Lake Washington Association Board Meeting August 11, 2015
Board Members Present:
| Ken Klehr Mike Wosmek Lyle Walker Steve Ullom | Cathy Klehr Rick Johnson Tom Hauer David Rathe | Ron Bubany Skip Sustacek Rick Fernstrom |
Board Members please let someone know if you are not able to attend.
Treasurer Report: Invasive Species Fund: $39,808 ; General Fund: $75,122
PAID MEMBERSHIPS: 195
1) Call Meeting to order 7 PM – President Ken Klehr
Guest Speaker: Meeker Co. Sheriff, Brian Cruze shared information and answered question by board members regarding the Crime Alert system, water patrols and boat inspections. Sheriff Cruze reported they are working on improving the reporting system for crime alerts in specific areas throughout the county. This would include a new system of public outreach for crime alerts and public service announcements. Lake Washington has 226 people that have requested to be on the crime alert email list. The new system worked out involves the Sheriff’s Dept. sending the crime alert to Ron Bubany and he will then send it out to all Lake Washington residents wishing to receive the alerts. Sheriff Cruze asked us if there are any issues with the crime alert system, reporting incidences or factual matters of the alert to please contact him.
With regards to Water and Boat Inspections, Sheriff Cruze reported they started the summer with 4 people, but now have only 2 doing inspections on a regular basis. The Meeker Co. Sheriff’s department did receive $4000 from the Meeker Co. AIS Committee to focus on educating people using the public landings on AIS preventions. They are doing this by spending 6 hours doing patrols on the water and 2 hours at the landing doing inspections of boats entering and leaving the lake. With the finding of zebra mussels on Lake Stella, he has focused on increasing inspections on Stella and Washington.
Sheriff Cruze’s response to question about rowdiness on the lake: he stated that people can be on the lake and loud during the daytime. There is nothing they can do unless there is some illegal activity observed by a Deputy. If people are loud at night, they can intervene to quiet them or have them removed from the area.
His direct number is 320-693-5406 and email is brian.cruze@co.meeker.mn.us
2) Secretary’s July Board Meeting Report – minutes for the July meeting approved to published on our website.
3) Treasurer’s July Financial Report – 72 people have contributed $1835 to the Dassel Fire Dept. Lyle did transfer some money to the savings account to realize a higher interest rate.
4) Membership/Shoreline Captains Committee Update – Cathy is continuing to contact Shoreline Captains about people on their lists that have been members in the past, but currently have not renewed membership. At this time last year we had 205 members.
5) Cormorants & Pelicans Committee Status – There are reports of fewer and fewer cormorants and pelicans seen on Lake Washington. But, there are reports from Star Lake, south of Litchfield, of many flocks of cormorants regularly seen on the lake. Some wondered if the halo of lakes around Pigeon Lake will continue to expand as the cormorants and pelicans continue to look for fresh/new fish populations that they can more readily feed on.
6) Website & Facebook Activity – tabled for the next meeting.
7) Invasive Species Committee Update – Zebra Mussels were found in Lake Stella in late July. The Committee went out doing inspections of docks and boat lifts in areas nearer the culvert between the lakes. There were no signs of zebra mussels on structures they inspected. They will publish an article in the fall newsletter asking people to do inspections of docks and lifts when they are taken out of the water.
The DNR did a whole lake vegetation survey in July 2015, that will be published on our website by Steve G. The vegetation survey noted, no Eurasian Water Milfoil was found in any of the 664 sites sampled.
8) Watershed Committee Report – Skip reported Mr. Ahlgren has mowed around the inlet sites and we are close to having the construction start on installation of the new piping. Also, reports of silt deposits were noted during a recent heavy rain fall near Bob Paulson’s house on the south side of the lake. Joe Norman, Meeker Co. Soil and Water Dept., has talked with the owner of the property about the heavy runoff. The owner has given the ok to correct any problems there may be with the culvert. On house sites that are for sale around the lake the county has marked out where the septic system can be installed on these properties.
9) Watercraft Inspection Committee – Tom H. has talked with Leo from the Meeker Co. AIS Committee regarding inspections and they are suggesting the best thing to do is focus on educating people about how to prevent the spread of AIS by cleaning boats and trailers at the landings. There are county rules about signage allowed at the landings. Tom also talked with Adam Doll, DNR, about putting up motion sensor signs to alert people entering and leaving Lake Washington at the Ellsworth landing. The DNR does not see these type of signs to be effective. Tom H. took pictures of the signage at the landing and noted someone had stolen the milfoil sign. Dave R. is working on getting Lake Ambassadors to be at the boat landings to help with boat and trailer inspections and provide education on prevention.
10) Communications & Public Relations – Ron B. reports Media.com is limiting him to sending out no more than 100 emails at one time. So presently he is doing this in about 3 mailings that must be 2 hours apart. Ron is looking at other vendors we can hire and work with that will allow us to send out mass emails. There is also a problem with people using yahoo.com not being able to get our emails. Cathy K. has been trying to call and send out emails to these people so they are getting our notices and messages.
11) Water Quality Testing – Ken K. and Dave R. reported July samplings were completed and sent for testing. Dave R. noted that the July secchi disc readings were in the 5-6 foot range which has not been the case for a long time. Lyle W. asked about billing by the water testing company, as he has not received a bill yet this year.
12) Committee Assignments & Organizational Review (Lake Management Plan) – Dave R. will work on updating the Lake Washington Lake Management Plan over the winter. Ken K. will send out the latest committee assignment list.
13) Review Potluck – The food was outstanding, Thank you Sandy, Mike, and Skip. About 37 people attended, the food was excellent, with a nice variety noted. Many very nice door prizes were donated by local businesses. We auctioned off two major items and put $63 dollars in the milfoil fund.
14) Ron’s Fishing Contest – Runs until September 21, presently he has two registered fish.
15) 2016 Grant applications – Ken K. reports we have three grants we need to apply for this fall, mostly through the Meeker County AIS and MCAL groups. The grant process begins in mid Oct and are due November 1. Grants for: Chemical treatment of 70 acres of milfoil and water craft inspections will be submitted to the AIS Committee and Water Quality Testing to the MCAL Committee. Also, need to consider/look at applying for grants that involve the culvert project on the south side of the lake that Joe Norman is looking at.
16) Open Discussion – Rick J. spoke to the Board about improvements to the Dassel Rod ‘n Gun Club sound system and help with signage for the club that would be posted on Hwy. 12. The board asked Rick J. to get more details of the costs for these improvements for Association to consider donating to these projects.
Next Board meeting Tuesday, September 1, 2015 @ 7 PM. Dassel Rod & Gun Club