Loon Lake Watershed Improvement Alliance Meeting Minutes
Date: November 10, 2018
Place: Bob Reynolds’ 42 East Lake Rd.
Time: 9:00 am
In attendance: (out of 11) Board: John Hayden, Karen Monroe, Alice Publow, Bob Reynolds,
Call in: Eric Busch
Others: Joann Boyan, Carol Reynolds, Hal Susman, Zane Simonowicz
Meeting procedures: Alice
- Minutes reviewed for approval
Eric requested that his typed, submitted reports be incorporated in the body of the minutes, after his oral report. October minutes approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Bob
- General Fund’s current balance is $7,154.68
- Capital Fund’s current balance is $14.570 ($ 10,000 in a CD)
- Payment of Bills
- Electric bill for Oct. is for $21.02 leaving a credit of $39.09. Usage was 35 kwh.
- Dumpster Payment: Bob called Lippincott and the fee for the first dumpster is $534.65 which will be paid after the bill is submitted.
Auditors Committee:
Karen has not converted the accounting yet. She will need to work with Bob to do so. She reviewed the material provided to her, but it was not enough to be able to do the accounting. She would like to do the accounting from the beginning of the Alliance, so we have a complete record in one place.
She also looked into buying the QuickBooks basic. It turns out the only software that they still “sell” outright is the QuickBooks pro version. All other software is on a monthly, and she thinks cloud-based setup. LLWIA can go three ways
1) I could use my version of QuickBooks pros Karen already owns to do they Alliance books.
2) We could purchase a QuickBooks PROS for the Alliance to have so the Alliance owns the accounting software and could be passed on to future treasurers. ($179.99) along with purchasing an inexpensive laptop to house the records. This is what she did for the fire district.
3) We could go with a cloud-based program (she saw some for as little as $5.00 per month).
Insofar as a quorum was not present at the meeting, the Executive committee determined Karen should purchase QuickBooks and a lap top if the full expenditure was less then $750 and report to the Committee if that price was not practical.
ISSUE: Onsite Waste Treatment Systems
Email from Bernie: read by Alice
- Rural Development Planning Grant
“I spoke with Rose Mary Smith of the Rural Development Office in Bath. She sent me a Fact Sheet on the program that confirms the amount of grant and the required match. I have attached the Fact Sheet. The fact sheet states that the Service Area must have a Median Household Income (MHI) of less than 80% of NYS MHI. If we define the Service Area as all properties around the lake to be served I am sure we will not be close to meeting that requirement. Also since there is no census or other data that provides information for the lake area we would have do a survey of all property owners. Rose Mary is checking to see if we could use the Town of Wayland’s MHI which may be below the required level.”
Conesus Lake
“I checked with my contacts in Livingston County concerning the use of grant funds with income level requirements to fund the water and sewer around the lake. They did not using any of those type grants to pay the installation.” The question was asked as to what grants were used, but the answer is not known - Remediation of failing septic systems:
The difficulty of lot size and the restrictions on septic engineering codes was discussed. John will talk to Ilean Schultheis about the possibilities of purchase or lease of property to accommodate systems across the road.
ISSUE: Storm Water and Sediment Control:
- Remediation of Mill Race Antler’s Inn Road:
Remediation has been completed on the spillway from the detention pond into Loon Lake. The 2’culverts were replaced by strategically placed 4’ pipes. The stream spillway from the pipes to the lake has been dredged, cleared and some areas lined with stones.
ISSUE: Loon Lake Wetland Preserve:
- Project Manager’s Report:
- The large honeybee colony found in the old barn, was successfully removed. Beekeeper, Dan Gripping, has relocated the hive.
- Some of the electrical service will be relocated in the old barn to accommodate Safety for Stan’s deconstruction.
- A tool wish list will soon be completed, listing desired to be stored in the pole barn for handy use on LLWP.
- Alice’s report:
- Tree winterizing and evergreen study:
Alice has set up a date base on the evergreen trees on LLWP. She has devised 2 means of winter protection and will try to determine survival, growth and health of each specimen in the study. The grass has been cut or pulled back from all evergreens in an attempt to discourage rodent chew.
- Bird List:
Diane and Alice have adapted Rob Hughes’ birdwatcher list to Loon Lake and the Wetland Preserve. It will be distributed to interested parties.
- High school student volunteers:
Malala Meyers and Calem Merrill are honor students from Wayland Cohoton High school, who have signed on to do their 20-hour work requirements at LLWP. The bulk of the time will be next spring, but Alice will try to incorporate them before then. Mikala will help produce a ‘Power Point’ about LLWP. Alice will involve Calem in the evergreen study and monitoring the trees
- The student from Alfred, Derek Chester, who asked to do a study at LLWP has contacted Alice to give formal approval and permission to take soil samples at LLWP. It looks like that study will go forward.
(Alice believes that all of the above can go in the educational column)
- Insurance Update:
Bob has gotten a quote from James S. Sullivan Insurance that is less costly with comparable coverage for LLWP. John has that requested that Bob find out how much a million dollars more liability coverage would cost. There will be a penalty for cancelation of the original policy; however, there will still be a savings. Also, coverage of the pole barn is included.
ISSUE: Communication with watershed residents:
- Articles for LL Link:
Carol suggested checking with Diane about readiness of December’s LLWIA page for the ‘Link’
- Fund Raisers:
- ‘Celebrate the Lake’ is planned to continue annually
- Plans are in the works for a Stearn’s chicken dinner to be held at LL Chapel after the annual LL Assoc. meeting. It will be pre-ticket sales. The price was discussed. John offered to donate a 50 cents off coupon to be printed in the Link.
- Changes may be made in the auction format.
NYSFOLA Regional Meeting
Lake Recording:
Alice has inquired as to how frequently the DO& temperature recordings should be taken from various limnologists. Bruce Gilman said everyday. On Honeoye Lake they have an information buoy that broadcast this information to a computer.
At the NYSFOLA meeting, Alice spoke to Karl Hanafin who makes a Lake Temperature Monitoring System. A continuous thermocline measuring system in Loon Lake would cost approximately $1000 to manufacture and install. It would require a host facility, which could provide year-round power and Wi-Fi access to the system. The
power and bandwidth required by system is minimal and unlikely to be
noticed by the host. He will warranty the system against manufacturing defects for one year
following installation but cannot be responsible for damage caused by
others after installation. He would anticipate being able to install the system in the early spring. His website which has some information including a
photograph of the system at: intelilake.com
Examples of data collected by similar systems can be found at:
iotdb.geneseo.edu
Other ISSUES:
- John has been monitoring the lake level and Bob has posted the current graph on the website under “lake information”, “lake level”. The lake is very high for fall and ‘Float Away Property’ is anticipated. There is still an abandoned boat at Sweeney’s. It is considered an environmental hazard. John will call the management company to request removal.
- Knotweed is increasing to invade the shoreline. A mangement campaign should be addressed in the spring.
Next Meeting: No meeting until February 2019
