Meeting Called to Order at 6:35 in Zoom format.
Present: Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jarhaus, Leslie Hind, Amy Heaven.
Absent: Leslie Nemitoff, Blake Larson, Clifton Bencke
Amy presented the agenda for approval. Sandy made the motion that we accept the agenda as submitted and Mike seconded. The vote was called and the agenda was accepted.
Amy submitted the minutes from the March 26 general membership meeting. Sandy made the motion that we accept them as submitted with a second by Mike. The vote was called and the minutes were approved.
Leslie H. gave the financial report as basically unchanged from the last meeting when we had $20,274.21 on hand. She has one outstanding check to deposit.
Sandy gave a tee shirt update. We have about 150 left with 10 having sold at the general meeting for a total of funds collected around $2000 so they have covered the costs and are generating income.
Ryan gave a raffle report. He sold ten tickets at the meeting for a total of $40.00. Ryan is working on a David Payne picture for our raffle collection. He is also going to solicit Gardner business for donations.
On Old Business:
The topic of roster maintenance was presented, and it was agreed that it would be a good task for our Lake Road Representatives. Mike agreed to head up the rep program and reach out to the current volunteers to reengage them. Amy mentioned that she’d received Angela Larson’s resignation. An in-person gathering was discussed and Greta volunteered to help with that process. A date will be determined in the future.
The floor was turned over to Melinda for the events update. She asked about the success of the dam clean-off April 16th. Workers who participated were Todd Chappell, Dave Young, Pete Adams, John Modic, Blair Honeyman and Travis Fleming. Trees that could not be pulled where sawed off with the trunks treated with Tordon. The city has been slow to remove the loose brush.
The topic of Mary Burnett’s clean-up party was raised. The turnout was fantastic, but the wind wouldn’t permit the use of boats on that day. People launched out on foot but even that was a challenge. There was talk of possibly scheduling another one for the fall, but not determination was made.
Leslie forwarded a couple names of people who had volunteered to serve on Leslie Nemitoff’s beautification committee. They were people who signed up at the general meeting.
Regarding the 4th of July boat parade, Melinda will plan a meeting in the next couple weeks to start planning. Several different methods of judging were discussed. The budgets for all the social events is $500 for simplicity. Leslie H. asked if Susan Dolan had been invited to judge and that she would take it very seriously.
Leslie H. presented her grass carp report. She was disappointed that Lucas with the state was walking back his offer of providing 500 grass carp for us this year. After our successful program last year he had made that offer. He was saying that our lake looked very good and he wanted to wait and see until fall. Melinda asked if the cost had stayed the same. Leslie H. was going to check on that. Melinda suggested that we get them reserved.
The condition of the spillway was discussed. Leslie H. said that Jason with the city was going to get us a copy of the last spillway report. Leslie said that the city has no budget for a repair and that is was a low priority for them. There is a condition report provided every two years.
On the condition of the dam, it too is inspected every two years. Mike was wondering about its evaluation and wondered how concerned we should be. It was mentioned that the valve below the dam was inspected monthly.
On the topic of dredging, Leslie H. commented that the city has had two grants in the past that expired and that it doesn’t fair well for future grants. But Jason is meeting with the county for possible options. Melinda asked if the city had investigated the purchase of dredging equipment? Leslie said “no.” Greta asked if Leslie had her task force? She said that Harold will help and Greta said that Fred, her husband, and volunteered as well. Ryan also said that he’d like to help. Leslie said that Jason felt we would need to use the cities grant writer.
Leslie remarked that only seven crew members maintain all the parks in Gardner. They are purchasing fancy trash cans for all the sites and that we would get 3 or 4. On the subject of beautification, Jason was very supportive. Leslie H. asked about having a park ranger and Jason said there was no budget for that. Gardner Lake will, however, get two security cameras to be monitored by the police. Leslie H. had asked the city about replacing the Porto-Potty and they said they would not because they are always destroyed by the public. They were considering something permanent. The amount of work what Leslie Hind was doing was recognized and Greta volunteered to help her. Leslie feels that Jason is trying to do the right thing.
Communications and our website was discussed. It was agreed that we need to know the password to our website as Blake is the only one who has it. Ryan volunteered to help Blake as he too has web design skills.
On New Business, Greta suggested that we maintain a running list of concerns and Ryan suggested a share Google Sheet. Greta remarked that it would facilitate managing feedback and understanding concerns. She agreed to manage it.
We would table a report on beautification until Leslie Nemitoff is available.
Tee shirts were discussed, and it was agreed that we would look into a new logo design for next year. Sandy felt like this wasn’t the time of the year to order them. Having our lake road reps in our tee shirts was a good idea. The topic turned to the lake road rep party and when a good time to have it would be. It was decided that this June might be the time.
Discussion turned to earmarking the treasury to avoid continual criticism over our utilization of excess funds. It was discussed that infrastructure should be the larger amount with earmarking the social events as another along with campaign seed money. Leslie mentioned that we need to update the signatories on the checking account while we were at it.
Amy mentioned that the Gardner Historical Museum was featuring an exhibit on Gardner Lake history starting June.
A permanent monthly meeting time was set for the third Wednesday of each month at 6:00 pm. Amy will get the Zoom password from Chuck.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:40 pm.
In a post-meeting e-mail exchange on April 28, Ryan Mueller motioned that we go forward with the purchase of 500 grass carp and Melinda Broward seconded. The vote carried.
Minutes submitted by Amy Heaven in the absence of Leslie Nemitoff, Secretary.