4/25/18 BEAA Board Meeting

BEAA MINUTES – BOARD MEETING 4/25/18 – Approved on 6-13-18

 

Attending:  Bart Crockett, Mike Doran, Jim Ascheman, Gary Krejcarek, Adam Moore, Carole Moore, Rick Donovan, Antonette Alexander.

 

The minutes from 2/28/18 and the annual meeting on 3/22/18 were reviewed and approved.

The summary of the 3/22 annual meeting will be sent out to all members via email and will be posted on the BEAA Facebook page.

 

Summary of Annual Dinner:  Treasurer, Mike Doran, presented a summary of the expenses and revenues from the annual dinner.  We met our goal of raising $20,000. 169 people paid for dinner.  

 

Some feedback received and suggestions include:

  • Don’t number the auction bid sheets until the items are placed around the room, so they can be collected in numerical order for check out purposes.
  • Rope off the auction area when it’s closed, so auction sheets can be marked closed and collected before check out. Once that’s done, then people can go in and retrieve their items and the yellow copy of the sheets for check out.
  • With the new BEAA logo, have more items for sale at the dinner…. And on the website?
  • Promote the quality of the buffet. It’s really a dinner, not just heavy appetizers
  • Add more seated tables
  • When auction items are donated, have them delivered to the same person who is generating the bid sheets and informational sheets to reduce confusion.
  • Microphones and speaker system worked very well.
  • Shrimp and scallops ran out early. Perhaps increase the number of those items and reduce the fruit platter and the cheese and crackers.

 

Permits for weed control:   It was discussed that we cannot pull permits until Steve McComas does his initial lake weed audit.  AIS treatments are based on the current survey each year, backed up with previous years’ surveys and treatment records. 

 

Boat launch inspections:  WaterGuards will be working the boat launch.  Gary will find out when they start and the proposed schedule. We will need volunteers to check the rocks and weeds at the boat landing and a volunteer coordinator.   State agencies are developing a “rapid response” process if zebra mussels are discovered.  That typically costs $20-$50k to treat.  It would be desirable to have a decontamination station at the boat landing and or get legislation to regulate/require decontamination before entering Bald Eagle Lake.  The boat launch is managed by Ramsey County Parks and Rec, NOT the township or DNR. Rick, Bart and Adam agreed to meet with Tom Moriarty of Ramsey County Parks and Rec to discuss decontamination and regulation options.

 

501C3 vs 501C4 :  Discussion continued about changing our classification to 501C3 so contributions can be tax deductible, especially if we want to recruit large donors to fund AIS control and prevention.  A motion was made, seconded and approved for Adam to contact John Pitzl, CPA,  to have him investigate the issues from an accounting/tax perspective.

 

Dues:    We will be starting to collect dues.  Adam will work on developing a website with online payment capabilities.  It was suggested a short video, featuring board members, be created to explain the background and reasons we are reinstating BEAA membership dues.  Adam and Bart will work on a tight script to explain the fundraising and website.  The story needs to include what we’ve done, what is being paid by our tax assessment, prevention costs and potential remediation costs.   The plan is to collect $150 per homeowner, regardless of whether they have lake access or not.  This will keep recordkeeping less complicated.   Adam suggested we offer incentives based on donation levels – towels, coasters, etc.  That idea was tabled for this year, but will be re-visited with more planning time next year.

 

 All lake shore owners and those with deeded access can be voting members of the BEAA.  Other interested members would be considered  “Associate” members.  Perhaps dues paying, but they have no vote.

 

Adam drafted some invoice samples which were reviewed by Bart.  They will work together to finalize those. Invoices with a cover letter will be mailed out and an email will be sent out through Mail Chimp to launch the dues collection process.    Adam also suggested getting stickers made for car windows for BEAA to show you’re a paying member.

 

The goal would be to have a website up by 5/5 and get the letters and invoices out by 5/12.

 

Logo: Antonette developed a new logo for the BEAA.  This will be put on the website, Facebook page, mailings, etc.

 

Next Annual Meeting:  It was suggested to move the annual meeting to the fall.  This remains an open agenda item.    It was suggested that the meeting be held at Central Middle School,  in the basement room, rather than at Otter Lake School as it was quite noisy there and the acoustics made it difficult to hear the speakers.

 

Facebook:  Carole will add a note to Facebook regarding Jim Ascheman’s designation as a “U of MN Certified Aquatic Invasive Species Detector”.  Questions for Jim can be emailed to beaagroup@gmail.com.