Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District Annual Meeting

Meeting Date: August 18, 2018 at Beaver Town Hall

Call to order at 9:05 AM by President Steve Eichman with approximately 35 people in attendance.

Reading of 2017 Minutes - Approved.

Financial Report
Current Balances: Lake District Money Market: $2,523.27: Cash fund: $22.35 and CDs: $20,166.02 (includes $12,500 Emergence Invasive Weed Fund). We also still have $367.06 left in the HLIA Checking account. We also had good interest income as CDs matured and were transferred to Lake District accounts.

Key variance was fewer milfoil acres treated (1.84 acres treated vs. 3.96 acres identified in fall survey). We also spent $750 this spring to remove some of the float bogs to reduce potential boating hazards. We set money aside for Shoreland restoration projects. We havent spent any of it yes, but still intend to for fall. Approved.

Current Status of Lake
Dave Blumer was not able to attend the meeting, but is planning to attend social tonight. Deep snow cover on the ice this winter delayed spring plant growth of Milfoil, which reduced our spraying costs for 2019. He asked us to remind people to pull milfoil if they see it . a plant pulled today may save a $1000 of spraying in two years. Also seeing more Purple Leafstrip in area lakes.

Steve Eichman reported that water clarity has been good this summer, so hopefully that will continue. Secci test was only 2f last year, but was at 15f in July and still at 7.5f (better than even 2016). Round Lake has turned green with curly pond leaf and we are hoping not to see a repeat of that again on Horseshoe this summer. Lack of heavy rainfall so far this summer has reduced the amount of run]off into the lake, but we canft depend on that happening every year.

Boat landing inspection and Clean Boats/Clean Waters grant.
Boat inspections are our first line of defense in keeping invasive species out of the lake and we need to do the boat inspection anyway as part of our lake management plan. We have a Clean Boats/Clean Waters grant for 2018, but need volunteers to be able to help Jack Sullivan cover boat landing inspections until mid - September on Friday, Saturday, Sunday - first thing in morning, 4 - 6 in afternoon. Contact Jack to volunteer.

A reminder that Zebra mussels are continuing to be a larger issue in MN/WI. Using a 10% bleach solution will kill mussels. (Lake Pepin is biggest source). Live wells and bilges are key culprits for spreading pests. Also looking for people to help Nackeruds identify purple loose strip and clean out plants before they spread.

Shoreline Restoration
People need to be more aware of how their shoreline impacts the lake (especially run]off). Just because something you are doing isnft it is not illegal, it can still be bad for the lake. We will set up a day for property owners to meet with a shoreland consultant (The Green Frog Company - Amanda Kostner from Shell Lake, WI). What we need is to is get a list of property owners who are interested to sign up on a list, and then evaluate how much time Amanda would need to accommodate.

Healthy Lakes Grant Options
There are many best practices owners can do to keep the lake clean. Rain gardens, native plantings (benefits include less water, better adapted, survive winter, feed wildlife), runoff diversion strips, and French drains (infiltration trenches) drains. If property owners are interested, there are Wisconsin's Healthy Water grants available from state, with applications due by February 1. See http://tinyurl.com/healthylakes. Potential cost-share grant award is $1000 per project, with a maximum of $25,000. Lake district will reimburse up to $100 for planning costs on DNR approved projects.

Five-Year Lake Management Plan
Our five-year lake management plan is due to be updated in 2020 and re-writing our Aquatic Plant Management Plan including whole-lake plant survey work will need to be done in 2019. We will again request a planning grant to help with some of that cost - it will be prepared and submitted in December. Remember - with grants, volunteer hours are important to minimize the amount of cash we need to spend vs what we get back.

Communications
Trying to determine the best way to communicate with lake owners. We now have a Facebook page plus our hlake.org website.

New Horseshoe Lake Sign
Hope everyone has seen the nice new sign at the boat landing, made by the Turtle Lake High School Tech Ed class. We approved spending $150 to pay for materials for them to make a new sign to replace the old one on Cty T this winter.

New Business
We need a new no power loading sign for the boat land plus new buoys for the entrance into Buckwalls Bay for next spring (need one on each side).

Dont forget about Snuba available for weed removal. Contact Craig or Laura Nackerud if you are qualified and interested in using it.

Approved to spend $300 to do an updated Horseshoe Lake directory in 2019 and submit information in best format necessary. Our email list and directory information is harder to keep current (depends on counties, by for address only). Marlene Goethel, Mike Foster and Joe Waldo will take the lead on this over the winter. We will need permission to provide home, email and phone info.

Election of new commissioner.   Steve Eichman was the only candidate to agree to run and was re-elected by unanimous vote. Please consider volunteering to run in the future as we elect one commission each year (Joe Waldo term up in 2019).

Discussed 2019 proposed budget.  No major changes from 2018, other than we are assuming we will get Clean Waters/Clean Boats grant in 2019. Proposed 2019 tax assessment would be $8,650 (average of appr. $39/property). Motion was made and seconded to approve the budget. After discussion, an amendment was made and approved to add $200 for buoys plus $300 for directory, with the final assessment being $9,150. Motion was carried. The approved Lake District budget for the 2019 calendar year is shown below:

        

Formal meeting adjourned at 10:08.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Joe Waldo - Lake District Secretary/Treasurer
Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District

Note: After meeting, had a discussion about doing a 2019 Picnic and was widely recommended. Bruce Johnson and Jim Lewis agreed to be 2019 picnic coordinator. They will target the week before the 2019 Annual meeting (Country line or Turtle Glen?) and we will communicate final date and location when available.

Also comments were made asking for fewer late fireworks outside of 4th of July weekend.

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