ROCK LAKE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

                             Board Meeting minutes April 5, 2010

                            Lake Mills Municipal Building, 6:30 p.m.

Meeting Called to Order - Jan Jenrich, president, 6:30 p.m.

Attendance – Present: Jim Colegrove (treasurer), Betsy Delorey, Lee Gatzke, Jan Jenrich (president), Margaret Krueger (secretary), Katie Otto and Jim Plotz (vice president). Absent: Bill Amman, Scott Johnson and Ron Niedfeldt

Review of agenda – Will be followed as planned.

Meeting minutes – Motion to approve minutes of Feb. 8, 2010 meeting made by Gatzke and seconded by Otto. Approved.

Treasurer’s report – Report given by Colegrove stated: RLIA Grant, $111.31; RLIA Checking, $7,228.61; and RLIA Savings, $4,263.90 for overall total of $11,603.82. Colegrove, Plotz and Johnson conducted an audit of 2009 books as required by 501c3 status. Books were in order. A new Pay Pal checking account was opened.

Correspondence – Colegrove said RLIA received a thank-you note from Rock River Coalition for membership donation. An Energy Fair will be held at Lake Mills Middle School in conjunction with Earth Day. Discussion held on whether RLIA will participate. Colegrove said annual Clean Up Day was planned. An email was received asking if someone from RLIA would speak at Cub Scout den meeting. A letter was received from Steve Oostdik regarding access to his property for water sample testing. He questioned the need for testing, asked who would do the testing, and said he may or may not refuse access to property depending on the qualifications of volunteers doing the testing. Paulette Harder will speak on April 15 at a Glacial Heritage implementation session on April 15 at Oakland Town Hall. Jenrich has asked Harder to speak at RLIA special meeting in June. Stan Smoniewski sent an email to Colegrove and requested that Colegrove read it to the board. The email stated that remarks Smoniewski made at RLIA meeting on Feb. 8 were distorted in the February minutes. Colegrove will forward the email to board members and Jenrich said the issue will be discussed at the May meeting.

Public Comment – Hope Oostdik asked why more bacterial testing was needed on nine more sites at a cost of $2,500 when Sue Graham of the DNR suggested more testing was not necessary on a stream such as Miljala. Jenrich replied that more testing needed to be done during rain events and the cost would also cover phosphorus testing.

Committee Reports:

Bylaw Committee – Delorey said the committee has completed its work and a draft of the bylaws was ready for review and discussion by the board. Copies of current bylaws and draft were distributed for review. Discussion was held on candidates being present when nominated in advance and also from the floor. The issue will again be reviewed next month. A special membership meeting will be held June 5 to vote on the bylaws. Jenrich will check on the availability of the Lake Mills Municipal Building for the meeting. An article will be written by the publicity committee summarizing the changes. The date for the annual meeting in August will be set at the May meeting.

Grant Committee – Gatzke said the two RLIA grants were not awarded by the DNR. The grants received 18* points but needed 25 points. Plotz referred to the rift between the old and new boards and suggested that a new grant committee be formed in an effort to get everyone to work together when reapplying for grants. Any changes to the grants will be discussed in the future. Board members were asked to email Jenrich with suggestions of names of people willing to be added to the grant committee. Bob Wardall, Gatzke and Jenrich were trained by Neil O’Reilly to conduct sample water tests. The training was videotaped by Gatzke.

Public Relations Committee – Articles will continue to be submitted to newspapers.

Old Business:

Website Review – Work is being done on the Pay Pal page on the website.

Membership mailings – Delorey created a sample tri-fold membership brochure with instructions on how to pay online, or members could mail in dues. The year of the mailing and names of board members are not included so same brochure could be used again in ensuing years. The board decided a return envelope should be included in mailing. The brochure will be voted on at the May meeting. The brochure includes a list of monthly RLIA activities including Spring Lake Clean Up in May, membership drive and Town & Country Days booth with free hot dogs in June, Independence Day flotilla with free popsicle delivery to piers in July, and annual meeting in August.

Listening sessions – The first listening session will be held Monday, April 12, 2010 at Lake Mills Municipal Building where Neil O’Reilly will lead a discussion on the grant report. A special meeting of members will be held June 5 to vote on bylaws. A motion was made by Delorey and seconded by Otto to schedule listening sessions on Saturday, June 5, from 10 a.m. to noon,. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

New Business:

WAL Convention – Report given by Gatzke, who attended the convention in Green Bay. He attended several workshops covering a variety of topics and found them very interesting and informative.

Focus and direction of RLIA Board – Will be discussed next month.

Resignation – Krueger resigned from the board as secretary and member of the board, effective May 10, 2010. In her letter of resignation, she cited irresolvable differences with a majority of board members over topics including communication among board members and with others, lack of bidding process, and projections for spending funds with no plans for fund-raising. She will continue as secretary until the next monthly meeting.

Request by Rachel Primmer to board – News reporter Rachel Primmer asked the board to answer a list of questions that she had submitted to the board prior to the meeting. The list of 11 questions included last election, accountability, Miljala ditch testing, sharing information with the board, fiscal responsibility, working relationships with DNR and Jefferson County, changes to bylaws, best interest of Rock Lake, invasive species, plans for Korth Bay and help in making necessary improvements to RLIA. The questions were answered by Delorey, Jenrich, Otto and Plotz.

Board Meeting Schedule – Next meeting is May 10, 2010.

Adjournment – Motion to adjourn made by Delorey and seconded by Plotz. Carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.

Margaret Krueger, secretary

*Lee Gatzke suggested minutes show that later information from Sue Graham revealed grant scored at 17 points instead of 18.  That was not the Board’s understanding at the time of the April 5 Board Meeting.

2010-05-09:  Motion to approve minutes as amended by Delorey, seconded by Gatzke, carried unanimously.