RLAA 2010 Annual Meeting

May 4, 2010

Thank you to those 32 residents who attended our annual meeting on May 4th. We hope you were able to enjoy the meeting content and interaction with the board members as well as the food and beverage. Food/beverage and accommodations provided by the Sundance Golf & Bowl.

Meeting Minutes

6:30-7:00 – Free Pizza buffet for all those who pay their association dues

Registration/Check-in

7:00 – Meeting will get underway

7:20 - Call to Order (Rick)

Welcome (Rick)

Board introductions

All present except for Wade Quale (other commitment)

Member introductions

A quick showing of hands for which properties around the lake were represented:

Creek - 6

Peninsula - 8

91st Ave - 6

East Side - 1

West Bay - 0

RLAA Mission Statement was briefly displayed and discussed (Rick)

Elm Creek Watershed – Impaired Waters Project Plan presentation by Randy Lehr (Senior Manager of Water Resources for Three Rivers Parks District)

Randy manages the 5-year Project Plan for the watershed. He covered several facets of the plan after giving an introduction of what TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) means and how it impacts us. TMDL projects are being done nationwide on all water bodies. Concept is to determine what the current levels of concerns are (Nutrient levels, Mercury, etc) and come up with plans to get those issues down to manageable levels.

The basic habitat components for  a TMDL include:

Watershed

Shoreline

In-Lake

Lake classifications are very important when creating the management plans. (For example, since Rice Lake is a shallow lake fed by a creek, its thresholds and objectives will be different than a contained deep water lake like Weaver Lake.)

The Lake Management Plan created by Rice Lake in 2009 fits into the Elm Creek Watershed Project Plan and has been approved by the watershed.

Randy also brought up these topics during the presentation:

Zooplankton are your friend! - They get rid of the algae and help determine the quality of a vital game fish population.

Aerate your lawns! - Aeration will improve your lawns ability to absorb water and reduce run-off. This in turn helps reduce nutrients from escaping your property and finding their way into the storm drain system and eventually into our lake/creek.

Drawdowns are a positive impact on lake management - As long as they are used in a constructive way (reduce non-native plant growth; encourage native plant growth). RLAA may want to use Randy as a resource in the event we have a need for a drawdown in the future.

Treasurer Report for 2009 and 2010 (Rick)

Review of 2009 (Fiscal year 5/1/2009 through 4/5/2010) show roughly same amount collected in dues vs. previous year. In 2009, we spent roughly all that we took in.

Forecast for 2010 calls for more expenditures than what we have taken in over the past. We need to increase our revenue to help cover these project costs (each of which have been approved for co-funding with the City Lake Quality Commission and City Council). See the complete 2009 and 2010 reports on our website at this link:  http://ricelake.homestead.com/RL_FINANCIALS.html

General Lake Update (George)

(See PowerPoint presentation on RLAA website under Meetings at http://ricelake.homestead.com/RLAA_Annual_Assoc_Meetings.html)

2009 review

2010 plans

What can you do to help today?

Get involved

Are you doing all you can today to keep the water clean?

Get your neighbors involved

Contribute and volunteer

Opportunities for outside funding (grants, City matching funds, etc) are much higher when association members are strong.

Task Teams (Committees)

Join one of our teams – you don’t need to be a board member to join!

Lake Management

Environmental

Membership/Media

Several people volunteered to be on this team at the meeting; a good start!

Questions and Open Forum

Drawdown to control unwanted vegetation and even establish native plants is a good, economical idea, if done correctly. This warrants future consideration.

Lawn aeration is something that will help the lake and we all can do it. This would be a homeowner project and not part ore responsibility of the Rice Lake Area Association.

Rain gardens sparked some interest from the audience; these can be done in conjunction with possible grants from the Elm Creek Watershed or through the City of Maple Grove.

Curlyleaf Pondweed does exist along shoreline on 91st Avenue, according to Jeff Swanson. He would like to see efforts made to acknowledge this and take action to remove.

Is it more feasible or cost effective to dredge the canal and boat ramp launch in the winter or during a draw down?

Send out the annual dues notice again, as a last notice.  Establish a due date next year.  Consider offering an early payment discount.

There definitely seems to be a need to for more education for the residents on better shoreline and water management purposes. We need to get the word out to the residents how they can help starting with their property.

Adjournment at 8:55 pm

Draft by George Schneider 5/9/10