Meeting Called to Order by Amy Heaven 9:00 AM at the Gardner Senior Center.
Board Present: Amy Heaven, Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jahrus, Blake Larson, Leslie Hind, Clifton Bencke
Board Absent: None
Introductions: Board members and new lake residents were introduced.
Agenda: Amy Heaven presented the agenda for approval. Miranda Burnett moved to approve the agenda, this was seconded and approved.
Secretary: Ryan Mueller presented the previous resident’s meeting minutes. Blair Honeyman moved to approve the minutes, this was seconded and approved.
Treasury: Presented by Leslie Hind. Major expenses in 2022 were: $636 for 4th of July Parade, $188 for kayak race, $1,472 for dumpsters (for 4 tons of trash removed!), and $850 for the Grass Carp addition project. Funds that were received in 2022 are: $3,954 in dues collected from 115 members, $2,008 collected from merchandise sales, and $4,150 received from 51 benefactors specifically for the Grass Carp addition project (thank YOU!). Leslie explained that of the GLA’s assets, $15,000 has been earmarked for infrastructure expenses and the remaining $3,806 is in the general fund, with another $435 in the Paypal receivable account.
Special Events: Presented by Melinda Broward. Melinda led us down memory lane with a review of the fun events held throughout the year. Some special highlights were the 4th of July Boat Parade with online voting, 2 very successful lake cleanups that beautified the dam / spillway area, and a kayak race with 25 volunteers and 40 participants (including a paddling pup!). Melinda built more excitement for the Annual Chili Cookoff that occurs later this day (10/8/22) and announced a Christmas Light Contest to occur later this year.
Special Presentation: Lake Infrastructure:
-Amy Heaven addressed the recent article by the Gardner News. In response to the article, Amy and the GLA board created a Gardner Lake Infrastructure Taskforce: a subset of GLA board members and residents especially dedicated to getting into the deep details of what it would take to repair the dam and spillway. The taskforce is made up of Leslie Hind, Mike Rankin, Ryan Mueller, Tim Orrick, and Amy Heaven.
-Leslie Hind reviewed the history of the dam / spillway repairs as well as the inspection report produced in 2021 by engineering firm Olsson. The lake Dam is currently classified as a High Hazard dam because a failure of the system could result in extensive loss of life, damage to homes, or traffic on high volume roads. At the 2021 inspection, the dam was found to be in fair condition but deficiencies and needed repairs were noted including deterioration of the spillway crest, undesirable vegetation along the dam embankment, and sparse riprap in certain locations.
-Tim Orrick presented information on the current governance of the lake and nearby properties. Importantly, it was noted the dam / spillway repairs are estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $800,000. Of this total, Johnson County has offered a grant to pay $400,000 towards these repairs. This has been declined for several years by the city of Gardner due to a lack of funds for the remaining portion of funding – approximately $400,000. So far, the city has expressed that some portion of this cost will be burdened by the residents of Gardner Lake. To this point, the GLA Infrastructure Taskforce is currently investigating options that would help get the dam and spillway repaired with various forms of financial structuring. These options and some of their pro/cons were:
1) Do nothing and allow the city to repair on their terms and timeline
-pros: passive choice, happens automatically
-cons: no control, city could decide to raise dock fees unilaterally to cover costs
2) Work with city to finance a ‘resident portion’ of the cost through dock fees
-pros: some voice in structuring of dock fees
-cons: dock fees not a good mechanism – overcharge some residents and undercharge others
3) City of Gardner passes ownership of the lake to Johnson County
-pros: county has authority to levy tax assessments in a more equitable way than dock fees
-cons: unlikely that Johnson County is interested
4) Transfer ownership of Gardner Lake to a private entity such as a newly formed HOA
-pros: an HOA would have control of decisions
-cons: would be difficult to form an HOA, resident responsibility for repairs increases
Old Business:
-Calendar Update: Sandy Adams is preparing calendars for 2023, sponsorships are available.
-Membership Update: Mike Rankin is working to build a contact list of lake residents for email notifications. Let the GLA know if you are not getting lake announcement emails.
-Dredging/Grass Carp Update: Leslie Hind said that dredging is still a priority and will be investigated soon. The existing and newly added grass carp have been working hard cleaning up algae around the lake.
-Raffle Update: Ryan Mueller showed off the awesome items available in the raffle for the Chili Cookoff.
New Business:
-By-Laws Update: Amy Heaven announced forthcoming proposed updates to the By-Laws to be voted on at the Spring Resident’s meeting.
Adjournment: There was a move to adjourn, which was seconded and passed unanimously.