Home Page: Minutes
Regular Meeting – July 11, 2008 Chairman Gordon Ceskowske called the regular meeting of the Fox Lake Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation Board of Commissioners to order at 9:00am on July 11, 2008 at the District Town Hall Office. Roll call: Present – Gordon Ceskowske, Kurt Heckl, Cheryl Witkowski, Dennis VanderWerff, and Lionel Wagner. Also present: Les Schraufnagel, operator; and Kathleen Rydquist, clerk-coordinator. Motion to approve the minutes as printed K. Heckl, second L. Wagner. All yes. Motion carried. Motion to approve the financial statement as printed, subject to audit, D. VanderWerff, second K. Heckl. All yes. Motion carried. Operators report: attached Harlan Mueller, Energenecs suggested that the District contact Earth Engineering for an anode survey. Motion by K. Heckl, second C. Witkowski to contact Earth Engineering and have them inspect the Smith & Loveless Lift Stations at the cost of $1400 dollars. All yes. Motion carried. Refer to #17 of Operators report – Since the repairs to the leaks may not be happening soon and cannot be plugged with an inflatable, the Board asked Les to estimate the daily flow at the location and institute a daily fine using the WCC rate system. Received an email from Doris Thiele thanking everyone for submitting their CMAR reports and then went on to say that the rumors floating around that no enforcement actions will be taken in re to the June by-passing were wrong. During the deluge in early June, G. Ceskowske authorized Les to purchase 2 pumps. WCC report: The Facility plan has been submitted to DNR. The Sampler for the District has been purchased and Les and Jeff will probably install it. It was reported that because of the high flows at the treatment plant, Wastewater has collected a significant amount of money. There is a question re when the City or District use over the plant capacity. What happens to the fine collected by Wastewater? Is it returned in the true-up or does it belong to the plant? This is a question the accountant will have to address. Doris Thiele visited the plant to see if we really didn’t by-pass. We didn’t. Because of by-passing, the City and District may both be under a 12 month building moratorium. Clerk-coordinator report: 1] Sent out the billing and Newsletter. Tried to cover as many current topics in the allotted space. 2] Prepared and delivered a comment at Wastewaters public hearing re the facility plan. Received a call from Pat Morrow stating that my comments had been mislaid and he asked if I could send him a copy. 3] Dwight Osmon, Hey & Associates, contacted Sue Graham re the status of our grants. Sue contacted Paul Garrison and asked how soon he could review the report for LPT 244-04. She stated that we were eligible for new grants but couldn’t receive them until 244-04 had been approved. 4] Spoke with Dwight Osmon re the potential alum treatment. He sent numbers to the District to use as a place holder in the budget for the annual meeting. He stated that we only have until August 1st to apply for an Aquatic Invasive Species Grant and if we are going to so, we need to get moving. 5] Rental of Lines – Motion by K. Heckl, second D. VanderWerff to pay the bill from the City. All yes. Motion carried. Regular Meeting – July11, 2008, page 2 6] The Clerk asked that since she could not use her last week of vacation in this Fiscal Year, can she use it in August. The Board said that it would be alright. The Clerk also has 16.5 hours of comp time to use up. 7] The Clerk will be taking off July 14th as a day of bereavement. 8] The next Advisory Committee Meeting is July 23rd at 10:00am. County report: The discussion was about the heavy rainfall and flooding in early June. Because of the increased requirement for ethanol, more fields are being planted in corn instead of other crops such as soy beans, wheat, and alfalfa. Corn uses up the available fertilizer on the land so it must be heavily fertilized to support the crop. The corn had been planted and fertilizer applied. Between the normal fertilizers and the industrial waste spread last February, a great deal of nutrients came into the lake through runoff and helped turn the lake green with algae. LCD received a letter from DNR re testing for blue-green algae. Budget time is approaching and the county is once again talking about cutting a position from the Land Conservation Department. This is bad news for lakes and we will have to argue as a group for retaining the conservationist. LCD seems to be the only group between responsible and irresponsible farming practices. The USDA has developed SAFE – State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Program – to supplement the WDNR existing Glacial Habitat Restoration Area Project. The project was initiated in response to the documented decline of many species of grassland birds in the project area. The SAFE program will act to fill the void created by the lack of a current CRP general sign-up, provide thousands of acres of critically needed grassland and wetland wildlife habitat, and provide an attractive annual per acre payment to the participants. Town report: The trailer owners in the Moore property park on the Private Road between Chief Kuno Trail and Howard Drive have been notified by the property owner that their trailers will have to be removed by next year as the property is for sale. The Town is working on areas of Blackhawk Trail. Old business: 1] Discussion and action to address infiltration and plant expansion costs/letter to WCC – As this topic was brought up for discussion, the Districts’ Attorney William O’Connor called. We discussed some of the concerns we have about how the costs for the facility changes at the treatment plant are to be allocated. Mr. O’Connor stated that our concerns re capital costs vs. maintenance costs and project financing should be recorded officially at the Wastewater Control Commission. Motion by C. Witkowski, second K. Heckl to authorize Attorney O’Connor to write a letter to the Wastewater Control Commission re our concerns, with copies to the City Administrator, City Attorney, and WCC Attorney. All yes. Motion carried. 2] Dissolved oxygen meter/grant – As soon as our grants are in order, the clerk will make application for a grant to purchase the DO meter required by the DNR Self Help Monitors. 3] Budget – The budget has two “place holder” numbers in it this year for the people at the annual meeting to discuss and include or not. The first item is for a part-time hire to help the operator. The second is a lake management item involving application for a grant and project costs for an alum treatment. Board members had questions re costs involved in making application, time frame, time restrictions, and a need for more information. The clerk was instructed to contact Hey & Associates to get further information and/or set up a meeting or phone conference for a time before the annual meeting. Regular Meeting – July 11, 2008, page 3 New business: 1] Rental of Transmission Lines – Although the cost of the rental of transmission lines has almost doubled in the last year, the Board said to go ahead and pay the bill. 2] Discussion and action re District/City co-owned pump - At the last WCC meeting, there was a discussion re the use of the portable pumps. One of the pumps was purchased in a 50/50 agreement between the City and District. Since the purchase, the pump has been housed in the City and used by them exclusively. The Clerk is instructed to review the minutes and discover the original cost. The City is willing to purchase the Districts’ half. Motion by L. Wagner, second K. Heckl to write a letter to the City stating that the District will sell their share to the City for one half of the original purchase price. All yes. Motion carried. 3] Discussion and action on application for Aquatic Invasive Species grant – tabled. 4] Discussion and action on Resolution for AIS grant application – tabled. Motion to pay the bills, L. Wagner, second K. Heckl. All yes. Motion carried. Suggestions for next months’ agenda – none The next meeting will be on August 2, 2008 immediately following the annual meeting. Motion to adjourn, K. Heckl, second L. Wagner. All yes. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Kathleen Rydquist Clerk-Coordinator