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Regular Meeting – August 12, 2009
Chairman Dennis VanderWerff called the Regular Meeting of the Fox Lake
Inland Lake Protection District Board of Commissioners to order on
August 12, 2009 at 1:00pm at the District’s Town Hall Office. This
meeting is called to complete the business of the August 1st Regular
Meeting as two of the Commissioners were absent.
Roll Call: Present; Dennis VanderWerff, Kurt Heckl, Cheryl Witkowski,
and Edwin Benter. Absent; Tim Meekma. Also present: Les Schraufnagel,
operator; and Kathleen Rydquist, clerk-coordinator.
Motion to approve the minutes, subject to changes, K. Heckl, second C.
Witkowski. All yes. Motion carried.
Motion to approve the financial statement as printed, subject to audit
made by K. Heckl, second C. Witkowski. All yes. Motion carried.
Operator’s report: attached
WCC report:
At the last WCC meeting, the City asked for additional time for
review of their information regarding the percentage break-down
between the City and District for replacement costs. MSA had completed
their review and concluded that the last five year average is 79% -
City and 21% - District. The City still questioned this result and WCC
Attorney John St. Peter stated that the engineer’s conclusion is final
as stated in the latest MOU/Amendment. St. Peter did, with agreement
of the Commission, give the City until August 10th to complete
discussions with MSA.
Clerk-Coordinator report: none
The Clerk thanked the Board for allowing the temporary removal of the
office to her residence.
County report:
D. VanderWerff stated that the LCC had not met.
Dennis had taken Dissolved Oxygen readings and reported that the
readings were fine. The Town rep. who takes readings on Fox Lake and
Lake Emily, especially in the winter, had stated that he was showing
very low oxygen readings. Dennis suggested that the time of day the
test is taken gives false impressions and there could be a problem
with the meter or the membrane. He stated that reading early in the
morning will show lower numbers.
As part of his report, Dennis will include Lake District facts re
definitions, explanation of responsibilities, governing rules, etc. at
each meeting. This month: “A lake district is a specialized unit of
government designed to manage a lake or group of lakes. One of the
mayor differences between a lake district and a lake association is a
lake district’s ability to tax property within the district.” A lake
district is a governmental body with statutory responsibilities to the
resource, local citizens, and taxpayers. The laws governing lake
districts can be found in Chapter 33 of the Wisconsin State Statutes.
Legal questions not covered in Chapter 33 are often covered in
municipal laws that govern Towns and Counties.
Town report:
E. Benter stated that at the last Town Board Meeting Armond Alsteen
stated that there was no dissolved oxygen in the lake. D. VanderWerff
stated that there may be a problem with the meter or testing protocol.
Alsteen has asked that the bridge bog and aeration be put on the next
agenda.
The Town is considering putting a security camera near the recycling
center. People have been dropping off lumber, appliances, and whatever
in the compost area. This is not allowed and subject to fines.
A parcel of land adjacent to “The Shores” was rezoned to R-3 (multi
family).
Audience participation/correspondence:
No audience participation.
Regular Meeting – August 12, 2009, page 2
Correspondence:
Chairman VanderWerff read a letter from the Fox Lake Property Owners
re the proposed plan to merge prison farm dairy herds at the Fox
Lake Correctional Prison Farm. The letter includes several facts
that were part of Hey & Associates presentation at the District’s
Annual Meeting. The letter asks why the State of Wisconsin would
consider locating a large dairy farm on land that will directly
impact the ground and surface waters of Fox Lake and environs when
District studies have proven that we have a severe nitrates problem in
our area.
The letter was sent to the Secretary of the DOC, Secretary of DNR,
FLCI Warden, Gov. Doyle, Senator Scott Fitzgerald, Representative
Jeff Fitzgerald, James Congdon, and news media.
The letter was to be included in the FLPO Newsletter and members
were encouraged to write to their government officials.
Old business:
1] Discussion and action to address plant expansion costs/MSA report
to WCC – Discussed in WCC report.
2] Information re meeting with the Fitzgerald’s and others – As yet,
no meeting has been set up. The District will invite Attorney William
O’Connor and Neal O’Reilly to the next meeting. At that time, the
Board will discuss some of the following issues: a] Drew Creek
strategy including meeting with the Fitzgerald’s b] Possible
re-organization of the Advisory Committee c] possibility of calling
a special meeting of the District to amend the budget for attorney and
consultant fees to be put on the tax levy.
3] Engineering firm – table.
New business:
1] Name official depositories for FY 2009-2010 – Motion by K. Heckl,
second C. Witkowski to retain Farmers State Bank, Markesan
Bank-Randolph, LGIF as our official depositories. All yes. Motion
carried.
2] Selection of auditor – Motion by E. Benter, second K. Heckl to
retain Westra, Tillema, and O’Connor for the annual audit.
3] Appointments: WCC – Dennis Pufahl
Zebra Mussel Monitoring – Cheryl Witkowski
Employee Relations – Tim Meekma and Kurt Heckl
Insurance Committee – Edwin Benter and Cheryl Witkowski
4] – 6] Included in item two of Old Business
Motion to pay the bills, C. Witkowski, second E. Benter. All yes.
Motion carried.
Suggestions for next meeting: Drew Creek/Fitzgerald’s; Bog; Carp;
Advisory Committee.
The next meeting will be September 9, 2009 at 1:00pm.
Motion to adjourn K. Heckl, second C. Witkowski. All yes. Motion
carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Rydquist
Clerk-Coordinator
**The Fox Lake Inland Lake District representatives to the Fox Lake
Wastewater Control Commission may be present at the meeting to discuss
the District’ wastewater collection system and its relationship to
proposed improvements to the FLWCC Plant.