Amston Lake District
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
November 4, 2009 7:00 P.M.
ALA Clubhouse, 16 Wood Acres Rd., Amston, Ct.
A. Roll Call of Officers and Directors
Present: D. O’Brien, M. Paul, R. DeCormier, D. Martin, D Moorcroft, S. Martin, S. Forgue
Absent: John Connor, Laurel Hennebury
B. Call to Order 7:02 PM
C. Recognition of Guests, Residents and Property Owners’ Petitions
*Kevin Connor, 20 Deepwood Dr, Lebanon
Understands dredging cannot occur due to complications; D. Martin - check with Town of Hebron to be absolutely sure about wetlands permitting – Lebanon does require a Wetlands permit; K. Connor: can we fill it? D. Martin - no, state law prohibits filling wetlands; can we do a title search – is it buildable? S. Martin will check with Town of Lebanon to find status of property; we still need a solution; C. Arnold tried to pull it out using all terrain vehicles and he tried to pump the sludge out of the cove but neither worked; C. Wool - Brett Harlow could help using floating platforms – C. Wool will discuss cost with Brett; K. Connor: does lake biologist have any solutions? D. O’Brien: we did not receive report we expected; would like to get a second opinion from ECS out of Coventry; M. Paul: we are trying to find a long term solution not a quick fix; D. O’Brien will ask ECS for opinion/cost info; K. Connor: what is date for dredging other areas of lake? D. O’Brien: Next week; C. Wool – water will be brought back to 6” below spillway when dredging done
D. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
Motion by Ray DeCormier to accept the minutes with correction to spelling of Dave Moorcroft’s name on p.5, D. Martin second.
Unanimous approval
E. Receive and Act Upon Clerk’s Report
See attached report
F. Presentation of Correspondence and Communication
Letter dated 10/24/09 provided by Eileen Curtin: Lawrence and Ethel Montgomery of 24 Bush Road are demolishing their house – no plan to rebuild
See attached - Clerk’s Email List
G. Receive President’s Report
Thanks to main Dam Committee: Ray DeCormier, Carl Wool, Andy Kozlak, and Joanne Wool
Main Dam Project was on time and on budget at $20,300. In addition, Carl Wool and Andy Kozlak coated and sealed cracks on the main dam with a special waterproof cement used for dam repairs. The additional cost of the product and labor, including consulting, was $2942.79.
H. Receive Treasurer’s Report
R. DeCormier will eventually be posting month to month progression on website; wants to set target reserve for main dam fund in 2010.
S. Forgue left the meeting at 7:42 pm
I. Receive Tax Collector’s Report
Eileen Curtin: Not doing delinquent tax notices until January because it confuses people; see attached report.
J. Consider and Act Upon Standing and Special Committees’ Reports
1. Dam
D. Moorcroft is chairman of Main Dam Committee and will oversee Duck Pond too; meet with K Acimovic and C Wool to do budget planning for May; need to finalize our plan in March for resident review
2. Storm Drains
D. O’Brien wants $20,000 in 2010/2011 budget for vortex drain to be installed in Hebron and work with Town of Hebron – looking to solve issues with H11
3. Lebanon Wastewater Study
D. Martin: 17 or 18 contractors showed up to participate in cost estimate for Lebanon sewer installation; contractor to be selected the last week in November
D. Martin made motion that ALD Board give permission through President, D O’Brien, to give contractor selected by WPCA access to Lebanon tax district owned roads to conduct feasibility study; M. Paul seconded – passed unanimously.
D. Martin: need to sell sewer installation to Lebanon voters to get approved; Ray DeCormier and Laurel Hennebury are working on articles in Lebanon Life; D. Martin: this is a public health issue – not a lake issue; any other area could have an issue too; M. Paul saw article by Connecticut College professor that lake district owns the issue and Mark disagrees and is concerned about this opinion; D. Martin: once town approves cost estimate at end of December, town has to approve via voters to commit, look at benefit assessments (value of property with sewer connection – cannot charge home owners more than value sewer adds to value) does seasonal have same benefit assessment as year round? Empty lots? $13,000 is average benefit assessment; can get funding from several agencies, 6 or 7. Should not cost the town very much if can get funding from the sources being addressed; M. Paul – does town have liability if this does not occur? D. Martin – other towns have voted sewers down; focus on public health situation, not the lake; vote is done by referendum since >$1 million.
4. Drinking Water
S. Martin – letter was sent to seasonal home owners to not winterize their water lines until after November 6, 2009
D. Martin requested copy of email regarding installation of new water lines in 2010 on Lebanon side of lake from S. Martin for 11/5/09 Lebanon WPCA Meeting
;
5. Boats & Rafts
Via D. O’Brien: Scott is working on determining cost for dock rentals
6. Weeds and Algae
M. Paul: Carl Wool worked with Dominick/ACS to look at areas treated last year and to ID areas which might need to be treated; told Gerald Smith that need cost estimates for 2010 budget and are waiting for estimates to come; C. Wool: cannot apply for permit until after New Year – cost is double in 2010 as to what they are in 2009; can do less but can’t do more so make sure include all possibilities in permit request; water lily roots are coming up in clumps in cove near Ray DeCormier’s; floating in mats; need to look at their info and decide what we would like to do; Mark feels we can skip a year, if needed – and continue to do survey every year to determine what if anything should be done about vegetation growing in the lake; Mark Paul: regarding algae, ask ECS about it and how to approach it; Carl wants to know if using barley straw next year because he wants to build wire cages so muskrats can’t get tear them open
S. Martin: Thanks to Dave Arnold for sticking to his guns and pushing through the locked boat launch; articles on line this week about Guilford and Griswold and their choked lakes where oars are broken while trying to row a boat! There was a launch button to lakes in CT, if you pick Amston Lake, it actually talks about our locked boat launch! It is data put together by the CT Dept of Agriculture as a result of the plant survey done a couple years ago
7. Communications
. R. DeCormier: wants to address distribution of newsletter – can we put in doors? Carl Wool: how do we distribute passes? Personal passes are not going to have pins starting next year due to need to hand stamp the mail; what is the most cost effective way to reach the majority of people? Mark Paul feels we need to mail because some people do not use email and we do need to mail passes; Dave Martin feels need to mail these out due to cost of taxes; don’t want to worry about checking IDs, voting lists, etc.; as of right now, we have not decided to stop mailing; when should newsletter go out? End of June for passes
8. Ordinances
M. Paul: repeal of fertilizer ordinance is submitted to newspapers; Carl Wool thinks we should have a parking ordinance so can force people to get their cars off the private roads when need to snowplow; how often should we change our ordinances? At annual meeting, can add to agenda and address once per year. Let’s think about this for next meeting.
Mark Paul has not received feedback from the Board on his ordinance enforcement document. Add to December agenda.
9. Security
Carl Wool believes next year’s costs should be in line with this year’s; he will work with John Connor to have budget info for December meeting
10. Lebanon Roads
D. Martin: we need to do more tours of the Lebanon roads to understand what is required; Laurel, Dave and Sherri should meet with Carl on a Saturday morning to review and become more educated so can make informed decisions; R. DeCormier – should have specific cost/task info and not simply a dollar amount – all agreed; look for what is affordable and foundational that will last and start reducing our repetitive costs
K. Receive Lake Management Reports
1. Caretakers’ Report
Boat Pass Info was turned over to Carl Wool by D. Martin on behalf of Reggie Miles; spillway coated, dam face coated, see attached report; need to fill hollows under the spillway with concrete, polyurethane or something; water level is down 14” today; will bring back to 6” below spillway once dredging is completed; only erosion noted on Ryan Terrace ROW is in small area near drain – won’t be there when water is brought back to level; dead tree removed from Park Road; C. Wool – do we want to keep a record of the bacterial level in NE Cove? D. O’Brien – wants to ask ECS before we decide; need professional opinion; will try to get Dr. Portman from ECS to come in and speak with us;
D. Martin thinks we need to put more form around the scope of what we want to do, like our bids; D. O’Brien – agreed that Board and residents should ID concerns and then bid them out; set them up as projects; Carl Wool – write to Town of Lebanon and water
company that need to replace aggregate that they take up; must be replaced with what they remove; round gravel is not good that they are using; Carl to email info to D. O’Brien regarding what we should require and S. Martin to send D. O’Brien the name of contact
at CT Water so D. O’Brien can send letters to Town and CT Water; C. Wool using a tax district credit card now for expenses; more efficient and can pay contractors right away
2. Lake Health Coordinator
D. O’Brien will discuss getting a quote with Chatham Health Group to do beach testing for swimming/beach monitoring purposes
L. Act on Remaining Items of Agenda….Old Business…
1. Guidelines & Procedures for Ordinance Enforcement
Move to December agenda – BOARD PLEASE REVIEW
2. Discuss & Act Upon Change of Monthly Board Meeting Dates
Ray DeCormier made a motion to move monthly Board meetings to third Wed of month effective Jan 20, 2010; M. Paul, seconded and motion passed unanimously; list of meeting dates to be filed with Town of Hebron and Town of Lebanon as required by Freedom of Information Act (FOI) by December 1, 2009 by S. Martin/Clerk
3. North East Cove Issue
Covered in discussion with K Connor
4. Review and Discuss George Knoecklein’s Scope/Price Document
Move to December agenda – BOARD PLEASE REVIEW; D. Martin to send out task list he put together a few years ago; be aware of uses of testing and its costs; have plans for what and why data is needed
5. Relisting of the Fish Fund and appropriate dollars in the Treasury Budget Reports
R. DeCormier discussed with Dave Arnold and monies were moved to the General Fund;
Monies are available when wanted; how do we note the Fish Fund? Ray will add a note to the monthly reports to show it
M. New Business……Discussion and Possible Action
1. Beach Closure Signs and Beach Closure Procedures
Carl Wool can make signs for $10 each; $40 total for four signs; seal computer generated sign between plexiglass; D. O’Brien - need something very visible and durable to be used long term; C. Wool- sign cost is based on square maximum about $100 footage; use fence posts that are in storage to put them up; cost to be presented at December meeting
2. Mark Paul motioned that we add ALIA use of projector to New Business, Second By S. Martin. Board is fine with letting projector be used for New Year’s slide show – all agreed.
N. Prepare Agenda for Next Meeting
Under New Business:
· Add standard bid procedure
· Add status of calendar for Board activities
· Add Snow – No Parking Ordinance wording
· Add ALD Self Help document from past discussions
O. Adjournment - 8:59 pm
Mark Paul motioned to adjourn; Dave Moorcroft second
Approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted by,
Sherri-Ann Martin, Clerk
Amston Lake Tax District