FREE ACRES ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES FILES,, 1910-1993

Summary: Minutes of the Free Acres Association monthly, special, and annual meetings, with related materials interfiled. Minutes include multiple copies with annotations.

Types of documents include minutes; reports of the Free Acres Town Clerk, Board of Assessors, Board of Trustees, and the various committees; meeting announcements; correspondence addressed to the Association or Town Clerk; broadsides; contracts for work done for the Association; newspaper clippings; notes, Berkeley Heights ordinances, resolutions, statistics, and tax maps. Also includes leaseholder requests which will be addressed at the meeting, and announcements of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as community activities such as dances and parties. This series contains one oversize item, a "No Trespassing" sign (1922).

Of particular interest is a copy of the Free Acres original Certificate of Incorporation (1910).

Free Acres Association correspondence, usually directed to the Town Clerk, concerns leases, taxes, the payment of bills, the coordination of the work of the various committees, etc. Much of the correspondence consists of requests to allow family members or tenants occupying the leasehold to have a proxy vote. Of interest is a letter from James Cagney authorizing the transfer of the Cagney leasehold in 1936.

The Free Acres Association Annual meeting files contain budget reviews of the past fiscal year, and the proposed budget for the next. Special meetings are called to discuss lease transfers, lot improvements, taxes, bond issue votes, and emergencies. The tax structure, the Constitution and Bylaws, lease transfers, and lot improvements are recurring meeting topics.