CLP meeting minutes March 15, 2015

 

Attendees: Tim Brown, Dean Lawes, Rod Ely, Carla Ely

 

Minutes for the March 15 minutes were approved.

 

The year end review from 2014 was discussed…

 

The Board is glad to report that the lake is maintaining  its population of just a small amount of eurasion milfoil. There is one patch on the south end and 2 patches on the north end near the outlet. The board is also pleased that Ann Bove ( State of Vermont environmental scientist with the Lakes and Ponds Management and Protection Program ) thinks that we

Are definitely making a positive difference in regards to the health of the lake. These indicators underscore our belief that the current strategy of stopping new invasive species from entering the lake through our current greeter program and harvesting established invasive species through divers and volunteered harvesting should continue.

The two areas that the CLPA needs to grow are donations and community involvement.

 

Financials:

Currently, our expenses almost equal our income. Because of the timing of when we have to pay our expenses and when we receive the bulk of our income in grants, the account experiences a deficit. Tim generously covered the deficit this year and has been reimbursed. Two areas that would solve this shortfall would be to cut expenses or increase income. The board looked at all the expenses and decided that there really wasn’t any areas that could be cut without putting the quality of the lake in jeopardy. Therefore, the CLPA will focus on increasing income through community awareness which will hopefully increase donations.

 

With that goal in mind, Tim has written an article for the Chronicle explaining what the CLPA is and how it impacts Crystal Lake and the community. The CLPA will also send out an informational message to our existing email list. The blurb will contain our website information and a request to forward the email to anyone that might also be interested in the CLPA. Rod noted that any email  sent out will not generate any spam. The person receiving the email has the choice to opt out of any further emails from the CLPA.

The timing of the release of information is important. The CLPA decided that late April to early May would be the optimal time. The CLPA is also considering sending out updates throughout the summer.

 

Other events that may produce more involvment in the CLPA are the annual picnic and the grant petition signature drive. The picnic will be held again this year in mid July. Actual date still TBD. The main people behind getting signatures for the town grant (Lucille L., Andy T. and Frank ) suggested that starting the effort earlier in the year would make the job easier. It was suggested that the 4^th of July and garage sale days may be good times to get signatures. 

 

Greeter Program:

Tim or Dean will contact Andy T. to make sure everything is set for the greeter program this year. The program will run from Memorial day weekend through Labor Day weekend from 6am till 6pm.

 

Diver Program:

It was noted that Chris Sheldon’s involvement in Octobers meeting was much appreciated and very beneficial to the CLPA. The CLPA will continue to contract the

Diving through Chris for the upcoming season

 

Outlet Harvesting:

The CLPA will continue its own harvesting of milfoil in the outlet. The Website will contain the dates and volunteers will have the opportunity to sign up to help.

 

Yearly Mtg:

Yearly meeting will be held on Saturday August 15 at 9:00am  in Pageant Park.

 

Meeting adjourned

Minutes by Carla Ely

Secretary CLPA