Bad Axe Lake

Fall 2011 Newsletter

HUBBARD COUNTY COLA MINUTES
September 29, 2011
Hubbard County COLA; Stewards of the Lakes P.O. Box 746. Park Rapids, MN 56470

www.minnesotawaters.org/group/hccola/welcome
“COLA is the Leader in Protecting Hubbard County Lakes and Rivers”

Call to Order: President Dan Kittilson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

Introductions/other agenda items
Announcements: Donations for goodies and clean up help needed. Thank you to Theora Goodrich and Mary Jo Groehler for the goodies!
Welcome to guests and members
Program: no program

Representatives:

Bad Axe: Mary Ann Erpelding
Belle Taine:
Big Mantrap: Helen Marsh
Big Sand: Irene Weis
Blue: Peter Tuomisto
Boulder: Steve Hall
Lower Crow Wing:
Middle Crow Wing:
8th & 9th Crow Wing: Shirley Koltes, Julie
Kingsley
10th & 11th Crow Wing:
Duck: Deb Rogers
Eagle:
Emma/Bottle/Stocking:
Fish Hook: Jan Rumpza
Gilmore:
Island South:
Ham: Arland Waters, Paul Jensen
Hinds:
Kabekona: Rolf Smeby
Little Sand: Mary Jo Groehler, Dan
Kittilson
Long: Bill Cowman, Sharon Natzel
Mow:
Palmer: Dan McCorry
Peysenske: Jeff Mosner, John Clauer
Plantagenet:
Portage: Jerry Knoblich
Potato: Chuck Diessner, Ken Grob
Spider: Hillary Stoltz, John Weber
Stony:
Tripp: Theora & Lynn Goodrich,
Twin Lakes: Don McIntosh

Guests: Dave & Karen Hagert – Shallow Lake, Shane Foley

Approval of Minutes from August 25, 2011: MSP Minutes of August 25, 2011 meeting as written.

Treasurer’s Report: John Weber
John Weber reported that 20 of the lake associations have paid their dues. The remaining
Association’s dues are due at the November meeting.
Belle Taine and the Lower Crow Wing Association’s have not paid their bill for water
testing for 2011.
MSP the treasurer’s report as read by John.

Committee Reports:

A. Lakeshore Education & Communications (J. Kingsley/S. Hall)
a. Fall Newsletter: John Hastings is the publisher for the COLA newsletter and is looking for someone to take on the job of Editor. If you are interested please contact John. 732-3260.
i. Any information that your association would like included in the fall newsletter please get to John Hastings by NOV. 10, 2011.
ii. Please send your associations newsletters to John Hastings.
iii. There was discussion on the costs of printing and mailing the COLA newsletters. It costs approximately $1,800.00 for two printings per year. COLA does have bulk mailing which saves on postage. If COLA went to an all electronic e-mail newsletter some people without email would not receive the newsletter. The suggestion was made to post the newsletter on COLA’s website. Each association could have newsletters available at their annual meetings for those that don’t have email. A COLA newsletter link could be added to those associations that have a webpage.
iv. A motion was made that the COLA newsletter would be sent electronically to the President, Representative and the e-mail coordinator of each lake association and that the newsletter would be posted on COLA’s website. It would be each lake association’s responsibility to distribute to their membership via email or whatever manner the association chose to get the information to those not on the email list as each association sees fit. The vote was 18- for, 1- against. The motion passed and the fall newsletter will be sent via e-mail. Each email coordinator for the lake associations should pass the newsletter along to their membership.

B. Government Liaison – Civic (J. Knoblich):
a. Restore the Shore: Mary Jo Groehler stated that the order forms were due at the meeting and collected those forms and payments made out to Hubbard County COLA that were brought to the meeting.
b. Water Testing: Jerry Knoblich stated that water quality testing is done for this year. Belle Taine and the Lower Crow Wing Lake Association’s still owe for testing this year. Payment can be made to John Weber and sent to the COLA address listed at the top of the minutes.
c. Recognition and Gratitude:
i. Jerry Knoblich was awarded a certificate of appreciation for all of his work with the water testing program and being the past leader of the Government Liaison committee and his contributions to COLA.
Peter Tuomisto will be taking over the Chair position for the Government Liaison – Civic committee.
ii. Shane Foley was also awarded a certificate of appreciation for years of service with the Hubbard County SWCD and for his partnership and help to COLA. He was also given a gift certificate to Scheel’s sporting goods. Shane will be moving out of the area.

Jerry Knoblich Shane Foley and Dan Kittilson

C. Government Liaison – State/LGU (C. Diessner):
a. Chuck Diessner reported that the Hubbard County Board of Adjustment went against the recommendations of COLA on addition of 9 extra RV sites to the Shady Shores RV Park on 5th Crow Wing Lake. This was a change and a negation to the previous variance that existed.
b. Chuck said that while COLA has a presence at the County Board meetings and Board of Adjustment hearings and voices their opinions, but what is really needed is for residents and lake association members of the lake where the variance is being asked for show up at the meetings and to voice their support for the stand COLA has taken. COLA’s effectiveness is lessened by the lack of association’s support.
c. Chuck and his committee send out notification to those lake associations that have a variance coming up and also include the report that Eric from Hubbard County Environmental Services provides. A suggestion was made to also include this information on the COLA website for wider review by any COLA members.

D. COLA Meeting Attendance & Representation (M. Erpelding):
a. Mary Ann reported that 21 Lake Associations were represented at the Aug. 25, 2011 COLA meeting.
b. 20 associations have paid their COLA dues. All dues are due at the November 3, meeting. Those association’s that have not paid are: Belle Taine, Big Sand, Blue, Lower Crow Wing, 8th & 9th Crow Wing, Hines, Peysenske, Plantagenet, Palmer and South Island.
c. The lists for lake association Presidents, COLA Representatives, Committee assignments for each COLA representative, e-mail coordinators and AIS coordinators were passed around for updates. If your association has a change to any of these positions please contact Dan Kittilson.
d. A suggestion was made to the committee that if a lake association representative has not showed up for two consecutive meetings that they should be contacted and encourage them to attend or to find someone else to take their place within their association.
e. MSP that the standing Executive committee members, which are made up of COLA officers and committee chairs, be ratified.
f. August 2012 annual meeting: there will be a merge of standing/strategic action committees.
g. COLA Note Cards, Certificates of Appreciation: A big thank you to Shirley and John Koltes for designing and printing the note cards and certificates. The note cards were used to thank contributors to the legal fund that were sent by Mary Ann Erpelding.

E. Invasive Species/Exotics Task Force (K. Grob):
a. Updates for AIS watercraft inspection manuals: Ken Grob passed out updates for the Watercraft inspection manuals that association’s received for participating in the trainings.
b. DNR Stakeholders meeting: Ken reported that the meeting with the DNR commissioner went well. The Commissioner reported that due to the lack of state funding for the DNR to control AIS increased responsibility will fall to the County level.
Next year the DNR will have 100 authorized AIS inspectors and 20 -30 decontamination units available.

Executive Committee Report:
The Executive committee minutes were emailed to the COLA membership. A suggestion was made to post these minutes on the COLA website.

President’s Updates/Announcements:
Healthy Lakes Legislative Forum was held September 23, 2011 in Walker.
Hubbard County Commissioners COLA presentation: will be on Oct. 5, 2011 at 11:00 am at the Hubbard County Courthouse. It is encouraged that as many COLA members as possible attend. Dan will send out information regarding this meeting.

COLA meeting ideas: for future COLA meetings suggestions have been to have speakers, have a break for treats and networking, focus on what is happening on each lake and that monthly updates are posted on the COLA website by committees.

Special Topics:
If anyone has ideas for future COLA speakers please contact Dan Kittilson.

Unfinished Business:
COLA By-laws: The By-laws have been signed and copies will be made for each lake association’s representative to have a copy.
Strategy management Plan:
• Annual COLA summary – review strategic action steps, include 2011 successes
• COLA clothing: is available from Unknown Legends in Dorset, MN
• Finance Committee: has been formed and includes Lynn Goodrich, John Weber, Tony Platz, Dennis Winskowski, and Paul Jensen. Ken Grob and Dan Kittilson will serve as advisors

New Business:
Track volunteer time: COLA committee chairs should keep track of any projects they are doing and how many people are involved and how much time each person spends on that project. Volunteer time and resources should be turned into the Executive committee to use for any future grants and to provide a snap shot of the capacity of COLA.
Dues/fees for sustaining members: MSP to create a new membership category for a sustaining member. The rate would be $25.00 and is for those people that are not associated with a lake association but have an interest in supporting Hubbard county lakes and rivers.
Business/sponsor membership: This is a new category that is in the development stages if you have any suggestions please contact the Finance Committee leader Lynn Goodrich.

Initiatives For the Next Four Months:
Continue Executive Committee initiatives
• Strategy management /COLA’s Story
• Impact Political Action (Influence local & state level actions)
• Address Multiple Revenue streams
MN COLA Collaborative
AIS Prevention and containment
Partnership with the County for area lake protection.

What’s Happening on Your Lake:
Lake Association newsletters: please send a copy of your association’s newsletter to John Hastings and Dan Kittilson.
Please provide updated contact information: for lake association representatives, presidents, e-mail coordinator’s, AIS coordinators, water samplers, and Restore the Shore coordinators.
Twin Lake Association: Don McIntosh reported that in the June 29, 2011 issue of the Menahga Messenger former COLA member Chuck Tritz was recognized for his 10 years of stream monitoring. Thank you Chuck for your continued work. A note of appreciation was sent by Secretary Julie Kingsley to Chuck.
Big Sand Lake Association: Irene Weiss reported that the two loon nesting structures they have on their lake have not been producing and are being moved to different areas.
Big Mantrap Lake Association: Helen Marsh reported that the loon population on their lake is down by half this year. The DNR is doing a study on loons on that lake and have placed tracking devices in several loons to monitor their movements and to see if there were any effects of the oil spill in the gulf on loon populations. The data is available on line through the DNR.
Little Sand Lake Association: Mary Jo Groehler reported that 5 loon babies survived this year and she also brought in a sample of their zooplankton. The secchi disk reading was 24 feet.
Long Lake Association: will be holding its fall ditch clean up this Saturday, Oct. 1 at 1:00 pm. They have also completed their DNR approved information kiosk at the boat landing.
Kabekona Lake Association: Rolf Smeby reported that there were approximately 200 loons on Kabekona Lake last week.
Thank you: to all the Lake Association Presidents that were in attendance at the meeting.

Next Meeting:
Thursday November 3, 2011. Social at 6:30 pm with the meeting beginning at 7:00 pm at the Northwoods Bank Community room.

MSP to adjourn meeting at 8:55 pm

Respectfully submitted secretary, Julie Kingsley Oct. 2, 2011

Contact Information:
Dan Kittilson: drkittilson@msn.com , 732-5566, President
Julie Kingsley: kingsley@unitelc.com, 652-4878, Secretary
John Weber: 652-2535, Treasurer
Steve Hall: steve@shorelinecreations.net, 732-8907, Education & Information
Ken Grob: Grobak@q.com, 732-0364, AIS
John Hastings: johnhastings@live.com, 732-3260, Newsletter
Judy Novak: birdsongbay@unitelc.com, 652-2229, website