April 2024 Board Meeting Minutes
SLA – April 2024 Board Meeting Minutes
Meeting Place: Huettner’s Home
Date: April 13, 2024
Time: 9:00 am
Attendees: Tom Huettner, Deb Hagenbuck, Bill Hagenbuck, Gordy Hoppe, Linda Lonson, Dan-ielle Witherill. Betsy Martin, Mary Freeman, Paula Huettner, Karen Luchachick. Roger Quern, Paul Mullaney via Zoom
1) Call to order:
9:05 am
2) Announcements & Correspondence
a) AIS Fund Match Funding Drive was successful. $20,800 was raised with the $10k match. We need to follow-up with thank you’s and maybe website or spring meeting recognition for those who did not want to remain anonymous. Betsy offered to write the notes, Gwynne will buy the notes and Tom will follow up with both of them. Tom will talk to Abby about thank you’s on the website.
b) Spring Road Cleanup: Thank you Bill and Deb for organizing! April 27 at Town Hall at 9:30 am.
c) Ice-Out Contest Winner/Award Vote: April 10th was the official date. Tom will check with Abby to see who the winner is. MOTION: Vote on $25 SLL give certificate. Tom made a motion, Gordy seconded, all approved.
d) 2024 Sea Tow Foundation Life Jacket Loaner Program Grant. Bill and Deb are members of ICOLA. We put in for a grant the for pedestal and 30 life jackets and we received it. Now we need to acknowledge it and Bill will contact the DNR to put on the public ac-cess. We need someone to check on it about 2 trips a week to see if supplies are available for the public and it gets cleaned up. Signage may be needed to post our project and property. MOTION: Vote on Bill H. to accept of grant award for life jackets and tower. Bill made a motion, Tom seconded, Linda and Paul opposed due to liability, majority ap-proved.
e) Main Landing Repair: County Follow-up. Bill will contact the county.
f) Other: Bill H mentioned that at the Soil and Water meeting Bill Grantges talked about a new initiative to provide an AIS tool cleaning station at as many public accesses as possible. We are required to provide funding of $75 a piece to get signage on our lake at the landings. Bill made a motion to fund up to 3 stations, Linda seconded, all approved. Tom will reach out to VRBO owners and the Lodge to ask if they want a sign and tools.
g) Should we add and manage Little Sugar Lake and the homeowners on it? Should we be incorporating it for purposes of membership and AIS education? There is a public landing but not many boats can access it, mostly kayaks so the risk is low. Bill will follow up with some landowners to ask about interest in joining SLA.
3) Secretary's Report/Prior Meeting Minutes Affirmation
a) October’s meeting minutes we approved last fall via email.
4) Treasurer's Report
a) Motion: Approval/Payment of any pending Invoices/expenses, if any:
i. Port-a-potty ($606.80); We approved via email.
ii. Water quality Testing ($700 range;TBD)
iii. MN Lake and Rivers association for $150 renewal.
Bill made a motion to pay renewal, Paul seconded, all approved
b) Investment Committee – Linda gave an update on cash positions/investable funds and CD investments. Tom made a motion, Bill seconded, all approved
5) FY ’23/’24 Key Dates Reminder:
a) Monthly Meetings (TBD: Either ZOOM or, safety permitting, at Sugar Lake Lodge at 8:30am unless otherwise notified):
· April 13th. Huettner House
· May 18th Tom will NOT make it. Bill will head up the meeting.
· June 15th
· July 20th
· August 10th
· September 7th
· October TBD
b) Spring Meeting/Dinner: June 1st 10am-noon at SLL
c) Fall Meeting/Dinner: Sunday September 8th, 5-7pm
d) Timberman Tri: July 13th
e) Spring/Fall Clean-ups: April 27th and Fall TBD
f) Install/Remove AIS Signs at Public Landings (Approximate Dates): Early May /October.
6) Committee Reports:
a) Communications: Chair: Abby O.; Co-Chair: Gwynne B.
i. 2024 Plans?
1. Photo Contest
2. Newsletter (Spring Newsletter went out). Thanks Abby and all who contributed)
3. Ice-Out Contest
4. Website refresh/update. (Note Board meeting not on the SLA calendar) *Need Linda and Gordy’s profiles up.
5. Other Updates/Communications?
b) Membership: Chair: Paula H.; Co-Chair: Joan S. & Sara M.
i. New Residents Letter/Welcome Package - Any new owners?
ii. 2024 Member Drive/Communication Update.
1. Response – mailed 254 postcards, 56% return.
2. Database Update (Failed post-cards)
3. Next steps/follow-up
a. Review current membership expirations/contact for re-newal
b. Establish outreach program for potential new members.
c) Water Quality, Management & Education: Chair: Tom H. (Temporary); Co-Chair: Open.
i. 2024 Water Testing paperwork/approval/Bruce E. continues to test, but would like someone on S. Sugar to test that lake. Tom will ask Alan if interested. Waiting on 2024 paperwork.
ii. Continue to grow the AIS Fund - Target $50k+
iii. Decon Site - Improve use/record keeping. 2024 member messaging/thermal-decon site demonstration. (not discussed)
iv. Recruit committee members.
AIS Certified Lake Parties: (i.e. certification holders)
i. AIS Detectors (MAISRC and UofM Extension): Betsy Martin, Bill Ha-genbuck, Deb Hagenbuck, Bruce Freeman.
ii. Lake Service Provider (DNR): Paul Grooms, Fred Bobich,
iii. Dale Anderson/3B’s (Certified, but not 5 Star), Grand Rapids Marine (5 Star & Decon in town), J.J.’s Barge Service (5 Star) and Jeff Reed.
iv. Itasca AIS Watercraft Inspection (Itasca SWCD): None
v. AIS Sentry Program (DNR): None
vi. Itasca Resort Inspector (Itasca SWCD): None
vii. AIS thermal decontamination (Itasca SWCD): Tim Oxborough, Mark Reisser.
viii. Volunteer Watercraft Inspectors (DNR): Bruce Freeman, Bill Hagenbuck and Deb Hagenbuck.
d) Social: Chair: Paula H.; Co-Chair: Kelly-Sue R.
a) Spring/Fall Meetings- Spring: June 1st 10am-noon; Fall September 8th at
5pm-7pm at SLL — Betsy has speaker(s) set-up. Paula will set up a Facebook post with dates.
b) Happy Hours: April 13th at Boulder Tap, May 4th at Rapids Brewing, June 8th at
Betsy Martin’s house, July 26th at SLL, August 16th at SLL
7) Other 2024 Initiatives/Special Projects
1. Historical Record Retention Solution: Betsy provided update. Thanks to Sara Laska for helping to complete this project by scanning all the documents. Betsy wants to know who will keep the two thumb drives? Bill took one. When it is all complete, what happens to the scanner and the thumb drives? She will bring newsletters to the yearly meetings. How can we all have access to this information? It needs to get to the Cloud via our website. Betsy will talk to Abby.
2. Loon Restoration Committee (Mary Freeman/Betsy Martin/Karen Lucachick) The vol-unteers are in the Loon Watchers Survey Program. They will be contacting the DNR for any loon issues on the lake. They have a lake management plan in place for us. A data-base will be collected to monitor the loons on the lake monthly. They are working on how people can contact the volunteers to give information on tracking the # of adults, # of chicks, nesting locations, man-made nests, behavioral observations, and recreational problems for the loons. They will collect and send in data by mid-November. They are also providing education to members, such as lead poisoning, and DNR will provide edu-cational brochures. Speaker opportunities will be continued throughout the season.
An email was set up for residents to send data: loonwatchersurveyprogram@gmail.com.
3. SLA Logo voting update – Paula worked with a designer to get options. Voting has started via the website. We will tally votes at the Spring meeting.
4. Rusty Crayfish – Tom mentioned a program to trap the rusty crayfish. Bruce was going to request a grant to pay costs. We will need volunteers. More to come.
5. Additional Speakers – Linda has a contact from another lake association to educate our homeowners about AIS at one of our meetings.
Adjourn
11:12 am