at PFC, rightfully needs approval from the TOM.  This agreement contains a number of other important features.

Quotations are from the 9/12/19 article:

“The relationship soured between the Friends and the town board over money, Richson said”.  That is simply not true.  There were many issues but the biggest issue was that the TOM wanted to control the FOPFC.

 “When the Town of Middleton presented the Friends with an agreement last fall requiring adherence to the spending provisions that attach to Stewardship grants, the Friends wouldn’t sign, Richson said”.  In actuality, the TOM sent a proposed operating agreement to the FOPFC via email.  We asked for more information and they did not respond, we asked for clarification and they did not provide it, we asked to meet with them and they did not agree to meet.  We believe that the operating agreement that the TOM proposed was designed to control the FOPFC.  For instance, the agreement called for TOM approval of messages from the FOPFC to our own membership, and approving messages on our social media.  One of the purposes of the FOPFC is to advocate for PFC, and the idea we would need Town approval for our messages at the same time we advocate to that very same body is ridiculous.  There were many other provisions that made this agreement untenable.  The Friends cannot sign an agreement that would give up our rights to operate as an independent corporation or encumber our rights of expression.  The TOM Chair continues to try to involve the DNR grant with the Friends.  The Town has an agreement with the DNR, not the Friends.  The Friends have not raised any monies whatsoever at PFC for two years.  Before that, whenever the FOPFC held an event to raise funds on the Property, it was approved by the TOM board with no restrictions.

  Finally, the FOPFC informed the TOM that it was not planning on doing any fund raising on the property in the future.  This made the whole question of DNR stewardship approval moot.

 “… until they (FOPFC) received a $40,000 donation last year …”  Not correct.  The FOPFC has complied with all IRS regulations, and we have put our financial information on our website, even though we are not required to do so. 

It is unfortunate that we have to continue to respond to articles like this.  The FOPFC is a volunteer organization, and our volunteers want their efforts to be satisfying, meaningful, and to be recreational in nature.  Obviously working with the TOM these last couple years has not been fun.   In the end, the FOPFC board members are all emotionally connected with PFC, and the vote to discontinue our maintenance efforts with the TOM was unanimous and sad to the eight members present.

However, the biggest part of the story is that the FOPFC is working to continue its mission to enhance the educational experience at PFC.  Our membership is excited about doing what we can to help the new school in any way possible.  Getting students out into the natural world is exciting for all of us, and we hope we can continue to enhance the Conservancy as an educational asset.  It will help the community, the students, and the TOM.

Mel Pope

Chair, FOPFC