August 2024 General Meeting Minutes

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING--August 3, 2024

1. The Lake of the Woods Property Owners Association met on August 3, 2024 at the Bremen Conservation Club Community Center Building. Mike Nate called the meeting to order at 9:00 am. This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

2. Board of Directors Roll Call: A. Present: Julie Boynton, Rodney Kitchen, Deb Lane, Mike Nate, Joe Skelton

B. Absent: Rob Cross, Tim Legge, Elaine Keller

3. Review and Approval of Minutes i) The July 13, 2024 General Membership meeting minutes were reviewed. Joe Skelton made a motion to approve the minutes. Rodney Kitchen seconded the motion and all board members agreed.

4. Treasurer’s Report A. Julie Boynton made a motion to approve the July treasurer’s report. Deb Lane seconded the motion and all board members agreed.

5. Events and Fundraisers A. Cruise In and Cuisine will take place on Saturday, September 7th at the BCC building from 3:00 – 6:00 pm. i) Flyers were passed out at the meeting and have been shared with some local businesses as well.

ii) We will include motorcycles this year.

iii) The Bremen Arts Collective artists will be available with booths to sell their items.

iv) Food Trucks – LaParielle, Kona Ice, and T&C Cheesecakes will be present.

v) We may also include some music and have the ND game on inside the building.

B. Trunk or Treat will take place on Sunday, October 27th. More details will be forthcoming.

6. Communications A. Stay up to date by checking in on Facebook and the website.

B. Neika Smessaeart has left the board. We are looking for someone to assist with the FB page. i) If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please let a board member know.

C. Webpage; The QR code is on the sign out front and on these minutes and agendas for the website.

D. The best thing you can do is to get involved. The board appreciates any additional help that is available.

7. Conservancy Update A. The official NRC (National Resource Commission) report was provided to the Marshall County court on July 8th. i) The report is available online. You can locate it by searching for “Lake of the Woods Conservancy Marshall County Indiana.”

B. We expect the final court date to be set in the next 30-45 days but it will be solely based on the court schedule. i) When the date is known it will be shared in several ways: (1) By law, the hearing date is required to be posted in two local newspapers. Likely the Plymouth Pilot and the South Bend Tribune.

(2) We will also post the date on the website and on FB.

C. Scott Calentine asked if the opposition can present a list of signatures at the last minute. i) Mike Nate responded that it will be up to Judge Streeter what they will or will not allow.

ii) Judge Streeter is a traveling judge from Fort Wayne and is expected to handle the final hearing and verdict.

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D. Mike Nate shared that he has had multiple lake residents contact him and tell him that people are going around the lake impersonating LOWPOA members saying something to the effect of, “We lost your conservancy signature so would you please resign this petition?” i) The petition signed is then actually a petition to dismiss the Conservancy effort.

ii) These same individuals have also apparently asked for donations for the Conservancy efforts and have actually taken money form some individuals.

E. Mike also shared that someone pulled the LOWPOA signs out of his yard recently and threw them into the ditch next to his property.

8. Weeds Update A. Starry Stonewort (SSW) will receive one final spraying. i) It was about 4 weeks ago when the first spray took place.

ii) We sprayed about half of what we normally would due to lack of available funds.

iii) At the advice of Aquatic Weed Control, we will do the exact same spray area again.

iv) SSW is expensive to treat. It can’t be killed only burned back.

v) This spray costs around $12,000. The spray is expected late next week or the following week depending on weather conditions.

B. Tom Powers shared that he noticed at Rupert’s there was a lot of green floating on top of the water. i) He pulled his boat close-up and checked it. It was a big mass of SSW. He wanted to know if this is this the only place where the SSW has gotten to the top?

ii) Board members responded, no; it is present to the top in a variety of areas in the lake. (1) This particular area was not sprayed because it doesn’t affect as many private homeowners.

(2) We don’t have enough money to spray all of the SSW, so determined to spray those areas that would benefit the most homeowners and keep the fronts of channels clear so boats can get out to the lake water.

C. A guest present asked, if you are treating your own frontage, should you use chemicals or pull it? And should you and your neighbors do it on the same day? i) Mike Nate responded stating that if you just spray your frontage, it is around $347. If you have a group of neighbors do this together it is $414 an acre and could be potentially cheaper overall.

D. Julie Boynton reminded those present that pulling can fragment the SSW and you could end up with two live plants.

E. Carol Skelton shared that they have been pulling out the SSW in their swimming area only and it is doing OK. But they have noticed that further out where it is deeper, the SSW is still there and has grown back up to the top.

F. Julie Boynton noted that having a Conservancy in place with a stable source of funding would certainly help out being able to address SSW more broadly.

9. Lake of the Woods Entrance Signs A. The double-sided “Welcome to Lake of the Woods” sign will likely be installed this week at the 3rd, North/West Shore intersection; just to the east of the Martin ditch.

B. The second sign is likely to be installed in the coming 2 to 3 weeks.

10. Merchandise/Apparel A. Items continue to be available for sale. 100% of the profits go to the weed fund.

B. Please see Paula Nate if you are interested in purchasing or ordering something.

11. New Business A. There will be 3 open positions on the board for the coming year. If you, or someone you know is interested in serving, please let a board member know.

B. Mike reminded the membership to let us know if there are new lake residents so we can ensure they receive welcome bags.

12. Julie Boynton made a motion to adjourn. Mike Nate seconded the motion and all board members agreed. A. The meeting adjourned at 9:31 am.

13. The next LOWPOA meeting will take place on Saturday, September 13, 2024 at 9:00 am at the BCC building.

Respectfully submitted by Julie Boynton, LOWPOA Secretary

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