Board of Directors Meeting Minutes November 6, 2019

November 6, 2019­ – 7:00 p.m.  Haines Building Mercer, WI.

Minutes 1.0

7:00 PM  Call to Order:  Randy Schubert, President

Present:  Randy Schubert, President; Jeff Malison, Vice-President; Tom Mowbray, Treasurer; Todd Jirous, Secretary; Directors:  Diane O’Krongly, Jean Burns and Randy Payne

Absent:  Directors:  Jim Moore, Jim Kohl and Ed Hryciuk

Guests:  None present

Minutes: Randy Schubert distributed the Annual June Meeting minutes. Need to put “Draft” as a watermark on the document and post the meeting minutes to the web page please. Randy distributed the May 30, 2019 meeting minutes. They were approved as presented.

Treasurer’s Report: Tom Mowbray presented the treasurer’s report; we have a balance of $14,391.39. Income is about $500 less than this time last year, and Expenses are about $4,000 less than this time last year.  The report was approved as presented.

News: Beth Feind is the new Flowage Property Manager

Membership: This time last year we had 182 members, this year we have 185 total members. 34 or our members got a second notice for dues membership, of which 15 have already been returned. Members aren’t removed from the list until they have two years with no dues paid; 6 are in the que to be removed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

WATER Level: Tom Mowbray reported in Ed’s absence.

There’s lots of water! Have been attending meetings on the “Rest Lake Dam” situation on how to address and react to the periods of drought. This is good time to address when we don’t have a drought and will hopefully lend itself to better conversations and ultimately action when it is required. Excel is part of the “working group”. We have one more year on the current M.O.U.

 Fish Management Committee:  Randy distributed Jim Kohl’s e-mail in his absence, and summarized the fish committee activities:

There is a “Sturgeon Watch Program” that will happen next Spring…watch for more information on the web page in the near future. Can we get a “teaser” in the Fall/Winter New Letter?

Could use more activity/action with the Fish Committee. Meet at least once a year.

Randy reviewed the Fish Notes from Zach Wilson on all the various species.

New Walleye regulations have one more hurdle before implementation in 2020. How do we/who handles the posting of the New Walleye Regulation Signing?

Should we have an “Ask the Warden” piece in our news letter? Can I take 3 walleyes from Trude Lake, and 2 from the TFF for my total State Bag limit of 5?

Water Quality Report: Mr. Schubert read the water quality report submitted by Mike and Beth. Mike and Beth have done a wonderful job and are stepping down this year; we need to find a replacement for them.

Invasive Species Committee: Mr. Payne reported that overall Purple Loosestrife is down. The Murray’s Landing area is getting worse; areas 1, 2 and 3 we’ve got to keep at it and maybe consider expanding our area upstream as P/L is reported on the Manitowish River. Areas 4, 5 and 6 are doing well and 8 is in much better shape. Randy reported that we really need some more volunteers to help survey and help during the workday to eradicate P/L.

Communication and Education Committee:  Jean said that we have some great articles ready to go for a due date of November 11th. Jeff Malison mentioned that we haven’t posted anything on the Web Page in 6 months. It has value, but we need to keep it fresh. If Sue Payne could send items to Jeff that are pertinent would be very helpful.  Our Facebook page has 170 followers now. Sue is really into it and can always use articles to put on the site. Some discussion around posting the “ice thickness” on the site…after further discussion to what we might be opening ourselves up to, the idea was tabled.

Membership Report:  Tom Mowbray commented that the “Join/Renew” feature on our website is giving Tom some fits. We’re getting the “Paypal” information, but the website is not always kicking the member information to Tom.

Right now we’re using “Go Daddy”. Our “Go Daddy” membership has one more year left on it, and we want to move it over to Scott to host our Website. Randy is extending the authority to Tom to make the necessary expenditure to make the change when the time is right.

Mercer Fisheries: Mr. Schubert stated that he sent a letter of recommendation to have the fisheries team stay in the current location in Mercer. Randy has not received a response. Should we send a follow-up letter? Would it pay to send a letter to State Senator Bewley as a stakeholder? Tom Mowbray will send a recent fisheries article to Mr. Schubert, and Randy will frame up a letter for the group to review.

Stakeholders Meeting:  Jeff Malison to follow-up on

New Business: 

  • Property Manager- looking forward to a great relationship. Would like to have Beth sit down with us and hear her vision, and she to hear our concerns. Randy will try to get a meet and greet meeting with Beth.
  • Boat Docks came out very early this year, not sure what’s driving it?

Adjourned 8:05

 Respectfully,

Todd Jirous
Secretary