Lake Washington Association Board Meeting October 1, 2013
Board Members Present:
| John Fink Mike Wosmek Ken Klehr Lyle Walker | Pat Hanson Ron Bubany Tom Hauer Cathy Klehr | Skip Sustacek Rick Fernstrom Steve Ullom Steve Grotbo |
Board Members please let someone know if you are not able to attend.
Treasurer Report: Invasive Species Fund 15,742.00; General Fund: 65,372.00
PAID MEMBERSHIPS: 220
1) Call Meeting to order 7PM – by President Ken Klehr.
2) Secretary’s September Board Meeting Report – Minutes approved to be published on our website.
We will use email approval by board members to ok the publishing of Oct. 1, 2013 minutes of the Board meeting on our website.
3) Treasurer’s September Report – Board approved the treasurers report.
4) Shoreline Captains Committee Update – One more lake survey came in, this is the last one to be included in the report. Cathy is sending personal Thank you notes to the Shoreline Captains for their efforts in getting so many surveys back to the Board. Cathy K. reports some homes on the lake are selling, and she is trying to contact these owners about joining the Lake Association.
5) Cormorants & Pelicans Committee Status – Rick F. reports the committee is waiting for a response from the DNR about when they are going to schedule the next meeting. Ken K. has talked with them and Rick F. has emailed them but are awaiting their response. Rick F. did graph Lake Washington Fishing Tournament data from about the last 10+ years showing declining numbers of fish caught in the tournament over this time. Rick F. stated the July meeting with the DNR was a good meeting and he understands they need to collect their own data before making any decisions about cormorants/pelican populations on Pigeon Lake.
6) Membership Survey Committee Report – Steve U. shared some preliminary data collected from the survey, with the graphing of questions 1 thru 7. The Board found many ways this information can be used when it comes to property use, length of ownership, watercraft numbers, use of the lake shore properties, and fish populations. The surveys were randomly numbered wit all the written comments compiled on a document. Also a “wordle”, a word representation of how often certain words were written on the surveys was compiled and shared with the board (top four words were: cormorants, pelican, milfoil, re-stock). The committee will spend several months compiling the data and writing a report and analysis of the survey. There was a conversation about presenting this data/report at the spring membership meeting. We will share the report with all the lake property owners and publish it on our website.
7) Website & Facebook Activity – Steve G. reported over the past 30 days there were 50 visits to our website, with 46 liking us on Facebook. Thirty people actually looked at our August Board meeting notes. Steve G. suggested we publish other area lakes web pages and Facebook pages in our Fall Newsletter.
8) Invasive Species Committee Update – Ken K. reviewed 2013 milfoil treatment data and history emailed to the board members. In 2013 Professional Lake Management treated 92 acres (with 45 of these being areas retreated from 2012) at a cost of $350 per acre and Lake Restoration treated 53 acres at a cost of $290 per acre. We did get $14,590 in grant money from the State, (the state has increased grant money significantly from past years) and we are expecting about $2500 from Meeker County. Ken reviewed maps and data sheets of treatments from 2011, 2012, 2013, and proposed 2014 treatment acres. Ken reviewed observations and density scales used to assess EWM. He reported the survey/observation by the Invasive Committee on 9/14/13 found very little to no EWM in any parts of the lake they surveyed. The Committee is looking at using the data collected as comparison points to be used over time, in our treatment plans for EWM. This report will be put on our website.
Board approved: renewing license for software we use to chart the data. This software calculates acres we are talking about by plotting on the lake map. Board again approved the Invasive Species Committee to be the ones applying for grants to State and Meeker Co. The committee will be the ones making decisions on acres to treat for EWM, company to do treatments, and when treatments will occur in cooperation with the DNR Invasive Species person for our area. Ken did talk to PLM about cost being a factor in our decisions about who to treat.
Ken K. will contact PLM to contract with them to continue testing of Lake Washington water with the same scope of the past seven years.
9) Watershed Committee Report – The survey of the property on the southwest corner of Lake Washington has been sent to a firm in St. Cloud and they are looking at putting a design and proposal together for this property. It appears they are looking at a cement berm vs. an earthen one. The North Crow River Watershed district did get the grant to do a study on the watershed, that includes Lake Washington. They will be looking for volunteers from lake associations to help with working on this project.
10) Newsletter – Next Spring review ad costs at $40 1/4 page, $60 1/2 page, and $80 full page.
Email Newsletter Implement in 2014 – After a discussion the board decided that the Spring Newsletter should be mailed to all people on our mailing list, because we will be sending the membership cards out at that time. The board will plan to email Summer and Fall newsletters to those willing to receive it electronically.
Fall Newsletter will be sent to the printer 10/6.
11) Open Discussion – There was a discussion about getting a projector to use at membership and board meetings to more easily share information. Ken will explore costs for this.
We will use email approval from a majority of the board to get the Oct. 2013 Board minutes posted on our website
Next Board Meeting Tuesday, February 3, 2014 @ 7 PM- Rick F. will chair / Mike Wosmek volunteered to have the meeting at his house. 68457 233rd St.