MWLA Meeting Minutes

Thursday, May 26, 2011   Koller Library

Karen Dixon, President, called the meeting of the MWLA Board to order at 9:37 a.m.

 

Present:  Karen Dixon, Marilyn Gabert, Jean Rein, Tom Joseph, Tom Kramer, Greg Holt, Eleanor Butler, Jim Reichert, Jim Banovetz, Bob Becker

 

Members absent:  Fred Theisen, Merry Perkins, Barry Hopkins

Approval of Agenda

 Motion made by Jim B., second by Jim R. to accept the agenda as presented.  Motion passed.

Approval of Minutes

Motion made by Bob, second by Tom K. to accept the minutes of the October 10, 2010 meeting.  Motion passed.

Approval of Financial Report

Motion made by Greg, second by Jim B. to accept the financial report as presented.  Motion passed.

Correspondence

1-29-10 received thank you from Discovery Center for $260.00 board member donation in recognition of Jack and Julie King

2-2-11 received $50 from Alan Barry for AIS

2-6-11 sent thank you to Alan Barry

4-14-11 received thank you and brochure from Camp Jorn for donation

4-14-11 received brochure from Cason & Associates re: Lake and Pond Management

4-25-11 received donation of $100 from Bill and Penny Benson for Fish Crib Project

4-23-11 received request from Ross Davis of Lac du Flambeau Goodwill to advertise their flyer

4-27-11 sent thank you to Bill and Penny Benson

5-5-11 received $100 donation from Vern Lahart for Fish Crib Project

5-9-11 sent thank you to Vern Lahart

5-1-11 received brochure and renewal form from Discovery Center

5-5-11 received thank you from Beverly Young re: MWLA Newsletter

Old Business

Liability Insurance for Board members – Eleanor brought in information and prices on Directors & Officers Liability Insurance.  Jim R. will also check into insurance with WAL. Motion by Bob, second by Greg to authorize Jim R. to contract for Director Liability Insurance plus defense for up to $1,000.

By law amendment -  Jim B. and Bob will review our by-laws and bring any potential changes to the next meeting.

New Business

Marla Suckow is the new secretary at Enzymes.

Northwoods Property Rights Coalition (NPRC) – Bob Richards would like the MWLA to be involved with the NPRC.  Karen will get more information from Bob and will see how it fits our mission statement and our budget. Karen will get an update from John Hanson regarding Tom Baer and his zoning requests.

ATV’s in Vilas County – Motion by Jim B., second by Tom J. that the MWLA Board recommend that County Prohibition on ATV’s on public lands in Vilas Co. be sustained and strengthened.  Karen will draft letter to send to Vilas County Board and related Town Boards articulating this position.  Motion passed.

Committee Reports:

 Public Communications

Spring Newsletter – April Newsletter was mailed on 4-27-2011

Chamber Mailing – the MWLA Annual Meeting Flyer was sent out with the May Chamber mailing.

June Newsletter  - Karen has a list of topics for our June Newsletter .  Our membership renewal section will add a section on volunteering and a section to indicate newsletter choice of hard copy, e-copy or both. Tom J. will work on revamping the draft renewal/volunteer form. We will try to get the Newsletter out by mid-June if possible.

Thank you post cards - In an effort to save money on mailing expenses, we will no longer send out individual thank you notes for every membership fee sent to us.  We will put a notice in the newsletter. We will use the remaining cards by sending them to new members only.

Community Outreach:

4th of July – Planning sheet was handed out and looked over.   We need to renew one permit (fish farm registration) for the trout pond; the other permit (livestock premises registration) is good until Dec. of 2012.  More details will be discussed at next meeting.

 Road-side pick up – Fred and Terry have completed the first Hwy K clean up of the year.

Water Ecology and Safety:

Town AIS Strategic Plan (TAISSP)  - Tom and Karen along with several others met on 5-23-2011.  They will again do more work with the Purple Loosestrife effort and plan to increase the efforts with Lake Monitoring.  It is vital to get more people educated and for them all to help monitor our lakes.  This is the most effective thing we can do to keep AIS to a minimum.

There is a workshop on June 10 from 9:00 – 11:30 a.m. starting at Discovery Center, then going out in pontoons.  It is primarily for new and current Lake Captains, but others would certainly be welcome.

We are still in need of Lake Captains for Fawn Lake, Alder Lake, Vance Lake, Sturgeon Lake, Dead Pike Lake and Circle Lily.

There is an Invasive Species Control Efforts workshop on Purple Loosestrife-eating beetles on June 24 at the Discovery Center from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.

The board had no objection to using email alerts to promote AIS workshops/initiatives.

Last year Purple Loosestrife-eating beetles were put out at Rice Creek, Stepping Stone Lake and Rest Lake.  If you spot any patches of Purple Loosestrife, please call Discovery Center and they will enter the GPS coordinates into the system.

Fish Cribs – Tom Kramer made seven small fish cribs with coffee cans inside to place around town for donations toward new fish cribs.  These buckets will also be taken to MWLA events and possibly other area events.  Tom and his crew would like to put out 20-25 more cribs on two more lakes next winter along with several spawning structures to be placed on lake shorelines.  The cost for next year’s project will run around $2,500 .We’d like this project to be self-sustaining so will promote for donations.

Tom K. will give Karen addresses of the fish crib volunteers so she can send each a thank you card.

Papoose Bay – Barry prepared packets on the Papoose Bay and Rest Lake Management Plan Grant for Karen to hand out at the meeting.  We will look through these packets and prepare any questions for Barry to answer at our next meeting.

Government Relations

Plan Commission and Town Board – Greg has done a great job of keeping us up to date on these meetings by sending out emails after each meeting.

Rest Lake Dam – There is nothing new right now on the issue of the Rest Lake Dam.

Administrative

Annual Meeting – Karen passed out a planning worksheet.  We will have further discussion at our next meeting. 

MW Alliance – Jim R. and Karen will attend the MW Alliance meeting on 5-27-2011.

Budget – The Administrative Committee met and started work on the 2011-12 budget.  We were right on target with last year’s budget and have just a little more work to fine tune the budget for our upcoming year.

Elections – Karen presented a list of expiring Officers’ terms.  We need to think about renewing and/or possible new Board members.

Strategic Plan – We talked last year about having a Strategic Plan, but have decided to put that on hold.

Next Meeting 

The MWLA will meet on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Library. 

Motion by Tom J. second by Eleanor, to adjourn the meeting at 12:17 a.m. Motion passed.

Respectfully submitted,

Marilyn Gabert, Secretary