Board of Directors Meeting Minutes April 10, 2017

April 10, 2017

Haines Building Mercer, Wisconsin

1   6:05 PM  Call to Order:  Jeff Malison, President

2  Attendance:  Jeff Malison, Tom Mowbray, Bill Ficek, Jim Kohl, Jim Moore, Diane O’Krongly, Mike Hittle, Bill Stewart  Absent:  Randy Schubert

3  Minutes of the December 14, 2016 meeting. Bill Stewart. Approved as corrected.

4  Treasurer’s Report.  Tom Mowbray. Full report filed with minutes. Balance is lower by $3300 paid for the membership signs. Additional expenses include website and a filing fee. See full report for details.

Report was approved as presented.

5  Water Level Committee:  Jim Moore:

  • The flowage is currently low but up about 12 inches since March. The river is currently full.  18 additional inches are needed to meet the MOU deadline in 10 days.  Discharge through the dam has been higher than 1 year ago.
  • Current graphs and charts are on file with the minutes. We had less snow this year.   Spring rains will be important
  • Conversation with Jeff Penucci of the DNR indicates that the DNR may discuss assisting with the costs of redoing the surface of the Flowage Road.
  • There has been conversation about creating a stakeholders group, parties impacted by the Flowage as a fishing, camping and recreational destination. Excel energy seems agreeable.
  • There is significant internal reorganization in the DNR.
  • A meeting regarding management of the Rest Lake Dam will be held April 26.

6  Fish Management: Jeff Malison.

  • This has been a low activity period for the committee.
  • The committee is clarifying its vision for goals going forward and will meet April 26.
  • Zach Lawson wants to present information regarding the possibility of removing large numbers of bass and pan fish to see how walleye populations are impacted.

7  Invasive Species Committee:  Dianae O’Krongly.

  • As part of the dam licensing process Excel Energy developed a plan for managing invasives which includes grant money for projects. The Turtle Flambeau Flowage receives some of this for our purple loose strife work.  It also covers hiring clean boats interns, providing information to resort owners, providing speakers and water quality sampling.

8  Water Quality Committee:  Jeff Malison for Mike and Beth Myers.

  • We have lost some funding for water sampling. Is our board willing to help cover some of the unfunded costs?  Fewer sites could be monitored or fewer samples could be taken from each site to cut costs. We need to seek additional sources of funding for this project.  Zac Wilson will be asked for his thoughts regarding sources for grants.  Mike Hittle commented that the Turtle Inlet and Murray’s landing  areas have increased phosphorus.
  • A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously for our association to provide an amount not to exceed $1200.00 for this years costs. Water quality is a fish habitat issue.  Excel has a fish habitat fund. Could we ask them for some help? We could press Excel for an accounting of the expenses for this fund.

9  Communication and Education:  Tom Mobray and Bill Stewart and others.

  • We need to get ready to begin using e-blasts to members to provide some information and encourage visits to our website.
  • We will have signs ready for distribution at the annual meeting. We will ask for donations to recoup the cost of providing them.
  • Tom has loaded our list of email addresses onto Mail Chimp.
  • Tom and Bill will meet to develop our next step for eblasts.
  • New Editor for the News letter is needed; Mike Hittle is stepping down.
  • Need to develop links to other websites on our website.
  • We are changing our website host. Not all our information made it to the new host. There will be some costs.
  • New material for the website should be sent to Jeff Malison.
  • Records and Document storage. Do we want to use the cloud for archival material?

10  Other Business:

  • The Membership sign has been ordered and delivered. Mike Hittle will drill the holes. The signs and hardware will be ready for distribution at the annual meeting.  Discussion as to whether  different posts were in use for the fire number signs and any impact this would have on drilling the signs. Members not attending the meeting can pick up signs from local board members.
  • Discussion of a bi-fold brochure was postponed
  • Annual meeting: A proposed agenda was presented. The meeting will be June 17 at 10 AM at the Pines in Mercer.  Tom Mobray will bring copies of minutes and the agenda.
  • Elections: Jim Moore will continue. Bill Stewart will be nominated to serve 2 more years as Secretary.  Randy Schubert will be nominated to serve the remaining year of the current Vice-President’s term. Candidates will be sought to replace Mike Hittle and Bill Ficek. Chad McGrath, Mike Hittle and Terry Daulton will continue to write for the newsletter. We will need a new editor of the newsletter.  Discussion of possible candidates was held.  Geographic distribution and gender were mentioned as important considerations in addition to interest and availability.

 

Respectfully,  Bill Stewart,  Secretary