Lake Washington Association Board Meeting May 2, 2017
Board Members Present:
| Mike Wosmek Sandy Wosmek Lyle Walker Cathy Klehr | Pat Hanson Ron Bubany Skip Sustacek Steve Grotbo | Steve Ullom Dean Shaner Mark Johnson |
Board Members please let someone know if you are not able to attend.
Treasurer Report Invasive Species Fund $ 52,799 General Fund $68,551.66
Paid Memberships: 91
1) Call Meeting to Order 7 PM – President Steve Grotbo
2) Secretary’s April Board Meeting Report – approved for publication on the website with corrections.
3) Treasurer’s April Financial Reports – Income $4,550 membership, $1980 donations to AIS fund, $240 ads for newsletter, $1035 Dassel Fire Dept, $10 cookbook, Expenses: $415.24 website renewal (for 5 years), $490 members hosting renewal, $729.58 newsletter, $155.90 membership card and envelopes, $500 CROW. April 30th is the end of LWIA financial year and Lyle will be sending our records to Piehl, Hanson, Beckman in Hutchinson. They will complete a year end evaluation and file Federal and State forms required for LWIA.
4) CROW Chain of Lakes Project – Dave sent out results April 22nd. Steve U was the only member that had read the report and will table this until the next meeting for a discussion.
5) AIS Detectors Training – Mark J. reported he completed the 8 hours of online training and test before attending an 8 hour training session and another test. This training involves all AIS invertebrates and vegetation. To stay certified Dave needs to do 25 hours/year to stay certified as an AIS Detector. There were about 20-25 people in this training from Lake Associations, UM extension, and Soil & Water people at the County level. As an Official AIS Detector, Mark will be working with the DNR, as a resource person to investigate local reports of possible AIS reports from local residents.
6) Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council Meeting – Dean Shaner attended this meeting at the Capital in St. Paul. All members of the Council were present at this annual meeting. The discussion looked at how the Lessard-Sams money is being used throughout the state. They also talked about various programs that look at protecting the waters in the State.
7) Committee Reports:
Aquatic Invasive Species:
A. Water Quality Testing – is set to begin in Mid May.
B. Vegetation Survey – they are set to do a survey in Mid May weather permitting.
C. I-LIDS/Watercraft Inspection – the unit was set up on April 18. Eric will be installing new software in the near future.
D. Cormorants & Pelicans – Scott M (Hutchinson DNR Office) responded to the article in our Spring Newsletter in a manner that appeared to agree with the contention cormorants do add to the potential for an increase in swimmer’s itch. Steve G. shared Scott’s reply with all board members and will post on the website possible actions one can take to control snails and swimmers itch.
E. Zebra Mussels – Mike W reported he and Dave R will be putting out the motels around Memorial Day and collect them around Labor Day. During the summer they will document findings and report these to the UM.
Watershed: Skip S. reported Joe Norman and Christine from the DNR are looking into the ditches that surround Ellsworth Landing (this area in over grown and needs some work). They will look at the shoreline area and what needs to be done to clean up the ditches. The culvert on 213th Street that Skip has been working on needs more rocks around the intake. The DNR is looking at property owners needing to remove some of the rocks at the end of the ditch. Skip reported The Nelson Family redid all the field tiles and upgraded the intakes leading to the culvert on the Northeast part of the lake. It looks like they have done a very good job and there may need to be more rocks placed near the culvert. Skip will continue looking at culvert along 233rd St.
Membership / Shoreline Captains: Cathy K. has scheduled the annual Shoreline Captains meeting for 9:30 May 20th at the Dassel Rod ‘n Gun Club. She is in the process of creating a lake map the shows shoreline captains for each area around the lake. She has sent Thank You notes to all that contributed at least $50 dollars toward a lake project.
Education & Public Relations:
A. Summer Newsletter Feedback – Ron B. reports it will go out by mid July, because of the 4th of July being during the week. He would like to have all articles submitted to him by Tuesday June 27th.
B. Website, Facebook, and Email Activity – Steve G. reports we have 149 likes to FaceBook. We are getting 5 hits per day to our website. Steve reports our IP address has a new site and he is in the process of updating formatting errors that occurred with the switch to the new site.
C. New Directory (last one was 2011) – Mark J has been reviewing old directories and looking at online data to include in the new directory. He will have an update for the next meeting.
Social Committee – Pork Chop Dinner on May 6th.- Sandy and Mike will be setting up the grill about 3:30 with pork chops being delivered by Schroeder’s Meats around 4 pm. Sandy will prepare other foods being served. The agenda will be committee reports, election of board members, Meat Raffle at or before 7 pm. With Dr. McCartney’s (UM Zebra Mussels Research) presentation starting at 7.
Financial / Grants – Grants Sharon Daniels reported:
2017 MCAL Approved Grant: We are approved for $2,500 thus far, but may receive up to $5,000.00.
1. We will work closely with Joe Norman, Meeker County Admin person, on our watershed and intake projects, and water testing. If Joe knows what we are doing, and the hours it takes to do a project, then we should turn the paperwork in and request additional funds for doing the project.
2. 2017 Meeker AIS Approved Grant: We are approved for $2,800.00 for ILIDS project, $5,200.00 for Milfoil treatment, and the 3rd request was for further education and may be approved yet with further explanation of how we will provide education.
3. AIS Inspections Beginning May 25, 2017 through September 4, 2017 at Ellsworth Landing LWIA was not granted any money for EXTRA inspections this summer, but the DNR will be paying and providing the people to do inspections at Ellsworth Landing 3 days a week. The scheduled dates for inspections will either be Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays or Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Just not sure which 3 days DRN will have workers as of this date.
4. Other DNR Grant Deadline: Grant application for Curly-Leaf pond week, Eurasian Milfoil, or Flowering Rush is due June 11, 2017. If granted funds LWIA would need to apply for an IAPM permit for the work (do not need to apply for permit prior to granting of funds). I will do further checking on this grant prior to applying to see if this meets LWIA needs.
MCAL – Pat Hanson reported Scott M. (Hutchinson DNR), Allison Gamble (State DNR), and Ethan Jenson (State DNR water quality) were at the April meeting. Allison talked about drainage and wet lands along with the effect grasslands have on water quality. Ethan talked about water quality, specifically buffers, shoreline restorations projects and who has responsibilities for trees in lakes and who has authority to do shoreline work. There was not a lot of new information shared. The did report the US Fish and Wildlife along with the US Department of Agriculture have oversite in most all areas. Pat will format the information shared at this meeting in a context that is more easily understood. Next meeting is July 20th. Sharon Daniels will replace Dave R on this committee.
8) Open Discussion
Next Board Meeting Scheduled for 7 PM June 1st (Thursday) at Dassel Rod and Gun