Yahara Lakes Association, Ltd.
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Thursday, July 9, 2020 11:30 a.m. - 1:10 p.m.
The Yahara Lakes Association Board of Directors held its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, July 9, 2020, via a Zoom meeting.
The following members participated: Dick Adler, Stuart Allbaugh, Caroline Fribance, Annette Hellmer, Tamara Knickmeier, Allan Levin, Eric Olson, Dick Pearson, Nancy Peckham, Dan Schultz, Scott Seymour, Jim St. Vincent, Sal Troia, Eric Vieth, and Brenda Matthias
Members and advisors not present: Eric Englund and Dave Silverberg
11:30 a.m. Call to Order: President – Eric Olson called the meeting to order at 11:30 a.m.
11:32 a.m. June Minutes:
· Annette Hellmer made a motion to accept the June 11, 2020 meeting minutes. Sal Troia seconded the motion. Motion passed.
11:33 a.m. Treasurer Report – Sal Troia
· The financials were reviewed –
o Good shape this year with the number of members we have.
o Marketing & Membership budget still has $2,900 left in and part of this will go towards administrative hours for the remaining year.
o Contributions are at $7,200 through June.
o Potential loss for the year is expected to be $4,000.
· Dan Schultz made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s report. Dick Adler seconded the motion. Motion passed.
11:50 a.m. Marketing & Membership Committee (M&M) – Nancy Peckham
· Since the June board meeting we have 7 additional renewals and 12 new members.
· Sponsorships remain at 15 but we have added 3 new lake organizations.
· YLA membership by lake as of Thursday, July 2nd
2020 Renewals 2020 New Total 2020 Members 2020 Non-Renewed
Kegonsa 25 26 51 2
Mendota 87 31 118 9
Monona 78 25 103 13
Waubesa 31 16 47 12
Yahara/other 2 0 2 7
Totals 223 98 321 43
· Newsletters -
o Tamara Knickmeier led the effort again in June.
o Tamara Knickmeier will also be leading the effort in August. The goal is to send the newsletter out around July 28th – 29th. Possible articles include President’s message, education on lake levels and the challenges of managing them, dredging update, feature article on Manke (Golf Sponsor), YL-Alerts encouraging members to spread the work and get neighbors to sign up, and lake law updates.
· Lake Alerts –
o As of July 2nd we have 94 sign-ups to receive the lake alerts emails and 4 new members resulting from the YL-Alert mailer and communications.
o Sent alert regarding the Mendota/Monona/Kegonsa lake weed/debris pick-up from piers followed by one for the new Waubesa pilot program for weed/debris pick-up.
o A lake alert email be sent once the dredging starts.
o As another way to communicate alerts Eric Olson will setup a YLA Twitter account to post YL-Alerts based on the emails that are sent.
· Upcoming events
o The lakeside listening sessions tentatively scheduled for August 22nd will be canceled with Mariner’s. We will plan to hold session(s) next year.
o Nancy Peckham made a motion to host a Zoom educational seminar on September 8th for members and to send a postcard to non-member riparian’s to promote YLA membership along with inviting them to the seminar. Sal Troia seconded the motion. Motion passed.
o Need to make sure we have enough content to make it an educational event.
o Will promote the seminar in the August newsletter.
· Website and Facebook page revisions since the last board meeting:
o Added Sponsorship level information to Home Page, Membership Page, Sponsor purchase pages
o Added Lake Forecast link to Lake Links page
o Added June Newsletter to News & Articles tab
o Added June minutes and financials to Board area
o Added June Newsletter to Facebook
12:25 p.m. Water Quality, Lake Levels & Flow Committee – Eric Vieth
· Lake levels slightly above Summer Max.
· Flow has been slow but has increased due to the weed harvest. Weed harvest will improve after dredging.
· Currently the County Sheriff's Dept is on-board with implementing the 500 ft yellow zone slow no wake (SNW) after a few days of the whole lake SNW (after all floating debris/hazards are gone). The County has buoys that they would plan to place at all boat launches for 500 ft no wake. YLA will need to be prepared to communicate via Lake Alerts and other means as necessary to get the word out.
· Dane County Lakes and Watershed – Allan Levin
o A draft of the budget has been completed and is waiting to be presented.
o Budget requests include increase funding for PFAS’s on Monona and funding to have sheriff patrols on each lake during the holiday weekends starting in May and ending in September.
o Allan Levin is proposing to add GPS capability to see where barges are located. He would like YLA to sponsor this initiative.
12:40 p.m. Legislative & Legal Committee – No Report
12:41 p.m. Events – the in person Annual Dinner set for September 8th may be cancelled and moved to a virtual event. The final decision on this has been postponed until the July Board meeting.
12:42 p.m. Other Business -
· Sal Troia made a motion to move the September board meeting to August. Nancy Peckham seconded the motion. Motion passed.
12:50 p.m. Dan Schultz made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Nancy Peckham seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Next meeting date is August 13th via Zoom conference call.