January 2017 Meeting Minutes

Yahara Lakes Association, Ltd.

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Thursday, January 12, 2017 11:30 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.

The Yahara Lakes Association Board of Directors held its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, January 12, 2017, in the Associated Bank (3002 Fish Hatchery Road) Conference room.

The following members and advisors were present: Dick Adler, Bill Fitzpatrick, Caroline Fribance, Mike Gerner, Annette Hellmer, Bob Miller, Dick Pearson, Allan Levin, Dan Schultz, Joe Tisserand, Sal Troia and Rhonda Arries

Members and advisors not present: Stuart Allbaugh, Doug Bach, Roy Carter, Carol Gillen, Mike Jensen, Jerry Rekowski, James Tye and Debbie Waite

11:40 a.m. Call to Order: Incoming President Allan Levin called the meeting to order at 11:40 a.m.

11:41 a.m. Minutes: Bill Fitzpatrick made a motion to approve the November 10, 2016 meeting minutes. Mike Gerner seconded the motion. Motion passed.

11:42 a.m. Allan Levin reviewed the 6 elected board members to serve 2017-2019: Stuart Allbaugh, Roy Carter, Carol Gillen, Allan Levin, Dick Pearson and Joe Tisserand. Allan also presented the 2017 slate of YLA officers: President Elect - Dan Schultz; Secretary - Annette Hellmer; Treasurer - Sal Troia; and Carol Gillen (a non-officer but highly valued position) as LakeViews newsletter editor. Joe Tisserand made a motion to accept the new slate of 2017 officers. Dick Adler seconded the motion. Motion passed. Allan noted that Parker Waller, a YLA member living on Lake Monona, has volunteered to serve on the board as a replacement to Bob Miller (who has sold his home on Lake Monona and is moving to Ireland) in March 2017 (or sooner).

Mike Gerner made a motion to accept Parker Waller as a new board member to replace Bob Miller. Dick Pearson seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Allan noted that a new slate of Committee Chairpersons is needed for 2017. Dick Adler and Joe Tisserand will continue as Special Event Committee co-chairpersons; Mike Jensen will be Membership Committee chairperson (with Sal Troia and Carol Gillen as members of the committee). Other Committees needing chairpersons are: Environmental, Government and Riparian Committees. Annette Hellmer asked Rhonda Arries to distribute the responsibilities of each of those committees so board members are aware of what they will need to accomplish. Allan also noted that an alternative option would be to ask members to be chairpersons for various Committees. This will be discussed at the next board meeting.

12:00 p.m. Treasurer’s report: Sal Troia, Treasurer Total dues income in 2016 was $15,805 (plus $125 collected in 2015 for 2016) vs. total dues income in 2015 of $15,070.

  • Expenses of ~ $22,500 were flat year over year. Donations in 2016 were $6,745 vs $4,830 in 2015. Therefore, final net income in 2016 was Page 2 of 4 $7,801 vs $4,726 in 2016.

  • While donations helped the overall financial year, the main concern going forward is retaining and growing the membership base to continue to cover operational expenses and maintain viability with the organization’s collective voice. The cash position of the organization is currently strong at ~ $56,500.

  • In the 2017 Budget, Rhonda Arries forecast 350 individual members vs 310 individual members in 2016. Rhonda noted that the additional 40 members year-over-year was forecast with the idea that each of the 18 YLA board members would attract 2 or 3 new members and historic attrition would be countered with new members via the CLA joint mailing. Sal Troia was concerned about the feasibility of this plan and recommended a flat membership forecast to 2016. Discussion ensued. Joe Tisserand made a motion to increase membership from 310 in 2016 to 330 in 2017 (for an average Individual Dues Income forecast of $14,850 in 2017). Dick Adler seconded the motion. Motion passed.

  • Also in the 2017 Budget, Rhonda Arries proposed a 7% pay increase for her services or $700/mo (from 2011 -2016) to $750/mo in 2017. She noted the previous coordinator earned $850/mo in 2001-03; $950/mo in 2004-05; $1150/mo in 2005-06; $1200/mo in 2007-08 and $900/mo in 2008-2011. Sal Troia made a motion to increase Rhonda Arries’ compensation to $750/mo in 2017. Bill Fitzpatrick seconded the motion. Motion passed.

  • Allan Levin made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report. Dick Adler seconded the motion. Motion passed.

12:30 p.m. Special Events Committee – Co-Chairs: Dick Adler & Joe Tisserand

  • Dick Adler would like the Annual Dinner event to be placed on each board meeting’s agenda so that work can begin on selecting a great speaker and attracting 100+ attendees. As a reminder, the board voted to hold the 2017 Annual Meeting on June 20, 2017 at Blackhawk Country Club.

12:31 p.m. Membership Committee – Chair: Mike Jensen

  • Rhonda Arries reported 336 total members in 2016 (26 corporate and 310 individual members). vs. 380 total members in 2015. Overall, membership is down 8% year over year despite 30 new members being added (i.e. 20 new members came from CLA’s Joint Mailing, 3 new corporate members and 7 new members from other sources. In 2015, there were 46 new members. A full breakdown of membership is on http://yaharalakes.org/board-members-only/

  • Dick Adler commented that he recently recruited new neighbors. They confirmed they’d like to join and then asked if they could have “one of those nice clean lake yard signs” for joining. Dick clarified that was CLA (a different organization) and tried to ensure they understood that YLA was for riparians. Dick’s point is that, generally, CLA and YLA are easily confused and since CLA is so prominently in the news, that’s the first “lake” organization people refer to.

  • To follow up on the excellent work of Mike Jensen, Sal Troia and Carol Gillen regarding their summary of declining membership, Joe Tisserand will work with Dan Schultz to reserve a conference room at American Family and secure one of their meeting facilitators in place of the March 9, 2017 regularly scheduled board meeting. All board members are asked to attend and bring their brainstorming ideas to the meeting. Rhonda Arries will send an email to the board when Joe and Dan confirm the meeting details.

  • Rhonda Arries noted that she will be mailing the 5 2016 web advertisers a renewal invoice for 2017. Web advertising has been $100/ad since the website was created. Mike Gerner made a motion to raise web advertising rates from $100/ad to $125/ad in 2017. Caroline Fribance seconded the motion. Motion passed.

  • Mike Gerner noted that FOLKS (Friends of Lake Kegonsa) is a very united group and YLA should offer their organization’s members a joint membership discount with YLA. Mike also suggested that perhaps YLA could be the “oversight” organization and future board members could sit on both their local lake boards and YLA. This could be a way to unite the organizations, members and issues together in the future. It was agreed these are good ideas to discuss (and perhaps expand to other lake organizations) at the offsite Membership meeting in March.

  • Bill Fitzpatrick made a motion for YLA to support FOLKS by joining as a Corporate Member of their group. Dick Adler seconded. Motion passed.

  • The board also confirmed that YLA Corporate Membership would remain at $100, YLA Individual (email only communication) membership would remain at $40 and YLA Individual (mailed newsletters) membership would remain at $50 for 2017. Rhonda Arries will include a Membership Renewal notice in the February Newsletter.

  • Newsletter: Publishing schedule is February, May, August and November Carol Gillen will be unavailable to work on the February newsletter so Allan Levin and Roy Carter will provide Rhonda Arries with news articles. Allan will write an incoming president article and Roy will write a 2016 key accomplishment article. Allan attended a Watershed Network meeting and asked attendees for news articles that would be of interest to riparians. Bill Fitzpatrick will contact FOLKS for an article on the Carp Removal Program. Bob Miller will contact Deb Whitehorse for an article on ice boating. Rhonda Arries will include a Membership renewal form and a Save-The-Date reminder for the Annual Dinner. Rhonda asked that all articles be emailed to her by January 30.

1:00 p.m. Environmental Committee – Chair: TBD

  • Clean Lakes Alliance (CLA) – Mike Gerner is a CLA Board of Directors. o n/a

  • Lakes & Watershed (L&W) – Mike Gerner o Mike Gerner requested to end his YLA term on L&W (he estimated he served 10 years; Doug Bach and Mike Pernitz served prior to Mike). Since this is a legislative, appointed position, Mike is first soliciting his replacement within the YLA board before announcing his departure to L&W. Mike will help in transitioning the new YLA representative on L&W. L&W meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m. at the City County Building in downtown Madison. There is also an Annual Retreat held each year in January. o Joe Tisserand mentioned that Dan Schultz may be interested in serving. Allan Levin noted that he would be a potential candidate if Dan isn’t interested. Mike will follow up with Dan first.

  • Watershed Network Group o Allan Levin attended the last Watershed Network Group meeting and solicited attendees for news articles for YLA’s February newsletter.

1:10 p.m. Government Committee – Chair: TBD

1:11 p.m. Riparian Issues Committee – Chair: TBD

  • Mike Gerner noted Dane County will be modifying shoreland zoning regulations because of the recent changes at the state level stating “no county can have regulations more restrictive than the state”. The re-draft of Dane County’s zoning regulations will be occurring sometime this year so Mike will keep the board posted on updates.

1:12 p.m. Old/New Business:

  • The WI DNR sent a notice to YLA regarding a pending application for riprap near Sunset Village near Midvale Boulevard. There’s a small bridge over a stream of water and the work requires a permit. The request appears ok and no further action will be made by YLA.

  • Bill Fitzpatrick proposed contributing YLA funds for the Carp Removal Program in Lake Kegonsa. Mike Gerner noted that CLA is contributing $5K. FOLKS and Dane County, along with various grants, are also providing funding for the program. It was agreed that Bill would look into whether more funds were actually needed for the program at this time.

1:15 p.m. Sal Troia made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Annette Hellmer seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Next meeting date is March 9, 2017