RLAA Board Meeting Minutes for February 21, 2012

Note:
Italicized text is new content added from our February 21 meeting.

Location: Maple
Grove Public Library (Room 105)                                                                                                                        Time:
7:00 p.m.

Call to Order at 7:00 pm

Approved the Agenda with no
changes

Introduction of Board Members
and Guests

Present: Rick, Luke, Mark,
Bill, George, Scott

Absent: Joy

No guests were present

Treasurer Report (Rick)

$13,200 balance in RLAA
accounts; no change from last meeting.

No new members or dues
contributions since last meeting.

Old Business

Rough Fish Removal project

Plan for winter 2012-2013
possible Carp removal.

Next steps:

Still
need to appoint a key contact for Jeff Riedemann
for possible future work.

See
how Foster
Lake carp removal
project goes with Jeff this winter to decide next steps

·
As of 2/12/12, Riedemann
waiting for carp to school up before removing.

RLAA Member Appreciation
event (All)

Finalize plans for this
event coming up on February 25 at Sundance Golf &Bowl.

This event was cancelled
due to poor response (only 5 families, including board members).

Maple
Grove Surface Water Fee (All)

Terrie Christian from the
Medicine Lake Association discussed at the November LQC meeting how
their group encouraged the local watershed to charge a Surface Water Fee
for all residents in that watershed. Funds could be applied to projects
improving/maintaining water quality within the watershed.

Karen Jaeger from Maple
Grove City Council seemed interested in this concept.

What can RLAA do to help
get the city to incorporate a Surface Water Fee for Maple Grove?

This is still an open
issue and may be best pursued by the Maple Grove LQC.

Fishing along shoreline in
NE corner of Rice Lake (Tristan Bay
to County Road
30) this past fall (Bill)

Suggestions for how to
handle this activity in 2012?

Discussion about how we
need to make City Parks Department aware of the situation and impact on
their property along shoreline.

On-Going Business

Have a
2nd All Members meeting sometime later in the summer

Discuss
with membership at May 2012 Annual Member meeting

Let's bring this up at RLAA Annual Meeting to membership for
ideas.

Elm
Creek Watershed TMDL Project Plan (George)

·
No changes since last Stakeholders Meeting #6
held on October 26

·
Project is still in the data collection
phase through 2012

·
Next Meeting will be during the winter (TBD)

o
Meeting set for Thursday, March 22 at the Plymouth Ice Center
for all involved residents.

o
Speaker Barbara Radke
from University
of Minnesota on how to
raise awareness and support from your communities.

o
At least a few of the RLAA Board Members
plan on attending this meeting.

Update  on 2012 projects

·
Think about projects for 2012-2013 season

·
2012-2013 projects will need to be submitted
to LQC for funding before end of March 2012. They may include the following:

o
Dissolved Oxygen Meter partial reimbursement

o
Dredging out boat ramp channel

§
Revisit with the homeowner who denied
request in 2011 at RLAA Annual Meeting.

o
Carp Removal in 2012-2013

o
Aquatic Plant Survey (only if early CLP
growth appears)

o
Storm Drain Medallions - May not be a charge
if inventory is on hand with the City of MG.
George to find out more.

AMLAC
(Bill/Scott)

Scott/Bill
provided the board with an update for the meeting they attended on
January 18th in Plymouth.
Objective was to raise awareness of the issues with Aquatic Invasive
Species (AIS) and how residents want to have more control of how those
issues are addressed.

Speaker
of the House Kurt Zellers and Representative Joyce Pepin both showed
interest in helping AMLAC approve Bill 12-4094. More to come later.

MN Waters Lake Management Plan for
Communities (Bill/George)

RLAA
Consensus - Wait and see what the State of the Lakes project by the City
of Maple Grove
generates as interest and awareness within the community. Does that
warrant further research into joining the MN Waters Lake Management Plan
initiative.

State
of the Lakes project (George)

Report will be issued with
the Spring city newsletter.

Maple Grove Spring
Community Newsletter included the 'State of the Lakes' project written
by an intern (Rachel Stangel). Intention is
to build awareness among the residents of the value of our lakes and
how all of us can impact their water quality.

RLAA
Newsletter

·
Last one published for Q1-Q3 2011 Newsletter
which was released in October.

·
Plan next issue for Q1 2012 to be released
in March/April after Membership Appreciation event

New Business

Maple
Grove Lake Improvement Project (LIP) applications

Applications
for 2012-2013 projects are due by February 29 from each of the lake
associations.

In 2009-2010,
RLAA requested and received funding from City of Maple Grove for 2 projects: Sonic
Solutions ($2,400 of $3,600) and Plant Survey ($1,775 of $3,550).

In
2010-2011, RLAA requested and received funding for 1 project:
Zooplankton monitoring ($500 of $975) (Carp Exclosure
project was too late for submission and paid 100% by RLAA).

In
2011-2012, RLAA did not complete any of the requested projects (Channel
Dredge, Carp Removal, Aquatic Plant Survey).

Suggested
LIPs for Rice Lake;
we can discuss these at this meeting:

Project

Total
Est. Cost

LIP
Request

RLAA Cost

Comments

DO Meter

$621.00

$300.00

$321.00

Already
purchased

Channel
Dredge

$6,000.00

$2,500.00

$1,500.00

$3,500.00
$4,500.00

Rejected by
single homeowner in 2011; do we want to pursue in 2012-2013?  (City reduced their contribution by
$1,000)

Carp Removal

$7,000.00

$3,500.00

$3,500.00

Postponed in
2011 due to public access requirements

Aquatic
Plant Survey

$2,000.00

$1,000.00

$1,000.00

Only if
early Curlyleaf Pondweed growth is apparent

Task Team Updates

Lake Management

None
at this time. Probably should have another meeting before the end of the
winter.

Our Member Appreciation event may be a good recruitment
opportunity to get more members to this team.

Membership

Have
not met since initial meeting last year. This could be a key driver to
help grow the association membership. Do we have any volunteers to help
chair/manage this team?

Our Member Appreciation event may be a good recruitment
opportunity.

Other Business

Kuznik shoreline restoration project

Project
quickly completed in December 2011.

Concerns/feedback?

Majority
of board still amazed at how quickly this was requested and approved by
DNR.

Shoreline tree trimming
(navigation hazards) (Scott)

Can the
large branch overhanging the creek behind the Grefe's
home in Tristan
Bay be trimmed?
This currently interferes with boats passing on the creek.

Action
Item: George Schneider to check with the Grefe's for their acknowledgement of the issue and find out if they aren't willing to trim, are they OK
with RLAA volunteers doing so?

Looks
like this will need to be done after ice is out in spring by boat.

Still
need to get homeowner approval for doing this task.

Buoy deployment - Let's plan
on putting them out in early April.

2012 RLAA Annual Dues - Let's
make them due at the time of the annual meeting. Previously, we have not
issued a "due date", which may have contributed to not as many
residents paying them.

2012 RLAA Annual Meeting -
Decided to plan for Tuesday, May 1 at Sundance Golf & Bowl. Rick to
check availability and book if possible.

March
2nd - Rick was able to book a meeting room for RLAA Annual
Meeting on May 1.

Adjournment at 8:50 pm

Minutes by
George Schneider 3/17/12                                  Rice Lake Area Association website = http://www.ricelakemn.com