Three Lakes Association

Minutes September 15, 2009

Members Present: Duane Drake, Shirley Hetzel, Todd Collins, Claudia and Ken Drake, Judy Stuart, Tina Fields, Bob Bagley, Bob Oswald, Patricia Roush, Bob McClelland, Skip McCarthy, Stan Dole, Becky Norris, Jack Norris, Sue Reck, Dean Branson, and Norton Bretz

Guest: Dean Branson introduced a guest Don Venburg, President of the new Preservation Association for Thayer Lake. They are in organizational mode and planning a shoreline survey.

Minutes (Claudia Drake)

Corrections to the minutes: Treas. Report seconded by Duane Drake, not Dole; membership down, not up from 2008; Other New Business not just by Patricia Roush.

Motion by Tina Fields to approve minutes of August 2009 Board Meeting as corrected, seconded by Patricia Roush. Approved.

Presentation: by student interns for 2009

Interns Braden Ackerman (Elk Rapids), Alisha Youmans (Central Lake), Wilhelmina Witt (Central Lake), Jordan Gunderson (Kalkaska), and David Witt (Central Lake) presented a report on their work this year. Billy Bohannon (Bellaire) was unable to attend.

  • Their survey of invasive species showed that Zebra mussels are in Elk River, Torch Lake, and Lake Bellaire and are changing the food chain since they compete for food with Diporeia, which are a major source of food for fish in our lakes. In Lake Michigan, Quagga mussels have replaced the Zebra mussels and are even more destructive.
  • They used a PONAR dredge for bottom sediment, a submarine camera, and a Hydrolab this year and collected more sampling than the 2007 survey.
  • A question and answer period followed the presentation.

New Business: Becky Norris reported that Kurt Schuler is considering a donation of his 26-foot boat to TLA.

Motion: Sue Reck moved that we express interest and have Bob Bagley pursue information for possible acceptance of the offer. Seconded by Patricia Roush. Approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Becky Norris)

Motion to receive treasurer’s report by Patricia Roush, seconded by Duane Drake. Approved.

  • Our Old Mission investment of money from savings and two mutual funds is happening today with a 50/50 Stocks/Bonds split.
  • Previewed a conceptual 2010 Budget. There was discussion about intern expenses, TLA’s 2010 donation to GRNA, phone expenses, and investability of life memberships.

Motion:Stan Dole moved that life membership be considered as an endowment and invested. Seconded by Todd Collins. Approved.

Membership (Todd Collins)

  • Membership is still down from 2008. Currently there are 435members as of Saturday as compared to 462 members last year at this time.
  • There are 86 non-renewed 2008 members so far in 2009.
  • Request for zone director canvas reports.
  • Shanty Creek newsletter has many Property Owner Association meetings the weekend of Sept. 19th, which represents an opportunity to recruit new members.
  • Todd will be gone in October, but will be in contact by email with zone directors.

Executive Director’s Report (Norton Bretz)

  • TLA’s officers are working with TLPA’s Executive Committee to develop a mutually agreeable understanding to (1) post our E. coli results in a more timely manner, and (2) to develop a teamwork approach to monitoring Twp activities.
  • Change of phone service should make our bill less than half of previous price.
  • Freshwater Summit Oct 2, 2009 will have a presentation by Patricia Roush.
Report on Water Quality Sampling (Bob Oswald)
  • At least 24 stations are being monitored.
  • The source of the E. coli problem being probed. This might be a good project for the student interns for summer of 2010.

Report on Definitions and Purposes of Special Funds (Stan Dole)

  • The various funds were listed in a report and their sources and uses explained.
  • A suggested change of wording on the budget tabled until next meeting.
Education Report (Patricia Roush)
  • One Inland-Seas field trip per school (4) will use $3,200 leaving $4,800 for Wish List items, based on our conceptual 2010 Budget of $8,000 for School Outreach.
  • Requests for teacher’s Wish List items to be delivered to local science teachers next week with deadline of Nov.15th for Patricia to receive the teacher’s responses.

Motion: by Tina Fields that we proceed with delivering request packets, as presented, and move forward with funding. Seconded by Claudia Drake. Approved.

Other Business: The necropsy report on six dead mallards found by the Roushes came in with a finding of Diazinon insecticide poisoning. This incident may become a short article for the newsletter.

  • Lori Brandt will be available at GRNA on Monday through Wednesdays.
  • Articles for TLA’s Oct. Newsletter must be submitted to Norton by September 25th. Articles may include a summary of the student intern program, 2009 E.coli findings, Educational events, Phragmites, the leachate problem, and the Educational Outreach Program.

Meeting adjourned at 12:05PM

Next meeting will be October 13, 2009 TLA Officers Committee meeting at Branson’s on October 6, 2009

Respectfully submitted by Claudia Drake, TLA Secretary