August 2021 Annual Meeting
August 2021 Annual Meeting
August 2021 LMA Annual Meeting
August 7, 2021
Meeting called to order: 10:00 AM
Attendees: Sue Westburg, Tim Rinowski, Aryliss Rinowski, John Montour, Robbie Danko, Melissa, Sue R, Chuck Wilson, Robbie Danko, Terryl Patterson, Mike Widseth
Guests: Ole Westburg, Bonnie Montour, Bruce Patterson, Eric and Kathryn Simpsons
Secretary Report: Tim made motion to accept and John 2nd
Treasurer report:
See handout for details
Motion made to accept made by Beth; 2nd by John, unanimous vote to accept
Water Quality Report:
Guys working all the days that the weather will allow. Payroll will be running higher than expected.
Using about 100 gallons of fuel of week
Running into issues with the harvester, issues with the conveyors due to the design of the gear and drive shafts. Working with the manufacturer to see what they can do to correct. We are beyond our warrantee window.
Center gears doing all the pulling and the conveyor aren’t tracking and are chewing them up. Local estimates to remove and fix the shaft, to laser the gears with a CNC unit and then reweld them back onto the shaft. This work will run about $500 - $1000. This work can be done over the winter.
New conveyor will not be cheap. 3’ sections run $200 and we will need 35’
The new fan has been installed and the hydraulic system is running about 95 degrees. A Lot of less leaks. Thankful for the engineering help from Tom Nelson!
Oil filters run about $35/unit and have been able to find some at the local NAPA store to keep us up and running.
Season Load count: 75 which is about 7500 tons of weeds!!
Chris is our full-time operator and is doing a fantastic job. He will be back next year.
Jim our truck driver is a maybe for next year.
Long term: Will need to use some of our capital dollars to make some repairs to the harvester.
Will be pulling the harvester out the 2nd week of September. Will need to clean it up. John purchased a trash pump and fire hose to clean it up. This new pump will help us to clean it up in hours instead of days. Permit ends on August 31st.
Will use the harvester to collect some bullrushes this Fall for the loon nests for next year. Last year’s winter weather wasn’t cooperative and want to try this and will dry them over the winter.
Would like to purchase 3- $50 gift cards. 2 for the harvester crew and one for the people that are allowing us to park on their property during the BBQ.
Business memberships:
Have 19 memberships for a total of $1575.00
Soliciting for donations for the BBQ with mixed results.
On-line Soliciting of donations has gone better.
Individual Memberships: 95 year to date for a total of $8048.54
Loon Nesting Platform:
Takes about 3 years to get them to nest on the platforms.
Had one nest this year. Only 1 egg of the 2 hatched of the two on the platform. Greg will bring the egg to the BBQ.
Otters, foxes, and gulls are some of the natural predators.
Takes 2 semesters at the school to build the platforms. Each platform was $625 when we
Zells are donating a duck/platform boat to the LMA to use how we choose. Thinking that we should try it for one year to see how it works for placing the loon platforms.
Will continue to monitor and expand the program in the future.
May purchase 2 additional warning buoys to place by the natural nests over the winter.
Merchandise:
Full order from Aitkin has arrived. Lots of various options to choose from.
Buffalo plaid
2 new designs on T-shirts
Men’s and women’s quarter zips
Sweatpants
Sold $750 of merchandise this week.
Weir’s Dam Update:
Funding and permits are in place. Aitkin County/DNR are running into issues finding contractors to do the work. Need someone with big equipment to move boulders. May jeopardize the starting of this project this year. Need to get this done because the grant will expire at the end of the year 2022. Most of the funding is in place through grants and donations.
Have a beaver that is considered a nuisance building a dam in the area that we will be doing the Weir’s dam. We have permission to remove it from the DNR. Looking for options.
AIS Boat inspections:
Tim makes occasional visits to talk to Richard the inspector. Have done 400 inspections year to date. Number of launches has been down since the 4th of July. Most of the people launching boats are regulars and know the drill. Had one incident with someone who didn’t want to empty his live wells. Person was reported and further action was taken by the authorities.
Have a new sign at the landing warning about the low water levels.
New Website:
Through our website, people can sign up for their memberships and pay online. Streamlines the process.
Focus to date has been memberships, board meeting minutes, financials, and water quality.
Terryl will be taking over the content piece for activities around the lake and photos. Will augment the Facebook page.
Next phase will be around all of the information for the LMA
Coaster contest:
Was placed on the Facebook page and the website where people can take pictures of themselves with the coasters and will be entered into a drawing for a gift card. Good way to get our AIS message out and promote the LMA.
Zebra mussels was found in Cedar Lake in Aitkin County. Getting closer and closer. We test for AIS every year. At this point in time, we don’t have anything in our lake and want to keep it that way. If we get zebra mussels the water clarity gets clear like a swimming pool and the weeds will die off.
Currently we are surveying the lake every 5 years for AIS. Greg has proposed that we shorten the timing between surveys to every 3 years. Greg will get costing and we will discuss at the September meeting.
Kids Fishing Update:
Thanks to everyone that volunteered. Great feedback from the program and the kids enjoyed it. Will continue to support for next years.
Gordy Anderson’s wife donated several items for the silent auction and a check for $100 in memory of Frank Zueg, who passed away last week.
DNR did a gill net test. Initial results were positive. Will get further information after the testing that is done over the winter. Based on some of this information we will petition St. Paul to do some restoration work in a couple of walleye areas on the lake.
BBQ is next Saturday.
Everyone knows their assignments.
Terryl still needs a couple of helpers. Due to covid we need to dish everything for people verses letting them help themselves.
Will need masks for those serving food. Terryl will bring a box of masks for folks to use.
Sue Westburg has hunted down the people who have the area across from Bann’s that we use to park cars. We got permission from them to park there again this year. Will use the parking signs that are in the garage.
Will need to order new shirts for the volunteers for next year’s BBQ. Keep the same color, but the logo can change. Can combine with the order for the Kid’s give-away shirts on the 4th of July.
9:00 AM meet at Bann’s – DON’T wear your volunteer shirts. You will get dirty. Plan to go home and shower and be back at 11:30 AM.
Tamarack Mining - would like to come to next board meeting and give us an update. We are taking a neutral stand toward.
John made a motion to adjourn. Everyone 2nd.
Meeting ended at 11:56 AM