Call to order: 7:00

 

Board Members Present: 

Mike Bury - Chairman,

Mike Gaynor – 1^st Vice Chair

Dave Koenig – 2^nd Vice Chair,

Tim Donnay - Treasurer,

Ron Croteau - Secretary.

 

There were 6 committee members and 1 visitor present, in addition to the Board.

 

 

2)      Approval of Minutes: Board Meeting minutes of 4/9 approved were approved as amended – Ron Croteau will send revised final copy to Rick Jestus for website

3)      Open Forum for Public Comments:   NONE

a)      Tim Donnay provided a Treasury Report Dated March 31^st indicating we had no funds balance. Tim acknowledged that the CLID had received a $2,000 donation from CLIA, but he had not deposited check because our proposed financial services agreement with the County had not been worked out.

b)     A motion was made, seconded, and approved that the Treasurer’s report should be modified to show the proper date, and reflect that the CLID had $2,000 in funds.

1)      Subsequent developments after the 4/09 meeting indicated that the County is looking for a fixed fee contract rather than a time & material chargeback. This is a major difference. Ron Croteau had agreed to negotiate this point with Cevin Peterson, Financial Director of the County.

2)      The county re-stated their desire to do a fixed fee contract, referring to the $2,000 fee mentioned as a cap in the time/ material contract would be a flat fee. . When advised we preferred to leave it as originally quoted, and our usage would be minimal, the County said we could take it or leave it – they didn’t care. If we really wanted a time/material contract, then the County would look for something in the $5,500 range – commenting that they have “probably already incurred $2,000 in charges with the work they’ve done so far with us on the contract”

3)      There was no decision given to the County. While there was sentiment amongst the Board that we could / should perhaps just get our own account, there was also a majority opinion that if we could get this done for no fee by a government entity, it would be better to make sure there was no issues that could be raised by anyone regarding handling of funds.

5)      Ron Croteau volunteered to talk to the Isanti County Coordinator to get the facts re Long Lake – they are supposedly doing it for no fee for the LLID, as well as giving them a $50,000 interest free loan. With this info, Ron Croteau will go to the Anoka County Admin Chairman, Terry Johnson, and see what he could do to have Anoka do this similar to Isanti, or for a substantially reduced amount.

  

1)      The letter to residents was stuffed by Mike Gaynor & volunteers on Tuesday April 22^nd.   The 502 letters (multi pins were combined where possible) were taken to Concept Printing who was going to mail them at 3^rd class rates. It was thought they would be mailed on Wed or Thursday. 

2)      The communication committee noticed three errors in the mailing labels which will be corrected by the setup committee.

3)      Mike made comment that we may want to limit using 3^rd class mailings in the future on certain items, as there is no return of material if it can’t be delivered.

 

1)      Mike Bury volunteered to make up a contact list of e-mails and phone numbers of public officials for the CLID committees – In process

2)      The communication committee should review whether making information available on a website covers any of our need to supply public notice to members – Mike Bury has volunteered to do this

3)      Runoff from the Public Access. There should be some sort of salt / oil barrier to prevent running into the lake - later.

4)      Training of district members to assist in survey work – review later

 

a)      By-Laws - Ron Croteau / Tim Donnay

1)      The by-laws that were discussed. The county wants us to include additional election language in the by-laws, and was looking for other LID by-laws. It was agreed that the by-laws were not official until they were approved by the District members, so any modification that were necessary before the annual meeting could be approved by the board.

2)      There are revisions to be done to the bylaws such as 1) add the date last approved, 2) add reference to $300 max charge, 3) mention exemption from fees possibility 4) possible additional election info including eligibility, and whether they need to be modified re whether general membership approval is required (see below)

3)      Discussion was held whether the by-laws were indeed necessary for the LID, and if so, did they need to be approved by the members? Pam McCabe of the County Legal dept had inferred that by-laws were nit necessary – that we were governed by the order to establish. A motion was made, seconded, and approved that the by-laws not be subject to approval by vote of the general membership, but approved & adopted by the Board – The set-up committee will make formal inquiry to the county if by-laws need to be approved by members.

 

b)      Set-Up / Admin Committee – Ron Croteau / Muriel Maskalans / Barb Bouljon / Penny Balfany

1)      Properties within the district: Ron Croteau is still following up with Larry Dalien of the county re the 17 properties that were in question re their abutting the lake. The county has indicated 15 of the properties do not, while 2 are still under review. We are awaiting the listing. Next step: find out of any of the total number of properties have had ownership records changed at the county, and then update member lists and mailing label lists accordingly. A request for any property changes since August has been requested from the County

2)      Insurance: Muriel Maskalans has sent out a request for quote for insurance from the Minnesota County Insurance Trust. They indicated it looked good, and was going for final review. They indicated it would take 2-3 weeks for a proposal

3)      Elections: Barb Bouljon has agreed to volunteer on election process. She will be working on the County election people with Muriel. This process is still filled with a lot of holes & questions. The County sent us some sample by-laws which are pretty restrictive, and possibly unnecessary. Because of the number of questions, the Board outlined the major desires we had

a.       All unique property owners vs. properties – the board voted 3-2 for all unique property owners – it wouldn’t be worth fighting on this with the county because this is what they desired

b.      Mailing of ALL or absentee ballots – The Board prefers to NOT mail all ballots – we prefer to have absentee ballots sent out, and most members who want to vote to do so at the election meeting

c.       Continue to have election on the 23^rd of July, and count absentee ballots as soon as possible. Try and have election results that evening.

d.      Candidacy – substantially relax the candidacy requirements proposed by the County – simple application by written communication of candidate interest, qualifications / desires to be used in a bio.

e.       Voting by non-individuals – The Anoka County Attorney has given a response that state / county / city / or corporate owners cannot vote – only individuals. Also, persons under 18 cannot vote.

 

The setup committee will communicate the above to the County for a response.

 

4)      Exemption Process: Penny Balfany has volunteered to draft up a definition and a form for the exemption of properties that have multiple pins to not pay multiple fees if they meet certain qualifications. This is still in process

 

c)      Communication – Mike Gaynor / Rick Jestus

1)      Website: Rick Jestus continues to update the website for the CLID. The address is www.CLIDMN.org. Typing into www.CLIDMN.com will lead to this site as well. Response to the website content and set-up was very favorable. Rick is looking at ideas for improvement and putting official records, e-mil listing, meeting notifications, election information, etc out there. This will be a very valuable tool for the CLID, and all are encouraged to work with Rick and the board on possible best ways to utilize it.

2)      Mailing letter to members: See point 5) b) above.

3)      Annual Meeting Location - Mike Gaynor obtained approval from Our Saviors Ministry (the old Lutheran Church) for our use, and confirmed it will be available for the annual meeting on July 23rd. Mike was able to get approval to use this facility at no charge. Good Job Mike!!

 

d)     Research committee -   Greg Buschman / Jim Schneider / Rich Kuhlman

1)      On 4/21, this committee, headed up by Greg Buschman met to discuss tasks to be done, and get this organized.

2)      An updated LID list has been requested from Peder Otterson of the DNR. Rich Kuhlman has volunteered to call each group personally when the info is received.

3)      Greg agreed to send another invitation and instructions out to the board and committee members for the Box.net site of document storage, since a number of people hadn’t been able to get into it yet.

4)      A number of initiatives are being researched by this group. A sample is:

a)      Use of a harvester – Approx $25,000 for a season + $10.50 / hr for labor, maintenance, and fuel.

b)      Researching other areas with Milfoil issues – California, Florida, Michigan, and Canada. Dave Koenig indicated Idaho as well.

c)      There are funding groups at the UofM which have funds availability perhaps, which he will share with Mike Bury & the Fundraising committee

d)     Has access to attorney & the legal info re the Shoreliners lawsuit to raise the lake level

e)      He was reviewing hydraulic dredging to pick up muck, as well as organic solutions to Milfoil (bugs to eat it)

f)       Greg asked the Board to prioritize what his group should do, since the possibilities were endless. The Board responded with

a.       Identification of similar problems elsewhere & what their options were

b.      Determine effectiveness of treatments with all pertinent treatment info

c.       Question what would they have done differently, or what their next steps are going to be

g)      This group is still accumulating questions, and will use the box.net site to do so, and encourage others to use it as well.

 

e)      Lake Vegetation Committee – Dave Koenig / Leon Magers / Steve Olson / Doug Tierney

1)      Dave Koenig sent out a study of the Milfoil problem in the State of Idaho which was very thorough and informative.

2)      The survey required prior to any Vegetation Plan or treatment has been approved through CLIA – there are two surveys at about $1880 each – versus other quotes up to $38,000 +. Work to start in early May – CLIA needs member approval for the second treatment which would be in August (?), which will be obtained in their annual meeting in May.

3)      Lake Plan continues to be worked on. Once the first survey results are in, we can push the DNR to get this underway.

4)      In reality, there is less than a 50% chance for approval of a whole lake experimental treatment plan – Coon Lake larger than the size they prefer to work with, and there is less than a 15% infestation rate. Efforts will continue to pursue this though.

5)      The Committee is putting together an aggressive budget, with budgetary quotes for both whole lake & spot treatment.

6)      A 24D spot treatment for 2008 may be pursued as being most effective based on funds – it would rage from 75-200 acres, at #310 / acre, which would need to be funded by CLIA.

 

f)       Funding / Finance Committee – Mike Bury

1)      Greg has some possible funding sources that he will provide to Mike as referenced in the Research Committee notes. Mike Bury is still in need of volunteers for this committee, as well as ideas regarding groups to contact re funds raising opportunities.

 

 

No New Business was brought up for discussion.