Amston Lake District
Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes
June 16th, 2010 7:00 p.m.
ALIA Clubhouse, 16 Wood Acres Road, Amston, 06231
A. Roll Call of Officers and Directors
Absent: Scott Forgue, John Connor
B. Call to Order 7:00 pm
C. Recognition of Guests, Residents and Property Owners’ Petitions
Lorraine Long, 15 Meadowbrook Rd – signs nailed to trees on ROWs – not good for the trees; please remove and put up another way; R; DeCormier done to be done quickly
Scott Forgue and John Connor arrived – 7:05 pm
Leo Foxwell – Notice from Lebanon Zoning – 11 Deepwood Dr – included renovations and landscaping but landscaping was done before approval and took back hoe and filled with sand that is already eroded into the lake; put on New Business agenda to write a letter
S, Martin motion to approve, D. Martin second – unanimous approval to add to agenda
Wendell Snell/Hebron – FOI – Minutes was left in place of Agenda on June agenda heading – S. Martin: sorry, they are typos; we have an obligation – Board needs to be serious about this obligation; budget passed at annual meeting – tax collector said taxes are determined by the grand list and budget, and it determines the mill rate – one budget was passed – includes Lebanon Roads – only one budget was passed – Hebron should not be paying for Lebanon Roads – not sure how we are going to fix that
Bill Slover – cutting lawns – someone is cutting up bottles and cans; are Hebron or Lebanon going to sweep the roads? D. Martin: Both were swept but seem to need to be done again
Tom Randazzo, 9 Turner Rd – lived here 20 years, wife lived here 40 years, Hebron tax went up – Hebron is willing to help us out and he has to pay for Lebanon roads – unfair to us; only the Lebanon side is taxed for roads, he did not understand; why thrown off of the beach after sunset? The beach is closed – the parking lot is closed but you are allowed to go on the beach.
Why no silt fence when dredging was done? There was a silt fence and there was ice on the water. Should put a barrier up against where we dredge. D. O’Brien: Lake scientist has been sampling dredged area and tests show no adverse effects – L. Hennebury: we followed town wetlands commission and the DEP requirements
Lynn Mika, Ames Road – ROW on Ames Rd. – does not have a boat rack and there are 6 houses across from lake; they want to pay for it and would incur the costs of building the rack; cove contains brush that is growing into the cove area – can it be trimmed back since hanging out over the water for entry point and put some pea gravel – 6 ft wide – over existing rock; D. O’Brien: what about boat launching? Flat area – S. Forgue – was a boat launch in the past
Barbara McDermott, 295 Deepwood, Lebanon – has Lollipop passed e Coli tests? D. O’Brien: tested yesterday and no results received yet, will have tomorrow; signs should be put in parking lot instead of on the beach – the signs were too small, not enough info – people are missing them; D. O’Brien: this is our first year doing weekly testing with Chatham Health District – the Board is working on improving the process, hang signs on posts? Only one side of the beach was closed though. No phone number of who to call for information. S. Forgue: people thought whole beach should be closed due to liability issues, D. O’Brien: we take the word of the professional testers; use yellow tape if only part of beach is closed
L. Foxwell – disagrees with Wendell Snell’s comments regarding the budget vote; he distinctly remembers we voted on Lebanon roads separately from whole budget
D. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes
L. Hennebury, John Connor - D. Martin abstained all others approved
E. Receive and Act Upon Clerk’s Report
F. Presentation of Correspondence and Communication
Read through the May and June correspondence listing
Please post water testing results on website from resident
G. Receive President’s Report
See attached for items to be covered throughout the meeting
H. Receive Treasurer’s Report – please give two copies of May’s report to me
D. Martin motion to approve, L. Lenti second, unanimous approval
I. Receive Tax Collector’s Report
S. Martin read both the May and June Tax Collector Reports as submitted by Eileen Curtin, Tax Collector and both are attached
J. Consider and Act Upon Standing and Special Committees’ Reports
1. Dam – D. Moorcroft – voids do not seem to be getting any worse, as built drawing received and invoice given to R. DeCormier for payment; K. Acimovic’s only comment was that according to the DEP brush should be eliminated from 25 ft of the tow of every dam – we need to clear this debris; area where L. Mika proposed to put boat launch is same area which needs to be cleared so that any changes around the dam can be seen; pertains to Duck Pond Dam as well as Main Dam; should be cut back to large tree line; if it can be kept mowable 2-3X per year, it is cheaper than cutting brush every three years, need to plan for ongoing maintenance; we don’t have a brush cutter – S. Forgue volunteered to handle this; try to get it done by end of June, if possible and define other brush that needs to be cut elsewhere; R. DeCormier would like to give mowing and cutting function responsibilities to another Board member; need to define what is to be done. D. Moorcroft to work with S. Forgue to resolve brush issue; B. McDermott – Lollipop is overgrown near parking lot where people used to launch boats
2. Storm Drains – D. O’Brien – will email to Mike O’Leary for vortex drain info for H11 for upcoming budget year installation
3. Lebanon Sewer Project – D. Martin – need to get an engineer on board – sent out “Request for Qualifications” – see info in President’s report copy of legal notice; RFQs due a week from 6/17 and will be reviewed, selection made and shared with state - working on getting funding from USDA and looking at loan opportunities for lower income individuals
4. Drinking Water – S. Martin – CT Water was draining water tank because it had e Coli in it is the gossip many are hearing; S. Martin to address CT Water to find out; D. Martin concerned this is hearsay based on Lebanon Fire Dept emptying water out of a house on Louise Rd.; L. Hennebury believes water company has an obligation to tell us when they are doing anything like this in our watershed; at minimum, we need D. O’Brien to send a letter to them asking them to remove and replace the stone aggregate on our private roads and not to mix the stone in with dirt
5. Boats & Rafts – L. Mika’s request to add a boat rack/walk way at Ames Rd. resident’s request and Keegan Day reviewed repairing his dock with D. O’Brien – will request copies of Town Permit approvals from Lebanon; S. Forgue thinks Ames Rd. boat rack is a good idea, especially since they are covering the costs; open to the general public; R. DeCormier motioned that Ames Rd. Boat Rack be built, L. Hennebury seconded, unanimous approval; Boat passes – S. Forgue will hand out at 4th of July at 10:00 am and would be willing to be here 15 minutes early before each meeting – also OK with SASE method; look at whole process for next year again later this fall/winter
A resident entered and became unruly – (D. O’Brien, R. DeCormier and J. Connor left the meeting at 8:10 pm) – L. Hennebury took the chair
L. Hennebury – read an email from Jeffrey Picard – Agricultural Teacher at Lyman Memorial HS in Lebanon – looking for donations of canoes and kayaks which can be written off on taxes; can we post this on our boards? Post on website.
Three Board members returned at 8:25 pm – chair returned to D. O’Brien
R. DeCormier – should boats be removed in the off season and stored at people’s homes? S. Forgue – catamaran issue – spot on Lollipop will fit 7 or 8 catamarans – move them over there; two open dock spots at Main Beach and one open spot at Lollipop Beach; not fair for people to simply store their stuff on the beach without paying; should charge for catamaran storage on the beach if charging for slips; L. Hennebury thinks we need a lottery for the boat racks and space on the beach too so fair to all; should clean up boats that do not have stickers at end of each season and all boat sticker numbers should be recorded for identification purposes; D. Moorcroft – we can start enforcing the ordinances which already exist; L. Lenti – if they are property owners, they have a right to have their catamarans on the lake, or all have to pay; D. Martin – people have been doing this for YEARS; L. Lenti – what is the problem with putting them on the beach? If move racks to other side, near the tree, not under it, would open up area for the catamarans; kids playing on catamarans and owners yelling at them; Boat Committee should draft recommendations
6. Weeds – D. Martin – weeds look manageable – seem to have come back a bit by Francis Road; does not think need to apply herbicide again; L. Hennebury - Southeast cove got bad last year – Cove Road side filled with weeds last year
7. Communications – R. DeCormier – now have quick turnaround sign contact; making up new security signs for cars; Dave Dederer is the one who is putting up the signs on large a-frames to be used for beach closings and July 4th Firework signs; will continue to work on improving signage; add No Parking signs at ROWs
8. Ordinances- D. O’Brien - we can enforce them, if needed
9. Security – thanked John LaFerriere and Dave Dederer for their volunteer work hours; lots of dogs running on the beach which is increasing e Coli issues and health issues; JL and DD explaining to people why dogs need to stay off the beach; Security schedule is all set for summer; if issues with fireworks, call D. O’Brien and he will contact the police if fireworks are being shot off of district owned property; we could lose the lake if anything ever happened; JL has been explaining to people and they listen; fireworks are out prior to July 4th and he will walk away if the persons get belligerent; more are volunteering to wear Security t-shirts and show a presence on the beaches to hopefully minimize unwanted activity; J. Connor – wants to speak to Town Manager for Hebron – dog warden/animal control response is not good – feels town should be more responsive to complaints filed about loose dogs, wants to know if state trooper is patrolling area appropriately, wants to be sure getting services from Town of Hebron since pay so much for taxes; S. Forgue - squatters in abandoned houses are causing issues; property owners must be contacted to fix it or it is out of our control
10. Lebanon Roads – D. Martin - see June 5th Meeting Minutes, attached – need to send letter to CT Water that they need to remove our aggregate stone before doing repairs and replace it when done. S. Martin to coordinate with D. O’Brien to contact CT Water
Louise Road rut should be repaired; need to get retribution from CT Water for ruined roads; Andrews Rd. is ours but Town was displeased that water effected Island Beach, owned by Lebanon, so we agreed to let Town know if doing drainage work effecting Town roads; want estimates on Louise, Catherine and Ledge Rds. To repair issues when new budget year begins; D. Martin moved to get estimates on above and fill potholes. R. DeCormier second, unanimous approval
K. Receive Lake Management Reports – do we want to include Dr. Knoecklein in our e Coli discussions? S. Martin – look at June and July readings over time and they have always been high; other lakes and swimming areas are consistent with us; sanitarian’s follow up on gray water and mud that smells like septic – anything else is not their issue; D. O’Brien does not know what to tell the residents – get common reasons to share – significant rain events are key; L. Hennebury – is there anyone else who can help us? Any other state points? Only if no response from Dr. Powitz – the Lebanon Town Health Director/Resident Sanitarian; need them to do a survey of the land above; D. Martin – can we please look at common causes of freshwater beach closures? Google it, perhaps. Perhaps, we should do perimeter testing; not much water flowing over the dam right now unless the wind blows.
Motion: If we get another e Coli reading that closes the beach tomorrow, what do we do? D. Martin – hire someone to do perimeter testing to establish baseline testing; S. Martin thinks we should hire someone different than G. Knoecklein who does not have a history or a bias; John Leferriere has been collecting garbage – D. Moorcroft – get test data; only test Main Beach and Lollipop Beach for e Coli, not ROWs
L. Hennebury - Cove Rd ROW – oily mud, and in a couple yards, do not know what it is; septic was tested and OK; would like to know what it is? Need to do a soil sample and find out what it is, please. D. O’Brien will make sure a soil sample is collected and tested
H11 inlet – Phosphorous levels are 43 which is very high; Grossman development will not effect this as they are not in our watershed; need the Town of Hebron to clean out the drain to try and reduce the phosphorous content running into the lake
Grossman Property – pavement, etc will effect the ecology; meeting is on July 8th, Hebron
New Fiscal Year – services from Dr. Knoecklein not yet defined; Board needs to make determination; D. O’Brien to send out Dr. K’s services and fees please review for decisions to be made
L. Act on Remaining Items of Agenda….Old Business
1. Beach Closure Signs and Beach Closure Procedures – signs are too small – R. DeCormier would like to get new, larger signs; L. Hennebury concerned about too much signage; be more meticulous with placement of signs so more visible/easier for public to see
D. Moorcroft motions to buy four more signs, not to exceed $50, second by J. Connor, all approved
2. Invasive Plants Signs: Installation and Costs - Complete
3. ALD Self Help Document – still a work in process; D. O’Brien will upload Inland/Wetlands Permit requests to the website so easier for people to address; D. Martin – need some more outreach
4. Dredging Schedule Conversation – D. O’Brien – will copy us on all info sent to Town of Lebanon so can start dredging of Northeast Cove October/November timeframe
5. Lebanon Roads – Policies and Procedures – Completed for now – R. DeCormier would like snow plowing contract done before winter; he will share contractor responses
M. New Business……Discussion and Possible Action
1. Catamaran storage issues on Main Beach – covered under Boats and Rafts; S. Forgue wants to get procedures put together for barley straw installation before next season
2. Lake Management – what’s the next approach? L. Hennebury knows we are using a volunteer and 1099 process this year – wants to keep a close reign on this and does not want to personally start doing the ; work of a Lake Manager; we need to monitor this approach and consider using a vendor manager for the lake; this is lots of extra work and we need to pay attention on whether or not this works
All Board Members unanimously agreed to add the following items to the agenda:
3. 11 Deepwood Drive, Lebanon Zoning – write letter to Town – cabin near Leo Foxwell – they dug out boulders, put in a beach, etc without a permit; Leo Foxwell wants the Board to write a letter and complain to the Town; we should get a copy of all zoning requests from the towns since we have district property which abuts as the district water; send letter to Town of Lebanon; D. Martin to clarify the issues around what has occurred
4. Algae/Cove Road/Phosphorous readings – L. Hennebury - dead leaves washed up into ROW shoreline and have not been pulled out as has been done in the past; very large log has washed up and needs to be removed and cut up with chainsaw; D. Martin - stream draining into end of cove (H16) is causing the worst algae in the lake and is another good candidate for research
5. Dock – Ray DeCormier wants approval to build a dock – 8 x 12 with a 10 ft ramp; D. Martin motioned to approve, D. Moorcroft second, unanimous approval
N. Prepare Agenda for Next Meeting – nothing to add at this time
O. Adjournment – L. Hennebury motioned to adjourn, L. Lenti, seconded, unanimous approval 9:52 pm
Respectfully submitted by,
Sherri-Ann Martin, Clerk
Amston Lake Tax District