2011 Board Meeting Notes

June 11th 2011

Meeting called to order by President James Sand at 9:02 AM: Cold Spring American Legion

Board Members present: Jim Sand, President, Jack Brunner Sec’t. Matt Peters, Treasurer, Allen Schmitz, Bill Schnettler, Mark Backus and Neil Fandel and Rena Weber: Past President;

Excused: Bryan Bjorkland,

1. President Jim Sand welcomed everyone and asked for a motion to accept the agenda. Passed.

A. Minutes approved as printed with two corrections. Motion/2nd/100%

4. Treasurer’s Report: by Matt: Spent: $1,331.35, Remaining $1,668.65. Total Budget $3,300.00.

Note: $400 for IRS 501 © 3. Budget adjusted but not increased.

96 members, $3,000.00 on hand. M/2nd/100%

5. Conservancy Fund: All in place to have it happen: Transfer to Initiative Fund. Need Vote.

6. Guest speaker: Anne Nelson from Stearns Co Environmental Services. “Wetlands”

7. Standing Committees: a. Vegetation Workshop at Avon Today. 3 of our people will attend.

8. Water Quality: Bill S and Matt. Secchi Report: 30 feet this past week.

9. Land Development: a) Hillgers 180 acres plus lake shore – Value $5 M.

b) Alexander Property: zero action. Paper work finished. $324,000 back taxes Pd.

c) JBA Property 44 set aside acres, 4 lake lots, 1 lot off lake, replacing 2 homes.

10. 501 © 3: Application Mailed. Thanks to Paul Steil for all his work.

11. Farmland set aside property: (A) Hammann Property Complete: We have $1,937.26 to pay for this work from Association Grant. (B ) Schramel Property: Application has been withdrawn.

12. Visioning Session: Northern Rearing pond: need a positive Dissolved O2 test. Government is too busy to come and give us help or to let us use their machine. Board Decision. There is grant money available if we can determine a need. Would need to apply and use the grant by Dec 31st. any ideas?

13. Wetlands: one request has been denied. Alexander’s readjusted their wetland to increase their acres on site.

14. Fund Raiser: at Avon. Ideas in process

15. July 4th, we will have a “Pirate” theme parade.

16. Loons; 2 nests used, three chicks. May have to put one platform by Peanut Hill.

17. Fly over Study by Mark Backus. Motion to spend $418.50, half now and 2nd half upon completion of the project. 2nd/100%

18. Ads for boatlifts, boats, etc., Can use Lake email system.

19. There are Tent/Army worms in the area.

Adjourned at 9:54 AM to begin annual June Meeting by 10 AM. Minutes by Jack H. Brunner

Board Meeting Feb 5,2011, approved 3/19/2011

BFLA board meeting minutes

Meeting date: 2.5.11

BFLA board meeting minutes

Meeting date: 2.5.11

Attending: Jim Sand, Allen Schmitz, Bill Schnettler, Byron Bjorkland, Matt Petters, Rena Weber, Mark Backes

Not attending: Fr John and Neil Fandel

– Meeting called to order at 9:35 by Jim Sand

– Agenda approved (Motion by Allen S. , 2nd Rena Weber – all voted in favor)

– Budget approved (Motion by Byron B. , 2nd Bill S. – all approved)

Discussion noted $1600 received from the Initiative Foundation, these funds will be used for on-going water quality testing.

– Conservancy Fund:

·Discussion noted this fund has investment options available and these options need to be researched to determine the best for the BFLA account.

·A motion was made to endorse Jim S., acting as a member of the BFLA board; to research the current status of the BFLA account within the Conservancy Fund and report this status along with options within the Conservancy Fund for investments of the BFLA money back to the board to approve the final recommendation / investment account. (Motion by Rena W. , 2nd Matt P. – all approved)

– Membership drive:

*Discussion on the work performed by Jim S. and Matt P. to review the mailing lists of all property owners using the county web site. This list was reviewed at the meeting with changes / updates made to specific owner names, address and zip code corrections. Bill S. volunteered to complete the inserts, apply address labels / stamps to membership drive application / information that will be included in this mailing. Each board member will be assigned specific lakeshore owners that do not return the membership document for follow up and to assure they have the opportunity to become a member.

– Visioning session:

· Discussion on this topic related to the focus on weekly water quality testing as soon as the ice goes out. Testing will include the entire lake with additional focus on the area around the rearing pond. RMB will continue to be the company used for the testing. Bill S. will look into options / methods to determine ‘water flow’.

– Wetland replacement:

· Jim S. gave an update on the township and county status of a BFL land owner requesting approval for a building site to include wetland replacement. The BFLA has delivered a written ‘position statement’ on this topic as it relates to all wetland within the area watershed. At this time no further action of the BFLA board is anticipated.

– Lake lot / land development:

· Update discussion on the Alexander property plat status – no action by the BFLA board.

· BFLA board approved Jim S. as President to use the ‘Presidents allocated discretionary fund’ if needed to assist in mitigating spring runoff water into the lake.

Outreach / media opportunities:

· Rocori school is sponsoring an area Water Festival and has requested donations from area business and organizations to help fund this event on Friday May 13th for approximately 350 – 4th grade students. They will learn about what fits into a water hydrologic cycles and how it relates to a) natural resources b) human activity c) importance to life. The BFLA board donated $50.00 to this event. (Motion by Allen S. , 2nd Matt P. – all approved)

· Discussion on the BFLA having a booth at the Cold Spring Chamber event held this spring at Rocori was held with the decision to pass on this event.

Matching grant:

· Jim and Rena will complete the application for the 2011 Healthy Lakes matching grant program. This program offers grants up to $5000.00. The last grant was in 2002 and based on current positive use of this grant money for projects, the opportunity for approval of additional grants is favorable.

· Possible uses for this grant money includes a) rain gardens b) boat landing informational events c) Farmland set aside within the BFL watershed

Newsletter:

· Plan is to send a BFLA newsletter in March. Board members need to complete articles within the next 3 weeks and send to Jim S.

Terms of office:

· Terms of current BFLA board members will be detailed and voted on at the June 2011 meeting to align with the bi-laws of the BFLA. Class 1 members will expire in 2011 and Class 2 in 2012. Details of this will be communicated and voted on in June. Any member not wanting to continue or knowing of other BFL land owners interested in being on the BFLA board should contact Jim S.. Meeting dates of June 11, 2011 and September 9, 2011 were recommended, Matt P. will contact the Township to secure the meeting room.

Fund Raisers:

· Discussion on a possible “BLF garage sale” was held, recommendation is to have the BFL fund raising committee make a recommendation as to the event plan and budget to the BFLA board. If this recommendation is completed further discussion will take place.

June BFLA meeting speaker:

· The meeting date of June 11 2011 at the Collegeville township building was recommended. The BFLA board meeting will be 9:00 – 10:00 am with the speaker and balance of the agenda to be from 10:00 to noon.

· Pam Perry was one of the suggested speakers as she could update the status of the Loons and include information on the area Eagles also. Final speaker(s) will be determined in the near future.

Meeting adjourned at 11:35 am.

Oct 2011 Board Meeting

Meeting called to order by President James Sand at 9:08 AM. Home of Jim Sand

Board Members present: Jim Sand, President, Jack Brunner Sec’t. Matt Peters, Treasurer, Allen Schmitz, Bill Schnettler, Rena Weber, Past Pres.

Excused: Bryan Bjorkland, Neil Fandel, Mike Fandel

1. Jim S read the minutes from Aug 20th Mtg. Motion to approve, 2nd, Passed.

2. Budget: $1795.78 left from a budget of $3,300. We are in good shape.

In Non-Dedicated Funds: $10,420.85.

3. Bills to pay: Website $50.00

Brochure $221.00 for 500 copies

Fly Over $209.25 2nd ½ payment. If work is done, will be paid.

Motion: 2nd Passed 1005 to pay these bills as authorized.

4. 2012 Budget will be discussed in December

(Rena W. Arrived at 9:20 AM, Fashionably late. She was warmly welcomed.)

5. 501.c3 – we are a legal tax exempt organization as of Sept 30, 2011. We will file annual Post card e File (990N).

6. Rearing Pond. With our 501(c)3 IRS Code status, we can be our own fiscal agent for the pond grant. If we receive $5,000 we will match with $5,000. Once grant is approved we can hire consultant, Osgood Consulting has been recommended Paul D, DNR. Jim has met with Dick Osgood to see if he would be willing to work with us. Possible cause(s) will be determined and correction plans and their costs will be developed. Motion made to proceed with grant as our own fiscal host. 2nd. Passed 100%. We will be working with the DNR, Soil and Water, plus other groups on this project.

7. Newsletter: Articles are pending from Matt, Jim and Rena. Deadline Nov 15, distribute by Dec 1st.

8. After a short discussion, motion made to officially disband the fisheries committee of the Lake Association. This committee has been dormant for a long time. Motion, 2nd, 100% Passed.

9. Membership: Jan 01, 2012. Goodly number of lake homes on BFL are in family trust. We do not have the names of the official owners in many cases. Will need to work on this.

10. Fund Raiser: Mon, July 2, 2012 at Fishers/Avon. Need a chairperson. It’s a big job to get prizes/donations and to print the signs, etc.

11. Social Picnic: August 26th, 2012 at Hidden Cove, Rena will chair this event.

12. Shoreline: Check our Web Site. Only one restoration grant project submitted.

13. Succession Planning: There is an organization that works with families to keep lake shore property in the family. This organization would like to use our mailing list for one time mailing. Good idea.

14. 2012 Boat Landing: DNR is evaluating various procedures. Our Options at present are: Our volunteers would be trained by the DNR and DNR would hold liability, install a wash station, 50/50. Jim is working with Heidi Wolf, a MN state contact person.

15. No other business at present. Meeting Adjourned by Jim Sand at 10:20 AM.

Minutes by Jack H. Brunner