Siseebakwet Lake Association
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes of October 8, 2016 at Sugar Lake Lodge
1) CALL TO ORDER/ 2) Agenda Additions
The meeting was called to order at 8:37a.m. by outgoing president Pat Doherty. A quorum was present including Bruce Erickson, Deb and Bill Hagenbuck, Maxine and John Otis, Tom Huettner, Sharon Haiskanen, and Betsy Martin. The agenda was approved upon the additions of three items: RMB request, Bio requests and Webpage.
3) SECRETARY’S REPORT
The minutes of the September meeting as revised were approved following a motion by Bill H. and second by Sharon H. Betsy agreed to take minutes at this meeting only because the new secretary was going to be elected this day and no one was currently available to take minutes. Betsy indicated she was grateful to be leaving this position for a different assignment more suited to her procrastination.
4) TREASURER’S REPORT
Roger Quern, the treasurer, was not present. There was no formal report but the news was that the new connection with Thrivent was producing good results in that lake association members who are also Thrivent members have designated our association to receive the dollars from the Thrivent programming that gives to non-profits. We had received over $600 which will be used to support the Mission of the SLA
5) OLD BUSINESS
a) Weir Update—the meeting with Congressman Nolan’s representative had been set up and certain members were planning to attend. Bruce commented that it is considered a fact-finding meeting not political. Andy Arens, ICSWD cannot be involved if it’s a political meeting.
b) Interim Newsletter/Weir fundraising/Stone soup: By this meeting we had issued something we designated as an interim newsletter covering the main topics of concern to members including: how we spend money, why no other newsletter had been received for a while, the expiration of a number of memberships and a request for renewals that would include email addresses for easier communication, the status of collections under our “Stone Soup” fundraising, and the request to give through Thrivent. Bill H. reported on the status of the many grant requests he has been spearheading (16 opportunities) ------there are various dates and deadlines. There are criteria that our organization simply does not fit but we have reason to be optimistic about raising enough for the weir project.
c) Pat Doherty reported on his efforts to get information from other lake associations on how much they charge for dues and what their budgets entail. He said that he would put a report into writing but stated that Pokegama operates off the amount it collects in dues but also has a hefty reserve (possibly $40,000). Wabana area is now a group of five lakes but we do not know about dues or budgets yet. We acknowledged that we had not really operated with a formal budget and needed to make an effort to establish a budget. Betsy H. moved and Deb H. seconded a motion to create a budget through using a subcommittee of Tom H., Roger Q. and Bruce E. prior to our first meeting in the spring. The motion passed. The plan would be to approve the budget at our first meeting.
d) SLA lake water testing---Bruce circulated reports on the testing he conducted in both lakes on August 24th and September 23rd. He explained that Sugar had a 100 foot depth in the area tested; that Siseebakwet is an Oligotrophic lake (clear, glacial type) and that South Sugar is Mesotrophic so has more weeds and a different color. Chlorophyll and phosphates are higher in South Sugar. Siseebakwet had a 15 foot one inch clarity level and South Sugar had a thirteen foot one inch clarity level. The analysis from the samples that Bruce takes is done by RMB and reported to the DNR. Part of the goal is to create a history of readings from the past as well as ongoing testing to be able to make plans to address future problems. Bruce informed us that Hannah from RMB is requesting historical data from us and suggested that we place this matter on our next agenda. We acknowledged that Bill Grantges, Dick Stenerson and Pat Doherty need to help us coordinate providing the data.
Bruce announced that he was willing to allow one child to accompany (with a parent) him when he takes the samples. This is a great opportunity for children to understand the science of monitoring water quality.
6)NEW BUSINESS
a) After hearing biographies and histories on each person’s experience on the lakes, the election of officers was held based on a slate moved by Betsy M. and seconded by Max O. The results were as follows:
President: Bruce Erickson
Vice Pres: Bill Hagenbuck
Secretary: Sharon Haiskanen
Treasurer: Roger Quern
A round of applause followed for the good service Pat Doherty had provided to us during his two year presidency.
b) One of the new members needed to be designated as having a two year term in order to keep up with which of the open positions were being filled by which new board member. The result was that Sharon H. will have a two year term from 10/1/16 to 9/30/18.
7. COMMITTEE REPORTS
a) New Neighbor/Membership: Betsy M? hoped that Bill G. and Pat D. or anyone else in possession of the materials we used to provide as a welcome package from SLA to new members would have brought them to this meeting, none arrived.
Bill H. and Roger Q. were not ready with a database yet or a list of all owners versus who the members are. The committee would start recruiting new members as soon as we can get some reliable data. Bruce E. suggested that we start using a map at our meetings to identify those who might be our own neighbors who are not members and from there we can each do some recruiting. The discussion included that a map would be more difficult to produce than a database. We will hope that our first spring meeting may result in the updated materials and then the committee will get to work.
b) Social--- The date for the membership meeting in the spring /summer should be June 3, 2017 or June 10th 2017 if possible and that it would be the one that the lodge would host. This is in lieu of the potluck that was held on Memorial Day weekend in the past but that now has a conflict with other reservations at the lodge. That means that the fall meeting would be the potluck. We made a list of ideas for presenters at our two membership meetings and they included:
“The loon guy”
The Sugar Lake Guide Company or whomever guided the guys from Toro
One or more speakers from The Water Summit held at the lodge, especially about how to evaluate (score) your own shoreline
Rusty Eichorn
Sheriff Vic Williams
The “diving guy” on things he finds at the bottom of the lake: Jeff Fortune
c) Lake Management and Education—No report
d) Nominating—no report/covered above
e) Neighborhood Watch—no report
f) Communication—We have been requested by Abby to submit “bios” if not already done. These are for website and possibly the newsletter. We also discussed that there is too long of a gap between our board meeting after October and that we should look into the types of businesses that help people host a “virtual” meeting (when we are scattered across the country). There may be too much expense involved but we really don’t know what the potential costs might be. This might also be a way for board members to attend when they can’t be physically present at the lodge for a meeting. RediTalk and Webex were mentioned and various members will look into it.
g) Road Cleanup---was accomplished for this fall and will be listed in newsletter and website for the spring event
h)Receiver of Notice –Bill H. reported on the variance issue on the Baumgartner property
i) ICOLA—covered above
8. ADJOURN—Bruce E moved and Sharon H. seconded a motion to adjourn with an “aye” vote by all and the outgoing secretary failed to record the time