Lake Management Plan

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UNAPPROVED MINUTES:

2024 Annual meeting and Budget Hearing

Pursuant to Sec.33.30(2) and section B 65.90(3) Wis. Statues and bylaws of

Little Green Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District (LGLPRD)

Saturday, May 18, 2024, Soldiers and Sailors Park

North Highway 44/Park Road, Markesan, WI

Minutes respectfully submitted by LGLPRD secretary Tami Schattschneider

Call to Order - Chairman Jim Clark called the meeting to order at 10 am.

Pledge of Allegiance - All stood to say the pledge.

Introduction - Clark introduced the board: Chairman Jim Clark, Secretary Tami Schattschneider, Treasurer Jack Goes, Town of Green Lake Representative Jane Strelow, and Lake Liaison Mike Ross. Attorney Paul Rosenfeldt was present to ensure the annual meeting was in accordance with laws for Lake Districts as outlined in Wisconsin State Statute Chapter 33, Subchapters IV and V.

Presentation of agenda - Motion to approve agenda as presented made by Renee Braun, seconded by Jen Fechter. Motion passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Approval of annual meeting 2023 minutes – Motion made to approve 2023 Annual Meeting Minutes as presented by Alan Zastrow, seconded by Connie Ghinazzi. Motion passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

2023/2024 Chairman’s Report – Chairman Clark reviewed information provided in the written Lake District Update 2023/2024 document that was included with the meeting materials for Lake District members. Discussion was held regarding the DNR Grant for development of the Lake Management Plan that the District applied for but did not receive. Grant requests to the State are more than double the amount of money available for distribution through the grant programs. The State uses a points system to select grant recipients, and this system tends to favor larger lakes. Additionally, Chairman Clark discussed the destratification system that has not been in use for several years and is no longer needed. The District has a conditional use permit for the building that holds the tank and compressor. Since the destratification system is no longer in use, the building and associated conditional use permit is no longer needed. Fernwood Campground is seeking to obtain their own conditional use permit and plans to take ownership of this shed. This would save the district up to $3000 that would otherwise have to be spent to tear the building down.

2023/2024 District Financial Report - Goes presented the 2023 approved budget and actual spending. The paperwork provided by the Township with the first two tax payments of the year did not include a lot of details and it was difficult to determine if there were any outstanding balances on the sewer account. Goes and Ross met with the Township to reconcile the sewer account and to ensure that future paperwork sent from the Township with tax payments would be very clear and make it easier to confirm accuracy. Goes explained that the District was to be paying the waste/recycling fees out of the waste/recycling account but was paying from the general checking account. That has been corrected and we will now begin to see the amount of money in the waste/recycling account decrease as invoices are paid. It was noted that as part of the waste contract renewal, recycling was eliminated to keep cost to Lake District residents down. Finally, Goes reported that the LGL Schedule of Assessment ($46,302,472) was being used for the past three years to determine property taxes for the Lake District and the District should have been using the equalized value of the property (comes from the state) x the mill rate (maximum of $2.50) to determine property taxes. This resulted in an average savings of $500 per property owner over the last three years due to under-taxing. The District does not have to charge the maximum mill rate and is currently using a mill rate of $2.12.

2023 Sewer financial report – Ross presented sewer balance sheet and proposed 2025 sewer budget. Larger expenditures in 2023 included a loan payment of $82,309.17 and a water treatment fee $74,826.26 to the City of Markesan. Repairs costs have been minimal, which may allow us to pay off our loan prior to 2032.

Presentation of 2024 Annual Audit – Goes: Audit was completed in March by Alan Zastrow, Renee Braun and Dick Schneider. Multiple transactions were reviewed and no issues were noted.

Lake Management Planning Committee Update – Fechter: Meetings of this committee started in June 2023 and include diverse membership with deep care for the lake. Discussed vision for the lake which included improvements that will bring a healthy ecosystem and ensure long-term enjoyment of the lake. Initial goal was to secure a consultant that would assist in meeting the September 15 grant submission cycle deadline. The 2018 Lake Management Plan was reviewed and it was determined that seven of the nine studies done in 2017 would need to be repeated. A Shoreline and Course Woody Habitat study was excluded due to cost and ability to use data from 2017 survey. Acoustic Survey was also excluded because the information that could be gathered from this survey could be obtained from the other seven surveys being done. Onterra was selected due to consistency in data since they did the 2017/2018 studies, there was no conflict of interest since they were not selling any services, and the process could be more efficient since this company had worked with the District previously. The total cost of the plan is $37,310 and $24,998.04 was being sought in grant funding. To earn more points (used to determine grant recipients) at least $1200 of funds needed to be raised and the committee raised over $2400 from community donors.  Bob and Jane Strelow donated property to increase parking for Welk’s Landing boat launch which will also contribute favorably to the points earned. In addition to seeking grant funding, the committee has also been discussing fisheries, getting routine fish updates from Todd Schulz and discussing fish stocking. The committee requested that a fish study be done and was made aware that the DNR will be funding a study this summer.

Proposed Amendments to Bylaws Regarding Audits – Goes: Proposal made to amend bylaws to add sentence to Section 2 – Auditing stating “Similarly, in the event of a current treasurer resignation or transfer of responsibilities, the Board shall retain a professional accountant to conduct the year’s annual audit.” Motion made by Jen Fechter, seconded by Kim Goes. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Proposed Increase to Commissioner Fees – Clark: Proposal made to increase elected commissioner fees from $35 per day plus $150 stipend at each meeting to $50 per day and $200 stipend at each meeting. Motion made by Gail Sweet, seconded by Renee Braun. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Discussion and consideration of 2024 Fish Stocking – Goes: District paid $9,900 in 2023 for fish stocking. Stocking included 2000 Walleye, 2000 large perch, 1000 black crappie, 50 gallons fat heads and 1000 medium perch. Proposal made to amend 2024 budget to include $13,000 for fish stocking. Motion made by Jen Fechter, seconded by Kim Goes. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Proposal for purchase of truck for hauling weeds – Clark: Discussion held regarding potential purchase of truck to haul weeds. District members inquired as to whether a cost-benefit analysis was completed to compare the cost of paying a company to remove weeds as compared to the cost to purchase and maintain a truck for District use. No cost-benefit analysis had been done by the district. This will be completed in 2024/2025. Discussion tabled until 2025 annual meeting.

Proposal for Purchase of Ecoharvester – Goes: Discussion held regarding proposed purchase of Ecoharvester and demonstration video presented. Clarification provided that harvesting must be done in accordance with DNR approved mapping included in 2018 Lake Management Plan and changes cannot be made to mapping until an updated Lake Management Plan in place. Motion made by Gerise Laspisa to amend proposed 2025 budget to include up to $150,000 for purchase of Ecoharvester in that year, seconded by Dan Jantner.  Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Review/Approval of Proposed 2025 Lake District Budget - Goes: Proposed 2025 budget reviewed including amendment to include Ecoharvester. Motion made by John Duncan to amend the 2024 budget to reallocate $30,000 from herbicide treatment to consultant fees and to spend this money towards consultant fees in 2024, seconded by Jake Boomen. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote. Motion then made by Jen Fechter to amend 2025 budget to decrease consulting fees to $20,000, seconded by Connie Ghinazzi. Approved unanimously by show of hands vote. Motion made by Jen Fechter to approve 2025 budget including all amendments previously approved, seconded by Connie Ghinazzi. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Review/Approval of 2025 Proposed 2025 Sewer Group Budget – Motion to approve sewer budget as presented made by Jen Fechter, seconded by Kim Goes. Passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

OLD BUSINESS:

Update on Hwy 44 holding pond outflow wall – Clark: Work currently in process to replace outflow wall.

Update on Request for Proposals (RFP) sent out for 5-year lake management plan – Discussion tabled.

NEW BUSINESS:

Oxygen saturation technology (OST) update – Clark:  SOD survey done in Spring to determine if Little Green Lake would benefit from OST. Additional information on OST is available from Natural Lakes Biosciences and can be found on their website.  

Next annual meeting: Motion made by Jen Fechter to approve proposal to hold next year’s annual meeting on May 17, 2025 at 10 am, seconded by Renee Braun. Motion passed unanimously by show of hands vote.

Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 11:50 am.