July 11th, 2018 Meeting Minutes
BEAA MINUTES – BOARD MEETING 7-11-18 approved on 8-29-18
Attending: Bart Crockett, Mike Doran, Gary Krejcarek, Adam Moore, Carole Moore, Rick Donovan, Antonette Alexander.
The minutes from the June meeting were reviewed and approved.
Eurasian Milfoil Treatment: 43 acres were treated at a cost of $416/acre. Results are normally evident within 7-10 days. The July 2ndtreatment has had good results so far. It takes 4-6 weeks to achieve maximum results, so by mid-August all results should be evident. Steve McComas will be hired to come out for another inventory to determine the current status. Based on the current status and past treatment areas, we can develop plans for what future treatments may be needed. The goal would be to develop a basic historical pattern of treatment which could facilitate treating areas earlier in the season. Rick made a motion, seconded by Gary and approved by the board to hire Steve McComas for up to $500 for this investigation.
Treasurer’s Report: Mike Doran reported that our bank balance on 6/29/18 was $54002.29. We collected $16,220 in dues and donations to date. The bank balance as of 7/10/18 was $66,000. We received the bill for the milfoil treatment, which was $17,888.
It was discussed to establish an “ideal” bank balance to be sure funds are available, if needed, for emergency actions relating to discovery of zebra mussels, a potential dam breach or other possible scenarios. It was suggested that we maintain a balance of at least $50,000 to be prepared for these contingencies.
Bart will draft a letter thanking contributors to date and noting some of the achievements made by BEAA made possible by the donations and fundraisers. It was noted that the Wednesday sail boat races were able to sail into the north end of the lake, which has been too weedy in past years to make sailing there possible. Bart’s letter will be sent out via USPS, not email.
Bart stated Tom Weyandt asked to be reimbursed $195 for the expenses of getting a trail cam set up at the boat launch, with the purpose of monitoring boat launch traffic, peak times, etc. Justin Townsend worked with Tom to get this set up. Gary made a motion to approve the reimbursement, Adam seconded and the board approved. Bart will contact Justin about getting the data back from the camera.
BEAA Achievements – Historical information: Mike Doran will contact the RCWD and Steve McComas to gather historical information on the work BEAA has done in the past to create a historical record we can maintain on the website and share with members to help them understand the budget and expenses involved. Mike will also check with Tom Weyandt to see if he has a list of which BEAA members are lake shore households and those with deeded access.
Boat Launch Monitoring: We have the schedule through July. No one is there at sunrise, which is disappointing. WaterGuards stated they hired based on 7 or 8 am start times, so have no staff willing or able to be there any sooner. Thought will be given to how this can be remedied for next year and how to expand the hours to sunrise to sunset daily.
Ideally, we’d like to become a pilot project for a full decontamination unit, with the launch locked down when no one is there to guarantee only certified clean boats can be launched. Discussion included working with the Christmas Lake Association Board to network and share ideas on how they’re moving forward with inspections.
The CE3 unit (washes, vacuums, cleans off boats/trailers) can be leased for $27,000 per season. There is a truck mounted unit available for demo. Gary encouraged us all to attend a demonstration when it’s available. Gary will contact Wildlife Forever, on Hwy. 61, to learn more about what they do. He will also be in touch with Jeff Forester of MN Lakes and Streams to gather more information on how we can proceed to possibly get funding for a pilot project for decontamination on Bald Eagle Lake. Rick suggested we consider a private-public partnership.
Bart will contact Wright County to determine how they got their decontamination system set up, and will then contact their counterpart in Ramsey County Parks and Recreation to see how to proceed. Gary will contact Justin Townsend to help determine the appropriate contact in Ramsey County.
Weevils project on Christmas Lake: The KSTP TV report on this project has been put on our website. Gary summarized the project for the board as follows.
Native weevils attach to Eurasian Milfoil, eat through the stems, thereby killing the upper part of the plant, keeping lakes more navigable. Weevils are already in our lake. In Christmas Lake, students are harvesting the native weevils, growing them in an aquarium, where they grow faster, and then re-introducing them into the lake. This process is repeated several times over a 6 week period. There are some difficulties in this process, as the weevils can be re-located if winds are strong. To prevent unwanted drift, weevils would be placed in a thick weed bed area so they would stay in place and to keep them away from some fish who feed on them. Weevils cannot be introduced in areas treated with 24D, so there could be a 2-3 year gap in weed control while the weevil population is enhanced. It takes 3 years to see the results, but studies show it can reduce Eurasian Milfoil issues by 80-90%. The results of the Christmas Lake project should be available this fall. There may be some liability issues surrounding having students do the work, as they’d need to be on a boat, etc., so that would need to be taken into consideration before instigating a similar project on Bald Eagle. The goal would be to involve some local teachers to run the project.
The project would need $2000 in funding to get started. We’d need a plastic greenhouse, air pumps, aquariums, and other miscellaneous items. It would be ideal to try it in an isolated area and continue using 24D elsewhere until the effectiveness of the weevil enhancement could be measured.
Gary, Jim and Kathy will gather more information for our next Board meeting in August.
Antonette will send her teacher contact information to Gary for further discussion and development. Patti Hall , H20 for Life, may also be a good resource for how to get schools and students involved.
Annual Meeting – move to October: As discussed at our last meeting, it was suggested we move the annual meeting to the fall. We will aim for mid-October 2018. Mike will contact Hanifli and Central Middle School regarding meeting spaces and costs. Gary made a motion to move the meeting to October, Carole seconded and the Board approved.
501C3: Adam and an attorney have been discussing changing our designation to non-profit. The by-laws will need to be re-written and have more of an education focus. The application can be done online or hand-written. If hand-written, it could take 6 months to be processed/approved. The online process would be quicker. The cost should be less than $2500 for attorney time and application fees. Adam will continue moving forward with this process. Carole will send the current by-laws to Bart.
Community Docks: Rick brought up issues about the BEAA board’s interest/responsibility in reporting issues if someone reports to us that something is out of compliance with established rules. Some community docks have licenses: West Oaks, Timber Hills (Hobe Lane) and Spring Villa (southeast corner). The Woods of Bald Eagle dock is allowed only 6 slips, but has 10. Rick made a motion that the association report issues that may be out of compliance to the appropriate governing agency (townships, DNR, cities, etc.). The motion was seconded by Adam and approved by the Board. Rick will contact the city of Hugo regarding the dock in question.
Rick made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:30. It was seconded by Adam and approved.
The next board meeting will be 8/28 at Mike Doran’s at 6:30 p.m.