Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection Rehabilitation District Commissioner Meeting

Meeting Date: January 19, 2020 at Beaver Town Hall

Call to order at 9:30 AM by Commissioner Steve Eichman with Steve, Joe, and Roxy in attendance

Minutes of the annual meeting have not been presented or approved yet.

Financial Report
Current balances are: $4,324.15 in Lake District Checking plus $17,710.92 in CD ($357.06 on HLIA account) and $22.00 in cash. When we renewed one of the CD in November, we moved $2500 to checking. This still leaves an $5000 in CDs in addition to the $12,500 contingency fund. In January, we received checks from the Town of Almena and Town of Beaver from December 2019 tax payments. Report approved.

Beaver Dam Project
Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped break down the beaver dam last fall and kept the culver open to lower the lake levels last October and November. Also a big thanks to the Barron County personnel spent three days clearing fallen trees and debris from the channel into Echo in early November. Not sure exactly how much the lake was lowered, but it was definitely needed to avoid more shoreline damage in the spring.

2020-21 Planning grant
Our two-year planning and education grant application was completed by LEAPS and submitted in late January. We should know by the end of February if approved. This will cover much of what we will need to prepare and complete our updated Lake Management time in 2022, plus includes some additional activities we could and should do. Again - we will to find volunteers to help with the various projects that will need to be complete to help cover our share of the grant requirements).

Clean Boats/Clean Waters Grant.
We have been approved for a 2020 Clean Water/Clean Boat grant. We will to find volunteers to help do inspections at the boat landing (which will also help us cover our share of the grant requirements). Ideally would have coverage from 6:30-9:30 AM on Saturdays and Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Maybe local Boy Scout troop might be an option for assistance as a project for someone.

Purple Loosestrife
We want to keep this under control and will want to find someone to take the lead on this as well. Would ask Jeanne Perala to help train and will include this as part of our summer educational activities.

Lake Planning and Education Grant Application

Boat Landing
At last meeting - it was agreed to pay for a load of gravel to clean up boat land approach at the Town Park. The township will take care of spreading it. We could not get it done for fall, but hope can get this done first thing in the spring.

New Business
Concerns have been expressed regarding river otters in the lake. New DNR regulations will no longer require a specific permit for trapping and Steve will contact our trapping contact to let him know they are present and that he could come trap them this fall if he desires.

As part of grant application, Dave Blumer had recommended we contact Echo Lake Association and do joint letters of support for each other's grant applications, based on the fact the two lakes are linked by the channel and have similar challenges. We did this and plan to meet with the Echo Lake leadership at some point this spring to discuss potential for joint projects.

Polk County is again asking us to put out a lake level gauge (which we did not have in 2019). Their surveyor would come out and set this for us and there would be no charge - just a requirement to do weekly readings. We would like to do this and would either be able to put by boat landing (where it could be read by boat landing monitors) or next to Ludy's (where they would read it).

There was a floating bog blocking the entrance into Mudd Lake last fall (from the inside). We will need to look at this again in the spring and see what can be done to keep access open.

At the next meeting - we will establish the following dates for 2020:
- Annual spring cleanup at boat landing (may or may not be required)
- July 4th Boat Parade, 2:00 pm.
- Annual Lake District meeting date (9:00 AM on Saturday August 15, 2020 at the Beaver Town Hall for all property owners?)

We will also need to decide if we want to try and do a picnic again this year. Didn't get enough sign-up to do County Line in 2019.

We are still planning on updating the lake directory information sometime before summer.

Meeting adjourned at 10:45. Next meeting scheduled for Saturday March 14 at 9:30 AM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Joe Waldo - Lake District Secretary/Treasurer
Horseshoe Lake Public Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District

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