Lake Washington Association Board Meeting April 13, 2017
Board Members Present:
| Ron Bubany Sandy Wosmek Lyle Walker Cathy Klehr Dean Shaner | Pat Hanson Tom Hauer Skip Sustacek Steve Ullom | David Rathe Steve Grotbo Mark Johnson Sharon Daniels |
Board Members please let someone know if you are not able to attend.
Treasurer Report Invasive Species Fund $50,782.39 General Fund $65,007.38
Paid Memberships:
1) Call Meeting to Order 7 PM – President Steve Grotbo
2) Secretary’s March Board Meeting Report – approved for publication with one correction.
3) Treasurer’s March Financial Reports – Paid $128 to Watershed Committee for culvert repair and $320 to Dassel Rod ‘n Gun Club for 2017 rental.
4) CROW Chain of Lakes Project – This study began in 2013 when Dan Nadeau from CROW presented to the Board a proposal that included doing Total Daily Maximum Load testing of our watershed including Lake Washington. At that time the Board approved joining this project at a cost of $500, that would be due when the project was complete. We are waiting to get the reports and approved paying the $500.
5) AIS Detectors Training – Mark Johnson is signed up to attend the workshop in Mankato in April and complete the online training. LWIA will pay the $175.00 cost for this training.
6) Committee Reports:
Aquatic Invasive Species:
A. Water Quality Testing – Dave R has all the equipment ready to go and will start weekly seechi disk readings and do monthly water testing in May.
B. Vegetation Survey – Mark J. and Ron B. will do vegetation surveys in May and July. They will do a follow up survey in August if we treat for milfoil.
C. I-LIDS/Watercraft Inspection – Dave R. and Tom H. will be installing the system on April 18 weather permitting.
D. Cormorants & Pelicans – Rick F. provided us with very good stats and information on the fish populations along with correlations to decrease in cormorants with increase in fish size and populations that will be published in the spring newsletter. Dean S. shared that he has had conversations with the DNR about stocking panfish as a means to attracting younger people to fishing. It was noted Collinwood has created cribs bundles of branches / trees dropped in the water for fish habitat.
E. Zebra Mussels – Dave R and Mike W will be putting out the “motels” in late May. They are looking to put them in approximately the same sites as last year.
Watershed: Skip S. reported an extension was put on a culvert on 213th St. near Ellsworth landing. They found water leaking under the 24-inch culvert, so ended up digging it out and pushing the pipe down further. The Township wants property owners to remove some of the rocks where the water runs into the lake. This committee will be moving to the north side of the lake on 233rd St. Starting on the east end they will be checking all the culverts on that side of the lake. There was some discussion about the ditch on the east side of Ellsworth landing and how overgrown it is, Skip will check with Joe from Meeker Co. Soil and Water about this ditch.
Membership / Shoreline Captains: Cathy K. has scheduled a Shoreline Captains meeting for 9:30 on Saturday May 20 at the Dassel Rod ‘n Gun Club.
Education & Public Relations:
A. Spring Newsletter Feedback – Looked really good, thanks Ron B. Emailed out April 5 and hard copies being mailed out April 14.
B. Website, Facebook, and Email Activity – Steve G. reported we have 149 likes on Facebook and are averaging 6 hits per day. Kevin Servin owner of Minnesota Shoreline, Dassel has expressed an interest in getting more involved and helping out LWIA. We will put him on our mailing list and Lyle will contact him about ways he would like to help. Steve G. has updated the DNR with all of Lake Washington’s ice out dates. GO DADDY is the host and service provider for our website. The prices went up to $14.99 to host our website and $95.88 for running the site for 4 years. Steve G. will contact them and look at negotiating a better price.
C. New Directory (last one was 2011) – Mark J. has volunteered to lead this effort. He is in the process of reviewing the data/information in the current directory and will be asking for feedback from the board. We will check with Crow River Printing about the cost of a 160 page directory to help set our advertising costs per page.
Social Committee – Annual Membership Meeting Pork Chop Dinner May 6th. Committee reports pork chops are ordered from Schroeder’s Meats (B&B from Hutchinson is paying for them). Three meat trays for raffle are ordered and will have the drawing closer to 7 PM. We will have committee reports, election of board members (earlier in the agenda), Dr. Mike McCartney UM will be our speaker. Tom H will bring a projector.
Financial / Grants – Sharon D. reported for 2017, we are getting from Meeker Co. AIS $2800 for I-LIDS operational costs, $5200 for treatment of milfoil, they wanted more information about our request for educational materials – Sharon checking on this. Also, MCAL – granted us $2500 for tile, outlets, buffer strips, etc and could be up to $5000 if we defined these projects better. Sharon will check with them about what type of information they are looking for. There is a DNR grant for AIS due April 22, Sharon is looking into this.
MCAL – Pat H. and Dave R. reported the first MCAL meeting is scheduled for April 20, with Scott M. (Hutchinson DNR rep) speaking at the meeting. Other MCAL meeting this year are July 20 and October 19th.
7) Open Discussion – Lyle shared that Mn, Lakes and River Advocates (a state lobbying group) are asking LWIA of Meeker Co. to join their organization at a yearly cost of $200. The Board voted to not join this organization at this time.
There is a starry stone Wart conference in St. Cloud.
Next Board Meeting Scheduled for 7 PM May 2nd (Tuesday) at Dassel Rod and Gun