Meeting Minutes August 15, 2020

Board Members Present: Tom Eggert, Kathy Tournour, Marj Mehring, Jackie Whitney, Dale Smith, Karen Isebrands Brown, Russ Tennessen, Greg Nevinski, Ann Kipper, Craig Reinking, Bill Akan, plus Tom Johansen and Dan Butkus from the Lake District Board

Absent: Jeff Paddock

Meeting was called to order at 9:02am by Board President, Kathy Tournour

  1. Opening Remarks
    1. New Board members Ann Kipper and Craig Reinking were welcomed to the board.
  2. Minutes of the May 16, 2020 meeting.
  3. Motion by Greg and seconded by Craig to approve the minutes. Motion passed.
  4. Treasurer’s Report
    1. There was a question about a gift in kind donation of $591.61.
    2. Marj reported that Andy cordova is auditing the financial records and should be finished by Monday, August 17. Marj said she was not aware of the $150.00 an hour charge. Andy indicated that because the Squash lake District is a non-profit organization, he would discount the charge.
    3. Greg offered some information on his neighbor that is an accountant. He could be a possibility for the future.
    4. Marj is working on getting the shed put into the permanent assets. Marj will work some things out with Andy and resend the Treasurer’s Report.
    5. Kathy did some checking on investing some of our money. She mentioned Ripco credit Union as a possibility. Tom did some checking for online possibilities and nothing seemed a good option.
    6. Greg made a motion and Tom seconded to approve the Treasurer’s Report with the pending adjustments of the shed and in-kind gift with the resend of the Treasurer’s Report.
  5. Officers
    1. Kathy Tournour agreed to stay on as President.
    2. Russ Tennessen volunteered to take the Vice President position.
    3. Dale Smith agreed to remain the secretary.
    4. Tom Eggert volunteered to take over the Treasurer position. 
    5. Marj was thanked for all her hard work as Treasurer for the past 10 years. Marj will work with Tom to make a smooth transition.
    6. Marj made a motion, seconded by Karen, to accept the slate of officers. Motion passed.
  6. CBCW Update
    1. Bill reported that there were 173 hours of inspection time as of last week. We will have no problem reaching the 200 hours required for the grant.
    2. There have been 460 people contacted with no major problems to report.
    3. Inspections will end again this year on Labor Day.
    4. The due date for the CBCW grant has been moved from December 10 to November 1.
    5. Dan Butkus mentioned that many grants require a pre-application by September 2. Dan was going to check to see if this applies to the CBCW Grant.
    6. Ann Kipper can be a great resource person. However, she cannot work on grants, as they are part of her job at DNR.
  7. Summer 2020 Recap
    1. Paddle Board Class
      1. Jackie Whitney gave a report on the paddle board class held in June at Dale Smith’s beach. It had 6 participants and it was very good. The instructor from Nicolet College was great and everyone learned some things they did not know before.
      2. Thanks to Jackie and Karen for setting up the class.
    2. Annual meeting
      1. It was decided that an in-person meeting is much better. There is always technical issues.
      2. Russ Tennessen, Tom Eggert, and Tom Johansen worked on the wake issue letter. The letter was actually sent out on postcards.  Kathy remarked that she has received positive feedback.
        1. Russ has introduced something to the Crescent Town Board concerning the high waves. They may put it on a monthly agenda after gathering additional information.
        2. Karen said that she has seen some noticeable erosion at the landing. Russ will look into this.
      3. High Water levels
        1. There was a discussion on whether this is the new norm or cyclical.
        2. Ann Kipper said that climate change has something to do with it.
  • Marj asked about the bill for the postcards. Kathy has the bill.
  1. Boat Floatilla
    1. There were 10 -12 boats that participated.
    2. Thanks to Jim and Karen for leading.
  • It will be brought up again in the Spring.
  1. Lake District Update
    1. Tom Johansen thanked the association on their work on the Loon /bay project even though it did not proceed. Tom said this is what the association should do. Other updates from the Lake District are that the budget passed and the grants are going to be applied for.
    2. There was discussion on the negative loon Bay vote. Karen asked about who could vote at the Annual Lake District Meeting. Everyone was verified either at the meeting or through pre-registration.
    3. Tom Johansen talked about comments like “ the lake will take care of itself”.

Ann Kipper commented that the DNR runs into this  type of comment regularly.

  1. Dan Butkus explained that the Time Meander Survey will not take place this year. The DNR was great in letting us extend the survey through 2021.
  2. Marj suggested we take some time to educate ourselves on wetlands.
  1. Runoff concerns
    1. Kathy Tournour received a letter from a person with concerns about fertilizer and other chemical used on properties running into the lake.
    2. It was agreed that even though we cannot control what people do, we should continue to encourage owners to keep their lake frontage as natural as possible.
    3. Dan Butkus has complained to Oneida County Zoning and Planning about construction runoff. Planning and Zoning are in the process of re-writing regulations.
    4. Tom Eggert stated that there seems to be a lot of shoreline development going on right now.
    5. Kathy suggested that we may want to focus on education next year. Someone(?) mentioned there is a good series of videos on preserving shoreline, etc. from Onoka, Minnesota that could be used.
    6. Tom Johansen suggested that we provide educational material to new property owners on the lake.
  2. Meeting Schedule
    1. October 10 – 9:00am, February 6 - 9:00am, May 15 – 9:00am, June 26 – TBD (annual meeting), and August 21 – 9:00am.
    2. There was a discussion about the fact that the budget is approved for the following year which doesn’t start until 6 months or more after the annual meeting.
    3. It was suggested that we change the budget process to “board approved” rather than “ member approved at the annual meeting”.
    4. The by-laws may have to be changed. Kathy will bring a copy of the by-laws to the next meeting.
  3. Adjournment
    1. There was a motion by Karen and second by Craig to adjourn. Motion passed.