Manistee Lake Association
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July 22, 2002 Meeting Minutes

General Membership Meeting -- July 6, 2002

Gerry Sheahen, Treasurer, called the meeting to order at 9:00AM Officers Present: Don Thomas, President Jerry Sheahan, Treasurer Matt Thomas, Secretary Dale Ritchie, Membership Chair Bob Mazzuckelli, Sgt. at Arms/Parliamentarian Chip Sheahen, Water Quality Chair Gerry Sheahen announced Terry Slabic’s resignation as President of the Manistee Lake Association to the general membership. Don Thomas will serve as President of the association for the final two years of the term. Matt Thomas will serve the final two years as Secretary. The board unanimously agreed to the changes of officers and the membership in attendance ratified the decision. The one-year term of the Water Quality Chair held by Chip Sheahen is up as of May 25, 2002. The board is currently seeking somebody from the membership to serve for the coming year. There were no volunteers at the meeting. Treasurers Report given by Gerry Sheahen. The association currently has $ 9014.00 in the bank as of July 6. $406.00 has come in from sales of the MLA tee shirts and sweatshirts since the last membership meeting. Currently, 157 members have their dues paid for the year equaling $3850.00. Another $2775.00 came from the lake maintenance fund. $1995 worth of MLA tee shirts and sweatshirts have been purchased from the manufacturer with $1446.00 sold to the membership and community this year. Presidents Report given by Don Thomas. Don re-affirmed the Manistee Lake Association is a goal driven organization aimed at preserving the water quality so that all property owners and their families may enjoy the lake for years to come. He asserted that lake preservation couldn’t just come from the MLA membership but from all property owners on Manistee Lake. If everybody did their part, expenses would come down and the lake maintenance would be simpler for everybody. Examples were sited from the publication on lake maintenance given out to all the property owners. One Example: Growth buffers need to be maintained between the shoreline and yard. This will give milfoil weevils a winter haven so that they may return the following year. Another example: Don’t use chemical lawn services on lakefront yards. This allows nitrogen and phosphates to accumulate in the water. The desirable alternative would be to use lake water to feed the grass. Don challenged the membership to get into the practice of doing these types of activities to help manage the water quality of Manistee Lake. Secretary’s Report given by Matt Thomas. Matt introduced the manisteelake.org Webmaster Mike Thomas. Mike informed the membership that the site has new functions such as article and picture submission for members to use. He encouraged the membership to visit the site and to contribute articles and pictures. Very soon the site will offer advertising for local businesses and shopping for the MLA sweatshirts and tee shirts. Mike also reminded members that the articles and meeting minutes can be accessed through the archive link. Membership Report Given by Dale Ritchie. Special thanks were extended to Carefree Cove for selling the MLA tee shirts and sweatshirts free of charge to the association. The shirts have been very visible in the store thanks to the generous shelf space Carefree Cove has given. Dale stated that in future re-orders, there will be slightly different size mixes offered in order to accommodate the size demands. Golf shirts may be a possibility in the future if the membership shows enough interest. According to Jerry Sheahen, the number of lakefront property owners in the MLA is running at about 50%. It was suggested that non-lakefront property owners on Manistee Lake be solicited to become more involved in the organization. The more support the association gets from the community at large, the more the association can accomplish with the help of the local township and county governments. Water Quality Report Given by Chip Sheahen. Chip introduced Bob Stein who gave a report on the lake water level. The water level is up dramatically this year due to the heavy rains that took place in May and June. This of course is no guarantee of the lake levels for next year and the year after that. Bob pointed out that the lake couldn’t be dammed up since it feeds to the Manistee River. However a regulatory dam could be built so that water flow to the river could be regulated based on water level needs at any given time. The introductory study for such a project could cost $10,000.00. Bob concluded his presentation by pointing out that the association needs to make the decision as to whether water level management is a priority deserving of financial consideration. Chip thanked Bob for all his hard work and research. QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION The milfoil weeds have come back thicker this year. What do we need to do? There was a lot of discussion on this particular issue. EnviroScience did not plant any weevils this year due to the association’s budget constraints. However, they did conduct a study of the lake this year. The results of that study have not been released yet. To the untrained eye, the milfoil does appear to be thicker this year than last year and this may possibly be a result of no weevil planting. It has also been noticed that there are many well-kept yards that have no shoreline weed buffers on the rocks. This would lead the untrained observer to suspect that lawn chemicals may be making their way into the lake water giving the milfoil and other aquatic plant life an abundance of nutrients to feed on. Also, property owners are cutting down the weed and grass patches in their shoreline buffers denying the weevils a winter haven. The milfoil problem is one that is ongoing. It will never go away. We can only hope to manage and control the problem. There are other options that are in use by other recreational lakes such as chemical control or harvesting. They too are options but like the weevils, they will have to be done on an ongoing basis. At this point it becomes a question of priorities and cost. Money raising and costs: what are our options outside of our usual fundraising avenues? There are possible political means through federal money and state money according to Don Thomas. He has been investigating the possibilities and has committed to follow through on this. This could be a viable alternative. At the local level, there is a possibility of getting another tax assessment from the property owners. In order to get this assessment, the proposal needs to address specific water issues and recommend specific actions with specific dollar amounts so that the monies can be secured without becoming a “slush fund”. Norm LaCroix volunteered to draft a proposal to give to Coldsprings Township to start the process and gather information. The President made the motion and adjourned the meeting at 10:30 AM. Respectfully submitted, Matthew K. Thomas, Secretary MLA

Story submitted by:     Matt Thomas

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