October 7, 2018 Board Meeting

MINUTES OF A MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE BLACKWATER LAKE ASSOC.

October 7th, 2018

A meeting of the board of directors of the Blackwater Lake Association (“the BLA”) was held on the above date at 3058 4th Avenue North, Longville, MN 56655, at the home of Chairman Lloyd Thielmann. Board of Directors Lloyd Thielmann, Carolyn Dindorf, Linda Burns, Barbie Laughlin, Dodi Sletten, Becky Seemann, Tim Marr, and Val Hyde (via phone) were present at the meeting. Travis Skalicky was not present. A quorum was present at the meeting.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 8:33 a.m. by Board Chairman, Lloyd Thielmann.

Approval of Agenda

Lloyd distributed the agenda for the meeting which, upon motion duly made and seconded, was unanimously approved.

Approval of Prior Minutes

The minutes of the July 24th, 2018 BOD’s meeting were distributed by Dodi Sletten via email in June and available at this meeting. After review by the board which, upon a motion duly made and seconded, the meeting minutes were unanimously approved as submitted.  

Treasurer’s Report

 Linda Burns provided an email to the board prior to the meeting with both the detail and summary of the budget and membership numbers for the years 2017-2018.  The balance beginning July 1- October 1, 2018 was $3,844 and the current balance is $7086. Income to date of $5358 is from membership dues, AIS donations, Blackwater wear and the Silent Auction. Membership is up from 116 the previous year to 127 to date. A suggestion was made based on an ACCL meeting recommendation to segregate the AIS donations into a separate fund/bank account to show that donations and distributions are used for AIS purposes only. The board agreed to have Linda pursue that with our current bank.

   New Business

  1. Beaver Control and Waterways Committee: Lloyd reported that a contract has been signed with a new beaver control individual. Part of the agreement included having a DNR permit to remove beavers along with receiving approval from homeowners on both sides of the waterway. The contract also has been expanded to year round trapping.
  2. Annual Seedling and Expense approval: Court Lechert and Craig Laughlin will manage the tree seedling program. Craig will manage the ordering and emailing and Court will manage pick up and distribution. A suggestion was made to do a mass mailing ahead of the order date to remind folks of the program and include information on the other native plants and seedlings available to individuals in addition to our program offerings. Approval of $400.00 was given by the board for the program.
  3. Board of Director’s elections: The following board members are up for re-election. Becky Seemann, Tim Marr, Dodi Sletten and Travis Skalicky. All have agreed to re-run with the exception of Travis. Travis will stay on as webmaster and Lloyd is working on a replacement for his director position.
  4. ACCL meeting: Dodi reported on the June meeting which was focused on having a detailed written AIS Response Plan that can be executed in case of an invasion. The July meeting featured speakers who presented information on the depletion and sell off of forest land often avoiding having to go through an environmental impact assessments. They also spoke to the subsequent impact of the use of that land. Lloyd reported that the other meetings concentrated on further development of the AIS Response Plans.
  5. AIS early detection: The new response team volunteers have been trained by Carolyn. The volunteer team have found nothing new to date. Bob Seemann and Jean English volunteered for 2019. Lloyd reported that the AIS signs at Ponto Lake are quite impressive. The sign includes a message form their board that they do not want invasive species in their lake. Tim Marr will look into the signs for our lake.
  6. Blackwater Blurb: The following articles and reports will be a part of the fall Blurb. Lloyd asked to check on a lighter paper weight to ensure we do not move to a higher postal rate. Lloyd and Linda will help proofread once the articles are completed.
    • Cover article: A follow-up/summary article on the ground water testing with a link to more information. Becky will provide.
    • Chairman’s update: Lloyd will write and provide.
    • Treasurer’s report: Linda provided the summary and content.
    • Membership report: Linda provided history and to date membership numbers.
    • Cabin Coffee: Craig and Barbie provided an article on this summer’s events. Becky will add to that article asking for volunteers to host next year’s cabin coffees and publish the dates of the events for 2019.
    • Silent Auction: Craig and Barbie provided a draft including a Generous Sponsor recognition.
    • List of committee members: The board updated the committees and its members and the updated list will be published.
    • List of officers and contact information: Lloyd to update and provide.
    • Water Quality: Carolyn will provide an article on the water quality trends in our lake.
    • AIS update: Lloyd and Carolyn to provide.
    • Education: Val will provide an article on arsenic education.
    • Board activity: Republish an article on what the board does and our recent activity.
  7. Cabin Coffee: The board discussed and agreed to continue holding Cabin Coffee events. It was also agreed to move them from Thursdays to Fridays to allow for more participation. The events will be held on Friday’s at 10:00a.m the second week of June, July, and August. This information will be published in the Blurb with a request for volunteers to host.

            Other Business

  1. Silent Auction: Barbie suggested using a system that provided a number to each person so that people would not know who they were bidding against with the idea of producing higher bids. After discussion, the board decided to continue with our current method. Dodi reported that people would be interested in donating if they had upfront notice. It was decided that we will publish information in the spring Blurb with those details.
  2. DOT Road Adoption: Barbie provided an update on the Local Lake Associations adoption sign. The sign was put up by an individual not a specific lake association. She reported that Island Lake participates in a cleanup which occurs the second week in August. They will contact Barbie when that date will be for 2019 and the board suggested a mass e-mail to the Blackwater members to volunteer for that day.

Next Board Meetings and Annual Meeting 

     The Annual meeting for 2019 will be held on July 20th. The Board of Directors meetings for 2019 will be held on May 5th, June 30th and October 6th.

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the Board, and upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned by unanimous approval at 10:16 a.m.

Dated as of the date first written above.

____________________________________

Dodi Sletten, Secretary

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