Board of Directors Meeting Minutes August 17, 2014

Turtle -Flambeau Flowage Trude Lake Property Owners Association
Board Meeting Minutes August 17, 2014

1 Call to Order the Meeting was called to order by President Terry Daulton at 10:12 AM in the Haines building, Mercer, Wisconsin.

2 Attendance: Board Members present were Terry Daulton, Jim Bohman, Diane O’Krongly, Sandy Gitzlaff, Bill Stewart, Jeff Malison, Tom Mobray and Mike Hittle. Absent, Bill Fisek.
Guests: Jim Moore, member, Arnie Popp former board member.

3 Minutes: Minutes of the May 14th had not been distributed. They will be considered at the next meeting for approval. The Secretary will circulate those minutes to the board ASAP.

4 Treasurer’s Report: Tom Mobray handed out his report to the board. Our current balance in the General Fund is $7657.18 and in the Fish Crib Fund is $2832.75. Total balance is $10.489.93 The full report will be filed with the minutes. A motion to approve the report was made and seconded. The report was approved.
Discussion of membership renewal. Tom said 185 renewal applications were sent out. 129 have been returned with dues. 56 are still out. Of these 13 are non-renewals for the second consecutive year and will be dropped from our membership list if they do not renew this year. Tom sends out a second reminder in September. Typically 30 will return as members. Recruiting of new members was discussed. The Membership Committee will be activated.

5 Old Business:
A Water Level Committee. Jim Bohman The water level is now 1.5 feet below full pool and is 5-6 inches lower than it was on this date one year ago. It is well above the “reasonableness curve.” Jim has sent an e-mail to the DNR essentially letting them know we are keeping track. As of today the DNR has not responded. Present outflow is at 670 cubic feet/sec. It was noted that the area of the Chippewa Flowage receives more information about planned changes in water level than we do. The current graph will be filed with the minutes. Terry will e-mail Nancy Larson regarding water levels and lack of DNR response to recent e-mails from us.
B Fish Management Committee. Jeff Malison No meetings were held because we are still waiting to learn who the new Marine Biologist will be. There may have been a “sighting,” but the new person has not begun yet. Jeff will be proactive and learn who the person will be and when they expect to start.
C Cabin Fever Party. Discussion postponed until the next meeting.
D Invasive Species Committee. Diane O’Krongly reported that the Iron County person has resigned her position and that the position is currently unfilled. All information from the Purple Loose Strife survey had been forwarded before the resignation. Hopefully all areas were eventually covered.
E Water Quality Committee. Terry Daulton reported that Mike and Beth Meyers will chair this committee. There will also be some turnover among volunteers. Sandy Wickman will contact the new volunteers and see that they are ready for spring. Bill and Sally Stewart will be replacing Jim Lever.
F Newsletter. Mike Hittle encouraged input for the next newsletter. An article profiling board members might be helpful to the membership.
G Website. Diane O’Krongly We will be asking several people to join with Diane in managing and developing our website. A general discussion of the website developed. Board Members should generate a list of things they would like our website to do such as e-mail subscribers when up-dates are made, allow electronic dues payments etc. An Ad Hoc Committee will be formed to move forward with the discussion. Sandy, diane, Leann Malison and Mike Hittle will serve on the committee. Jerr malison will contact Gail A. and Tom will contact Brett Grams to seek their participation. Diane will do a doodle poll to get a time and date for the meeting. In the future we may need a budget item for a more fully functioning website.
H Hats. Mike Hittle 16 hats were ordered and distributed. There was a suggestion that in the future a more feminine color be among the choices.

New Business:

A Committee Structure and Planning. Terry Daulton led the discussion
Regarding Officers of the Association it was agreed that each should keep and maintain the files they think appropriate for their position. In particular the Secretary’s file needs to contain official documents such as our Code of Ethics, the MOU, By-Laws etc. The Treasurer should maintain a membership list and a contact list.
Regarding Committee Chairs discussion focused on developing their interest in leadership on the board or as an officer and recognizing that not all committees have the same needs for or types of meetings and function differently from one another. Committee Chairs need some discretion in setting meeting dates and determining meeting content.
Regarding Committee Members Tom Mobray raised the question of having non-members as members of committees when we have members volunteer for committees who are not asked to participate. The value of special expertise of non-members was noted and appreciated. We are not looking to exclude non-members from committees but want to be sure members have an opportunity to participate. Discussion will be revisited.
A lively discussion regarding signing the code of ethics and what constitutes ethical behavior or appropriate meeting content ensued. It is important for the board to be sensitive to how we are seen.
Terry Daulton will update the three pages for our further consideration.
Committee Chair’s are: Fish Management, Dr. Jeff Malison; Water Level, Jim Bohman; Water Quality, Mike and Beth Meyers; Invasive Species, Diane O’Krongly; Education and Communication, Mike Hittle; Membership Sandy Gitzlaff. Sandy asked if there was a way to get the names of all the residents in our area of membership. She will look into this.
Recreation Survey Results: Terry Daulton has met with Jim Lever to create a spreadsheet for data entry and tabulation. Individual comments will need to be categorized. Google Docs was suggested as a way to allow several people to input data. We are hoping to have some preliminary information for the fall newsletter.
Picnic Sites on the Flowage Bill Stewart will call Chris Paulik to see if the Master Plan has a place for picnic sites.
Iron County Lakes and Rivers Bill Fisek has been unable to attend recent meetings. Terry has been going but would like someone else to pick up this interesting responsibility. Tom will send info to Jeff M in case he knows someone interested in representing us.

Other Business:

Arnie Popp presented several items to the board for us to consider using as a “Welcome Wagon” packet to new residents. These were given to Sandy Gitzlaff of the membership committee. The board appreciated Arnie’s thoughtfulness.

Tom Mobray noted that the DNR was considering new ATV trails west of Rhinelander and thought the process they were using might be of interest. He was wondering if the DNR might follow a similar model in considering the trail proposal in the Mercer area.
Arnie Popp expressed his concern that our recent survey was opposed to ATV’s in general and trail expansion in particular. It was pointed out to him that the survey was more broadly based and certainly not opposed to the growth of ATV trails outside the protected area of the TFF-TL Master Plan. Arnie also wishes us to be more “sharp tongued” on the issue of fishing rights. He was reminded that that issue does not fall within our purview as an organization.

Mike Hittle returned his PO Box key to Terry Daulton.

Next Meeting date is November 12 at 5:30 PM

Adjourned 12:28 PM