Spider Chain of Lakes Association (SCLA) Annual Members Meeting
Saturday May 23, 2009
Spider Lake Town Hall
Board Members Present: John Kuntz, Shirley Hill, Tom McGarvey, Bill Liebich, Mickie McGuiness, Liz Johnson, Barb Farrell
Other Members Present: 52
Meeting called to order at 9:30am
John Kuntz began the meeting by welcoming everyone to the start of the 2009 summer season and reading the mission and purpose statement of our association as listed in the SCLA By-Laws. It was a good reminder of why we meet and what we work to accomplish.
The meeting minutes from the SCLA Members Meeting held August 9, 2008, were read and approved.
Volunteer Opportunities – Volunteer sign up sheets were circulated, requesting volunteer support for milfoil shore inspections, boat inspections at Heinemann’s landing and road cleanup. If you would like more information about these activities you can contact Fred and Mary Kueffer regarding milfoil shore inspections, Mickie McGuiness regarding sign up for Heinemann’s landing boat inspections and Arvid Ashdown regarding road cleanup.
Information Update – Gene Krause has retired as Town of Spider Lake Board Chairman. SCLA thanked Gene for his many years of service to our community. Brian Hucker was elected as the new Chairman of the Spider Lake Board. Brian was officially sworn in at the Annual Town of Spider Lake Meeting, April 14, 2009. Brian sent SCLA his letter of resignation. We thanked Brian for his contributions to the SCLA Board and appreciate his continued service to our community.
SCLA Board Member Elections Judy Pilling was nominated and elected to SCLA board membership. Barb Farrell, Liz Johnson, and Tom McGarvey were nominated and elected to serve another term on the SCLA board.
Committee Updates:
Fish Stocking Steve Hawthorn gave us an update on the fish stocking program. October 10, 2008 3500 extended growth walleye were stocked to our lakes. Another 3500 are planned to be added in October 2009. That is a 5 year total of 14,000 fish. This initiative is funded by a $2500 donation from one of our members, Duke Uihlein and $1000 from SCLA funds.
Water Quality Update - Michael O’ Sullivan gave us an update on the water quality testing program. Water samples are tested for clarity and temperature. These samples are sent to a State of Wisconsin lab in Madison. Water samples collected from Big Spider, Little Spider Fawn Lake, Clear Lake and North Lake continue to report good results. Our water monitoring activities participate and benefit from the shared learning of the Citizen Lake Monitoring Network (CLMN). CLMN is a statewide effort of over 1000 citizen volunteers and the Wisconsin DNR monitoring, sharing and collecting high quality data.
Membership Update Marilyn Weil announced the names of several new member families. SCLA currently has 170 member families. Marilyn also reminded us to encourage other families to join SCLA.
SLEEK Update Liz Johnson gave us an update on SLEEK 2009. The theme this year is “Habitat Hopping”. SLEEK will be held Friday morning July 3rd at the North Star Boys Camp. This is the 6th year for the SLEEK program. Contact Liz Johnson or Barb Farrell with any questions. Contact Liz at 715 462-3470 or , and contact Barb at 952 829-0998 or
Finance Update Mickie McGuiness gave us an up to date report on the SCLA budget status for the 2008 – 2009 budget year. The 2008 – 2009 year end report will be mailed to the membership after July 1.
Annual SCLA Picnic Update: The 2009 Annual SCLA Members picnic is scheduled for Sunday September 6th and will be held at the North Star Boys Camp. Kay Hucker will Chair the 2009 picnic and Judy Pilling will chair the auction. Proceeds from the auction will be used in support of our invasive species prevention program. If you have any items you would like to add to the silent auction please contact Judy Pilling. Contact Judy at 763 377-9010 or
Buoy Report : We are adding two more “slow no wake” buoys at the request of the DNR. One will be located at the SE corner of Candy Island and one by the channel between Big Spider and Little Spider. We have experienced a drifting problem with some of our buoys. This year we will secure some of the buoys with two chains; hopefully this will solve the problem. All of our buoys are now placed with GPS location support. If you find a buoy that you think is not well placed contact John Kuntz. We are looking for a new chairman of the buoy committee. If you know of someone who might be interested please contact John Kuntz. SCLA currently owns / manages 18 buoys, soon to be 20. It costs approximately $130.00 per buoy.
Lake Environment – Invasive Species Update
John Kuntz gave us an update on several issues regarding our prevention and monitoring program.
John began by reading an article by Jim Bakken discussing Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) and the very serious risks they present.
Our matching funds grant that supports our inspection and prevention program ends on December 31, 2009. We are going to apply for another grant.
We are increasing monitoring hours at two landings. We are going to expand hired monitor hours and ask our members to continue volunteering. If you can’t volunteer your time, please consider donating to a fund to assist with our AIS prevention program. Send your donations to SCLA PO Box 1082 Hayward, WI 54843. Remember donations to SCLA are tax deductible.
Courtsey Code Tom Jorndt circulated a copy of a one page summary of the courtesy code rules for the Spider Chain of Lakes. We intend to laminate this page and make it available to all residents of the Spider Chain of Lakes. This should serve as a handy reminder of the courtesy rules for all of our residents and their visitors.
Reminder - Particpate and enjoy the 4th of July Boat Parade – start time 10:00am in Hannah Bay, Little Spider.
Information Update John Donner told us that early this spring his boat was caught up in a net that was not marked very well. Hayward Bait and Tackle had a DNR issued permit to place nets to collect suckers for bait. Nets were out for two weeks and were placed by Musky Point and Picnic Island. These nets are supposed to be well marked and checked every 24 hours.
Meeting adjourned 11:00 am
Respectfully submitted,
Barb Farrell
At the close of our meeting, Kristy Maki, the Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator for Sawyer County gave a short instructional presentation about shoreline inspection for Milfoil. Kristy answered questions and provided us with her contact information for future support.
Remember to check out www.spiderchainoflakes.org