Blue Spring Lake Management District

BLUE SPRING LAKE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

August 28, 2010

ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES

The 2010 Annual Meeting was called to order at 10:05 a.m. There were approximately 50 residents present at the meeting.

Jim Hochman identified special team members for thanks includingDarren Wagner, Staci Metzger, Dick Rohloff, Jim Olson and Greg Twelmeyer. Marty Graff has stepped down from the Board and Dr. Larry Larson has offered to fill Marty's board position. All other Boardmembers were introduced, including Joe Nuspl, Chris Hodges, Darren Wagner and Bill von Rohr.

Nominating Committee Report

Jim Roland was introduced and asked to come forward and provide his background. B lot resident, coming out to the lake for over 30 years, ran for Town supervisor, grew up in a small town, was involved in farming, accounting, started business and ran businesses for other people.

Budget Hearing

Joe Nuspl explained the jump from $44,000 for the tax levy in 2010 to $88,000 for 2011, the fact that we took surplus dollars last year to drive down the levy. Joe went through the LGIP accounts, explaining that we have no more surplus to use and therefore need to raise the tax levy this year.

Joe did a budget review, line by line off the blue Proposed Budget sheet. He explained that he has separated expenses into smaller categories to enable better monitoring of expenses. He highlighted the big savings in the insurance, which was nearly $8,000 due to finding less expensive and better coverage.

Joe opened the hearing to questions from the residents:

1.What is the snowplowing for, doesn't the Town do this? The District needs to snow plow the lift stations for Greg to perform daily inspections.
2. Why do we have a jump in legal expenses? To cover both annexation issues and the sewer agreement.
3. Last year we increased the sewer charges by 25% and now you are showing an additional $6,000 in Sewer Repairs. Why? The $6,000 came from the LGIP accounts and we do not want to continue to pull funds from there.

4. To save tax dollars can we cut services to save money? There are not a lot of services we can cut to maintain the lake at an acceptable level of quality

5. Why are we not spraying for weeds? The farms that take our weeds today will not take them if they have chemicals from spraying, and year to date we have taken out 154 loads and that would not fit inthe compost site.
6. Why aren't the public accesses being mowed? That is town property and they are responsible for upkeep. Bill von Rohr will ask the Town Board about mowing and if residents can cut the grass to maintain these lots. Some residents stated they are already cutting the grass on these accesses.

7. How close to shore can the weed spraying take place? Pursuant to DNR regulations, it must be no closer than 100 feet to the shoreline.
8. Resident commented that she uses large tarps on her lakefront to smother the weeds and it works well.

A MOTION was made by William Goldberg of Lot 103 to accept the 2011 Proposed Budget. It was seconded by Mark Nicholson of Lot 37. The Motion passed with one Nay vote from the audience.

Operations Report

Darren Wagner reported that the operations team is getting better at using the two harvesters in tandem, but it is still a new situation to work out some kinks. The shallow lake and sunshine contribute to the growth of the weeds. The harvester required some major repairs last fall, specifically on the front deck which attributed to a majority of the repair costs. The harvester is 9-10 years old.

Questions from the residents:
1. A resident on the NE corner of the lake is concerned about the amount of weeds that continually collect there. Darren: The Operations team is aware of that area and the challenges that it presents. Darren went through the daily harvesting area route and said they would try to spend more time in that area. One problem is that the area has a lot of muck and when they cut, it clouds the water for 30-60 minutes before it clears forthem to see what they are cutting. This area also has a lot of grass type weeds and they lie down and are difficult to cut

2. Irene Peplinski asked for volunteers to take over secchi disk reading from her husband. Dick Herbst offered to do this and Darren would be his backup. These water clarity records are updated on a DNR website.
3. Status of muskrats. Darren-175 has been trapped and the trapping will again begin in November.
4. One resident reported that the phone numbers on the lift stations to call for emergencies are no longer the correct number. Staci was asked to report this to Greg so he can update the numbers with the correct one.

State of the District Report

A Proposed Sewer Ordinance was introduced by Dick Herbst. Dick explained the change in the DNR regulations concerning phosphorous and ammonia. Phosphorous is very expensive to remove from sewer plant outflow, so it is better to not let any phosphorous into waste water which is the purpose of the proposed ordinance. By passing this ordinance we will a) take a problem away from the Village by not having to treat District water for phosphorous, and b) create leverage for future sewer negotiations since we will have addressed this situation in a proactive way.

Questions from the residents:

1. Why not delay and use this as a negotiating factor? We want to be proactive and go into negotiation with a solution already in place.

2. Does the Village have the same ordinance? We are uncertain of that at this time, but if they don't they will need one.

3. How will we check the water for phosphorous? The District will need to purchase a hot kit and Greg would test the main lift stations monthly beginning in September.

4. What will be prohibited? Any kitchen or laundry detergent with phosphorous and any window cleaners with ammonia.
5. $500 a day seems excessive. Will residents be given a grace period? The grace period is the 4 months between now and January 1st. Greg's testing over the next 4 months will identify any problem areas and if we can trace it back to a property owner they will be notified to rectify the problem by January 1st.

6. Can we still use nitrogen in lawn fertilizers? Yes, nitrogenis not a banned substance today.

7. I thought there was a ban using fertilizers around the lake? No, this is advisory only, you should not apply it within 10 feet of the shoreline.

8. One resident advised that this ordinance be highlighted in the next two newsletters and a notice placed in the September and December sewer bills.

9. Does the town have a hazardous waste program? Bill von Rohr stated that they do not, but he
will get information from JeffersonCounty on their next disposal event.

Annexation Committee

Jim Hochman introduced the 4 members of the Annexation Committee. They are Steve Steinhoff, Peter Sommerhauser, Bill Goldberg and Jim Hochman. The goal of the committee is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the state's annexation process and then to communicate that knowledge effectively to the District residents. Jim asked forpeople to provide their email addresses to aid in communication. The committee has now retained outside counsel, but no funds have been spent as of yet.

Jim explained there are two ways annexation works; a)a property owner(s) petition the Village to be annexed, or b) the Village petitions the court to annex a section of the town. In a referendum vote, it is the District's "electors" that will decide. Electors are the people who vote in the last gubernatorial electionin the state and have their permanent residence within the township. The committee has identified about 200 "electors" in the District as of today. The committee has also began studying 60+ annexation court cases within the state to understand how other communities approach this and what happened in these cases. From what the committee sees, today, annexation would result in an increase in property taxes by property owners within the District.

Questions by the residents:
1. Can the Village repeat the annexation petitions to the court if the first one fails? Yes

2. Would BSLMD remain as an entity if annexation succeeded? Yes,but the Village would then set the rules for the lake.
3. Would the public access points be owned by the Village? There are varying opinions on this. Peter said no since they are Town property. Chris Hodges said he was sure that the Village would own them.

4. Why doesn't the District become incorporated? Steve-State lawsrequire a community to have schools, churches, a business district and some manufacturing. They need to look like a small village or city. It is doubtful that the District could attain that structure.

5. Someone asked for the committee to stand and introduce themselves.

6. Another question on the BSLMD and Town becoming incorporated. Steve- It is not possible.

7. What is the definition of electors? They must be registered to vote in the town.

8. Will the town contribute to the legal costs to fend off annexation? Bill von Rohr-stated that this will be considered in the 2011 budgeting process that begins in October.

Election Results

Jim Roland was elected as a District Commissioner to take the open position of Darren Wagner.

Final Comments

Joe Nuspl advised that the Town was working on an ordinance to allow boats to enter and leave the narrows through the existing marked channels, but DNR regulations prohibit jet skis from being within 200 feet of the shoreline and therefore they must enter and leave the small lake through the middle of the narrows. He also asked that boaters who anchor in the narrows in the sandy area not permit children to throw rocks at the buoys. These buoys cost $200 and rocks can damage them.

A MOTION was made and seconded to adjourn at 11:50 a.m.