Silver Lake Annual Meeting — Minutes

Silver Lake Management District Annual Meeting Minutes August 26, 2023 - 9:00AM Town of Marion Hall N1279 County Road Z A. Call to Order 1. Meeting was called to order at 0900 by Ed. 2. Board Members in attendance – Ed Kissinger, Mark Magnusson, Jim Morgenroth, Bill Herbert 3. Bill Behnke – Town of Marion 4. Approximately 105 other property owners were in attendance B. Pledge of Allegiance C. Voting 1. Candidates for the Board of Commissioners introduced themselves 2. Voting for the 3 open positions on the Board of Directors – Bill Herbert and Mark Magnusson’s terms expire this year and Greg Barczak resigned from the Board 3. Individuals present at the meeting were allowed to vote for up to 3 candidates if they were (with a maximum of 2 votes per parcel): a. The individual whose name appears as a real owner of property associated with the district b. An individual who owns title to real property but my name does not appear as owner of real property on the tax roll c. An individual who is the official representative, officer or employee who is authorized to vote on behalf of a trust, foundation, corporation, association or organization that owns real property in the district D. Secretary and Treasurer’s Report – Bill Herbert 1. Secretary Report – A motion was made by Mark Magnusson (seconded by Todd Chesbro) to approve the minutes of the May 27, 2023 meeting. 2. Treasurer’s Report a. The current balances are: Checking $8,620.53 Savings $11,237.75 LGIP $326,600.33 Total $346,458.11 b. Expenses to date are primarily for the development of the Lake Management Plan thru Onterra ($14,272.03) and for the Clean Boat/Clean Water program ($3338.16) c. Question was asked about the development of the Lake Management plan – SLMD decided to fund the plan development without pursuing a DNR grant d. A motion was made by Mark Magnusson (seconded by Wayne Hoffmann) to accept the Treasurer’s Report E. Annual Financial Audit – Ed 1. Financial Audit for the Fiscal Year of 8/1/2022 thru 7/31/2023 was conducted on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. The Audit Committee consisted of Barb Bartel, Wayne Hoffmann, Judy Puls and Jim Schroeder. Income for the Fiscal Year was $115,197.68 with total expenses of $204,026.23 resulting in a net loss of $88,828.55. Assets at the end of the year consisted of $26,116,47 in checking, $11,237.25 in savings and $326,600.33 in the Local Government Investment Pool – totaling $363,954.05 2. The Audit Committee found the financial statement accurately stated the funds received and disbursed for the fiscal year as well as funds on hand at the end of the period 3. Ed thanked the Audit Committee for their work in reviewing the financial records. F. Reports 1. Milfoil Update – Mark & Ed a. History – HWM [Hybrid Water Milfoil (Eurasian-invasive and Northern Milfoil- Native) genetically combined from 2000-2012], Silver Lake has 7 different genetic strains of HWM present – 2016 treatment with Fluoridone when 26% of the plant littoral zone was covered with HWM then in subsequent years SLMD was able to maintain HWM plant littoral zone of 0.2%-2.2% with Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH). Average SLMD spend for those 5 years was $78K/year. – then in 2022 HWM was 14.3% of plant littoral zone with $137K spent on DASH. 2022 HWM harvested was 220 cu yards or double the average per year for the prior 5-year period. b. In 2023, only option was to do weed cutting this summer – cutting has been accomplished in all areas designated as highly dominant and dominant HWM colonies within the 2022 fall Point Intercept Survey (PIS) and spring 2023 meandering survey conducted by Onterra (SLMD Biologist) The DNR permit was modified over the summer as more colonies were identified. Weed cutting expenses for this summer anticipated to be $114,000. Ed/Mark shared that they were not initially supportive of weed cutting but doing nothing to manage the HWM was not an option. c. 2024 plan is to apply for a whole lake treatment with the DNR – then follow-up with DASH post treatment in subsequent years - $165K is the expected cost of the whole lake treatment. The district is in the process of applying for a large-scale Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) DNR grant to off-set the expense of the chemical treatment using Procella-COR - DNR is not a proponent of using Fluoridone (Silver Lake had Fluoridone present in the water column for 407 days). It is also beneficial to rotate herbicides - plants build up a tolerance to chemicals limiting their effectiveness. Treating again with Fluoridone may not have the same results as 2016. Procella-COR is a fast-acting systemic contact herbicide with a short half- life (Bugh’s Lake was treated with Procella-COR in 2022 and currently has not found any HWM/EWM this year). SLMD did obtain a small-scale AIS grant from WI DNR for 2022-2024 in the amount of $47K. Large scale AIS grants are reserved for whole lake herbicide treatments. d. Questions i. Why can we not do a chemical treatment more frequently? DNR would not permit it – Silver Lake has a very complex lake structure given its depth, overall aquatic plant composition, etc and the DNR would like to see chemical treatments no more frequently than every 10 years if possible ii. Why did the Lake Management plan expire? – old plan did not meet the current requirements of the DNR and the data required for a new plan took significant time to collect and incorporate into the new plan iii. Who determines whether a chemical treatment is performed? - Decision is first made by all of the property owners (not just the BOD). However, the DNR has the ultimate control on approving the use of a chemical to treat the HWM iv. What can be done to better manage the weeds? 1. As property owners – can clear a 30 ft wide section of lake frontage thru any manual process – hand pulling – property owners were encouraged to remove the remains of the weed cutter from the lake and not send them back into the lake. HWM can be disposed of in the dump compost pile just like grass clippings/pine needles/leaves. 2. Exploring the possibility of individual property owners contracting directly with APM for DASH – cost is $2700 per day. Aquatic Plant Management, our DASH contractor estimates they can clear to the beach, from the dock and 10 ft of water, 3 lots per day (30’ width). This would equate to approximately $900 per owner. APM would require whole day bookings. The equipment utilized is DASH boat, 1 operator topside, and 2 divers in the water. HWM is generally taken to the Town of Marion old dump and brush pile for disposal, managed by your board members. 3. Lake cutting can be done in depth greater than 3ft down to a depth of 50% of water depth but current weed harvesters only cut to 5ft – a DNR permit is required to cut. 4. Owners encouraged to blow leaves/weed cuttings up the bank and take to the dump compost pile. Blowing them back into the lake creates decomposing organic matter (i.e silt) which is a fertile environment for aquatic plant growth. v. How is the amount of chemical determined? The correct dosage is determined by overall lake volume, temperature, plus the timing is dependent on a number of factors – the lake has to have turned over, etc – Onterra will determine the appropriate dosage if treatment occurs. Additional comments from Mark/Onterra (Eddie Heath/Tim Hoyman) post meeting PDU or prescription dosing units, are an increment of dosing that is supposed to make it easier to discuss rates. For ProcellaCOR EC, 1 PDU/acre-ft = 1.926 ppb.] Spot treatment application rates are typically between 1-5 PDU/acre-ft, although higher rates have been used in challenging scenarios like small and off-shore/exposed colonies For whole-lake concentrations, we switch over to discussing ppb. That is because the herbicide is still applied over the EWM colonies at 1-5 PDU, but when that mixes with the epilimnion of the lake, we typically target 0.5-0.8 ppb. The highest design used was a treatment in a Kenosha County Lake that targeted 0.85/0.95 ppb lake-wide (4.0 PDU over application areas). HWM hasn.t been detected in that lake going on 2 summers now. SLMD objective would be at 4 PDU over 86 acres of HWM colonies According to the permit record I saw online, Bugh's Lake targeted 8 ppb! That is incredibly high and I suspect would really be hard on certain plant species like water marigold, water stargrass, white water lily, spatterdock, native watermilfoils, coontail white-water crowfoot. (Bugh’s lake does not have such a diverse plant composition as Silver Lake) Final recommendations/strategy for Silver Lake would also incorporate findings from some recent treatment plans in other lakes. And like all ProcellaCOR dosing, the strategy needs to be approved by SePRO and conducted by an applicator with special certification credentials from SePRO. vi. Should we lower the threshold in the LMP to 15-17% of littoral area for chemical treatment? The DNR would not approve the Comprehensive Lake Mgmt Plan (CLMP) with that as a threshold. vii. If the CLMP had a 20% threshold, would we have been able to do a chemical treatment this year – NO, the percentage of EWM in the littoral zone in 2022 was only 14%. Prior year summer PIS surveys and spring meandering surveys determine the plan – permit to herbicide treat or mechanical harvest is good for one year only. e. Motion made to apply for a HWM herbicide treatment in 2024 (Second by Scot Barton) – motion passed. The motion does not guarantee the district will receive DNR approval for a whole lake herbicide treatment. 2. Wautoma Schools AIS Training and Tour – Jim a. Current date for September 13, rain date 15th (need backup for the 15th – contact Jim – several owners volunteered to be available for the 15th) b. 7th grade class from Parkside – 106 students – 4 pontoon boats with 4 biologists 3. Clean Boats/Clean Waters – Bill H. a. CB/CW program has been going well this summer. Inspectors time has continued to be split between Silver and Pearl Lake – primarily on weekends and Bass fishing Tuesdays b. Labor Day weekend will be the final weekend on the lake 4. Town of Marion Report – Bill Behnke a. Fireworks ordinance has been well-received – only one special request for a non- holiday date. b. Mike asked about enlarging the boat landing at Foxtail Bay – Gary Walejko is working on the plan 5. Waushara County Report – Robert Wedell – no report G. High Water/Drainage Update – Ed 1. All solutions to control high water have been explored and the costs to move forward with any option are cost prohibitive - approvals for permits by property owners, DNR etc would be very difficult to obtain 2. Lake Irogami and Silver Lake Districts have agreed to a level of Lake Irogami at 5.5 inches at Irogami side of the culvert before the weir is opened has resulted in a satisfactory situation beneficial to both lakes. This allows Irogami to benefit from higher levels throughout the summer while Silver does not have to deal with water flowing periodically from Irogami 3. No further action will be pursued H. Lake Management Plan – Jim 1. Plan has been developed by committee (Greg, Jim, Barb, Mark plus Eddie from Onterra) 2. Mark Magnusson motioned (Don Maes seconded) to keep the plan updated starting in year 4 of the plan so that a revised/updated plan is approved prior to the expiration of the previous plan – motion approved 3. Current water level – approximately at the OHWM – probably within an inch at 867ft I. Review, Discuss, Approve Budget for 2023/2024 1. Copy of budget was distributed in a mailing to property owners in mid-August 2. Few expenses highlighted – replacement DO meter, Fish Habitat ($1000), website development ($1000) 3. Questions i. What is the DO meter for? Measures Dissolved oxygen in the water and reported to the DNR as part of our participation in the Citizen’s Lake Monitoring Program – Oxygen level is reported to the DNR to assist with monitoring the health of the lake ii. What percentage of Town of Marion revenue is generated by Silver Lake/ what does the Town do for the lake? 1. Town of Marion provides the water patrol – 20 tickets 2. Boat landings and parking lots maintained 3. Bill Behnke shared that he would need to check the Town of Marion books to determine the percent of Town revenue generated by Silver Lake – however, the percentage of property tax that goes to the Town is very low – majority of property tax revenue goes to the school system and County 4. The Town of Marion does provide AIS grant to Silver Lake annually iii. Why do we not have money invested in CD’s? Investments currently are in the LGIP earning 5% or greater, with a minimum amount of funds left in checking and savings 4. Motion to approve the budget made by Mike Ruhland (seconded by Wayne Hoffmann) – motion passed J. Election results 1. Ed announced the results of the election – Mark, Bill (3-year term) and Todd Chesbro (1- year term replacing Greg Barczak) K. Comments/questions from membership 1. Thank you to the board 2. Mike Ruhland thanked everyone for attending – very good attendance 3. Information on APM harvesting at individual’s property – Mark will provide the information to Ed for distribution (see above) 4. Lake Irogami – any work on setting level for when weir is to be open i. Agreement is that the weir would be opened when Irogami is 5.5” above OHWM ii. Based on the 7/25/2018 land survey on the Hwy 21 culvert and weir: 1. 867 ft = Silver Lake OHWM 2. 867.41ft = Silver Lake culvert lip 3. 867.61 ft = Lake Irogami culvert lip / OHWM 4. 867.96 ft = Top of weir (867.71 weir pipe plus 0.25 for slide gate to control flow to max of 10cfs) 5. 868.06 ft = Weir open when Lake Irogami is 5.5" above OHWM 6. 868.5 ft = Lake Irogami culvert lip with sand bags/boards iii. The weir would open with approximately 1.2” of water head (868.06-867.96 ft) or minimal flow when the slide gate is opened. iv. The weir would be open with approximately 4.5 inches prior to the water topping over the sandbags/board and flowing into Silver Lake (868.5 – 868.06 ft) L. Set date for 2024 Silver Lake Rummage Sale – June 7-8 M. Set date for 2024 Annual Meeting – August 24, 2024 at Town Hall N. Adjournment Respectfully submitted William Herbert Bill Herbert Secretary/Treasurer Silver Lake Management District Board of Directors Meeting Minutes August 26, 2023 – 10:50AM Town of Marion Hall N1279 County Road Z A. Call to Order – 10:50 B. Present – Ed Kissinger, Mark Magnusson, Bill Herbert, Jim Morgenroth, Todd Chesbro C. Officer election – Jim motion to have board positions remain the same – motion passed D. Set Board meeting dates for 2023/2024 1. 10/9/23 0900 at Jim’s house – Bill remote 2. 2/10/2024 0900 at Todd’s house – Bill / Ed remote 3. 5/25/2024 0900 at Town Hall 4. 8/24/2024 0900 Annual Meeting at Town Hall E. Other Topics 1. Brief discussion on counter clockwise boating - 2. Todd to develop website – i. ideas to Todd on overall structure ii. Todd would plan to have draft for the October meeting F. Adjourn – 11:05 Respectfully submitted William Herbert Bill Herbert Secretary/Treasurer