Rock Lake Improvement Association Annual Meeting Minutes- August 19, 2017

Transcription

1 Rock Lake Improvement Association Annual Meeting Minutes- August 19, Call to Order- Meeting was called to order at 10:04 a.m. 2. Introduction of Board Members- Board members present: Lianna Spencer, Wes Dawson, Jim Colegrove, Lee Gatzke, Stan Smoniewski, Nathan Pyles 3. Approval of Agenda- The motion was made by Lee Gatzke and seconded by Lianna Spencer to approve the agenda. Motion carried unanimously. 4. Secretary s Report (Lianna Spencer) - The minutes of the 2016 Annual Meeting were read and reviewed. The motion was made by Hope Oostdik, seconded by Lee Gatzke to approve the minutes as read; motion carried unanimously. 5. Treasurer s Report (Jim Colegrove) - The current treasurers report was passed around, followed by discussion of revenues and expenditures. Jim discussed accounts and balances and answered any questions that were asked; printing for RLIA was the biggest expense of the fiscal year. RLIA got awarded $7, in grants from the DNR to help with current projects. Jim also spoke about the Amazon Smile charity. This charity encourages customers of Amazon to donate 0.5% of the price eligible purchases to our organization. A motion was made by Margaret Kruger to approve the treasurer s report, seconded by Nathan Pyles. The motion carried unanimously. 6. President s Report (Wes Dawson) - Wes thanked all the volunteers and organizations that helped RLIA complete a range of projects this year. He was happy to say that 75% of what we set out to do has been completed. Money and access to private land made it impossible to get 100% of the agenda done. a. The Knickerbocker festival was very successful. There were 7 people that went under the ice this year with the help from veteran scuba diver, Bill Krieger. b. Shore land and Rain Garden Walk was a tour of Rock Lake homeowner s gardens that are model gardens to help protect our lake. A lot of native plants were sold. c. Garlic Mustard Pull was very successful this year. It was the first year we were able to get to every park! There were 56 volunteers altogether from the community including boy scouts, school pupils, and church groups. We removed enough garlic mustard to fill two dumpsters. d. Working with Boy Scout, Andrew Martinez on his Eagle project, we installed 66 drain markers on all of the city drains that go into the lake.

2 e. There was a campaign designed to promote putting leaves in the proper location for pick up. Jim Colegrove worked with the city of Lake Mills and MyFairLakes to design a plan to reduce the number of leaves going into the lake. f. Next year we will have new board members and a new lake management plan to guide our future work and activities. There are 4 new board candidates. 7. Committee Reports a. Lake Management Plan Update- Nathan reminded everyone at the meeting that the purpose of the RLIA management plan is to improve and protect the Rock Lack watershed and to influence our community and governing bodies to maintain the watershed. The advocacy/planning committee has conducted a survey this year for the public s input on their concerns about the lake, what they love about the lake and in what ways are you willing to help the lake. RLIA sent out 2,507 surveys to an area that includes the Rock Lake watershed and the city of Lake Mills and so far we have received roughly 25% back. We are still monitoring water quality since it is critical to a healthy lake system and we continue to educate people on the best practices to use regarding our lake and watershed. i. Patricia Cicero discussed some of the projects she has been working on to help RLIA. This year, a land use map has been updated for Rock Lake and the Jefferson Land and Water department, with help from the DNR and other volunteers have completed an aquatic plant survey. The last survey was completed in 2010 and while reevaluating the lake with the current EVAL models they will be gathering new information such as where potential hotspots for erosion are located and how the plant population has changed since the last survey. b. Habitat (Lee Gatzke) - Lee informed the meetings attendees that the RLIA received the grant for the fish sticks project. Trees will be provided by the city and put into the water by a private contractor. The location for the fish sticks will be Tyranena Park because of its low wave and ice energy that will ensure the trees will remain in place. This practice will create food, shelter, and breeding areas for fish, aquatic insects, ducks, turtles and songbirds. Fish sticks also help prevent bank erosion. c. Membership (Jim Colegrove) - RLIA has 5 affiliate members as well as many other companies and organizations that contribute to us. There are 125 families, 27 individuals and three donors that are members of RLIA, overall there are 155 members. d. Public Outreach (Stan Smoniewski) - Stan recapped on what education events the RLIA participated in or held this year. Throughout the fall fest, RLIA reminded homeowners of the proper way to dispose of leaves. The campaign was designed to promote putting leaves in the proper place to eliminate unwanted nutrients finding their way into Rock Lake. The Knickerbocker Days was held in February and there was a good turnout of people. Roughly 10 people went under the ice to demonstrate ice safety and our veteran scuba diver, Bill Krueger, explained how to get out of the ice if you ever get stuck. In May, 57 volunteers showed up for the annual environmental cleanup/garlic

3 mustard pull. In June, Patricia organized a presentation for the Jefferson county realtors to discuss what future buyers of lake property need to be aware of in terms of zoning, pier and water regulations and DNR requirements. The meeting was well received and Patricia was able to answer a number of good questions from the group. Roughly 50 people participated in the rain garden walk and lots of native plants were sold. e. Water Quality (Jim Colegrove) - Jim discussed the storm drain markings project that went on this year. The boy scouts labeled 60 drains in Lake Mills that were along the shoreline. The fall leaf campaign will be happening shortly and one citizen asked if we could incorporate lawn clippings in the campaign. It will be seen that there is discussion about the lawn clippings to be included in the efforts. 8. Guest Speakers a. County representative- Patricia Cicero, Jefferson Land and Water i. Patricia works with water resource issues and can help citizens on a variety of environmental/lake topics. She is willing to come over to your property and evaluate any problems that you may have on your land, such as shoreline erosion. ii. It was noted that Sandy Beach has been closed for two weeks in the month of July due to high E.coli readings. The JRLC has been doing a great job informing the residents of Lake Mills. Patricia, JRLC and the county health department put together a handout to explain the bacteria found at Sandy Beach. The handout describes how to be safe when there is bacteria present in the lake and what precautions to take. The typical sources of the bacteria come from waterfowl feces and storm water input. Someone suggested that there was an increased geese population this year and wondered whether or not the city is going to take any measures to round them up or scare them off. A good way to prevent geese on your property is native vegetation! Geese like to see around them in case of predators approaching and by mowing all the tall, native plants down you will notice geese move in. iii. Consider shoreline restoration for your property. Native vegetation is not only great for shoreline erosion but it can also help with many other things such as keeping waterfowl off your lawn. If anybody is interested, there is a grant the county can apply for on your behalf called the Healthy Lakes Grant. This grant is designed to help homeowners improve their lakeshore habitat and water quality with simple and inexpensive projects. The grant funds up to $1,000 per practice. Some of these practices include fish sticks, native planting, diversions, rock infiltrations and rain gardens. b. Township Boat Patrol (Andrew Schmidt and Ryan Walters)- Ryan and Andrew s speech covered the following: i. Boat officers put in 262 hours on Rock Lake this year. They hired two new officers; one would be patrolling on a jet ski around Sandy Beach while a patrol boat was out on the water. There were ten citations given out this season, 40

4 written warnings, 59 boat inspections and 9 assisted vessels. Their main patrolling days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. ii. Some citizens were concerned that there were a lot of people blatantly going faster than slow/no wake in protected or slow/no wake zones. The officers mentioned that slow/no wake violation is very common and rather than issue a citation, education is often more important in that scenario. c. Wisconsin DNR (Pearl Wallace, DNR Warden) i. Pearl has contacted a person regarding a reoccurring loud boat motor on Rock Lake. She has mentioned that their boat seems to be too loud and she is working on getting a working decibel meter to test this person s motor. ii. It was an early warm-up this year. With the ice warming up so quickly there was a truck that went through the ice at Bartel s Beach this year. Nobody was hurt and the truck was removed the following day. iii. Pearl wanted to remind everyone that hunting season is approaching and that the marsh is open to the public. Do not be alarmed if you hear gunshots close to the lake. Goose hunting begins September 1 st and duck hunting begins at the end of September. iv. Fish population is normal this year. Rock Lake is a popular place to fish and she has contacted a few fisherman regarding registration violations, life jacket violations and slow/no wake violations. d. Joint Rock Lake Committee- (Glenn Zastrow)- Glenn s speech covered the following topics: i. The JRLC has been working together with the township of Lake Mills dealing with ordinances regarding ice fishing, driving on the ice and piers. They have drafted two ordinances concerning driving on the ice and pier placements. Their attorney suggested that they work with the city of Lake Mills to have the same ordinances as the town. The driving on the ice ordinance passed and the pier ordinance is on the agenda for September. ii. There was the annual boat trip in July which was a success. iii. The city is debating dredging the mill pond since it is so shallow and difficult for boaters to drive through. The JRLC suggested that a study be conducted before dredging in case there are any endangered or threatened wildlife or fauna that could get disturbed. iv. Glenn wanted to personally recognize and thank Patricia Cicero and Hope Oostdik for all their hard work this year! 9. Public Comments (2 minutes/person) a. Hope Oostdik spoke about the different responsibilities that the city has compared to the town. If a pier is in the city it s in their municipality. The lake surface is under the jurisdiction of the town.

5 b. Steve Nass commented that the shorelines rules were updated by the county and were accepted by the state. 10. Nominations for Board Members (five openings) a. Board Nominations Jim Colegrove and Wes Dawson were both nominated by the board for the current positions as treasurer and president. 11. Candidate talking points (2 minutes each) - Wes Dawson noted that if a board member leaves before his term is completed, we are allowed by the RLIA constitution to fill the vacated position. 12. Election of new Board members a. Nominations from the floors- Mike Nesemann volunteered to serve on the board. Dennis Holezel was nominated by Nathan Pyles. They were both happy to serve on the board. Steve Wilke made a motion to add four members to RLIA; it was seconded by Joanna Chworowsky. 13. Next Annual Meeting: August 18 th, 2018 at 10:00 a.m., North End Park 14. Next Board Meeting: August 21 st, 2017 at 6:30 p.m., City Hall 15. Adjournment- The motion was made by Nathan Pyles seconded by Lianna Spencer to adjourn; motion carried. Meeting ended at 11:32 a.m.