Arkdale - Minutes

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The Arkdale lake District board meeting was called to order by Chairman Steve Haskell at 9:00 AM on August 3, 2024, at the Strongs Prairie Town Hall. Present were Eric Moulton, Craig LaCount, Tim Meyer, Steve Haskell, and recorder Mary Jo Meyer. Absent was Commissioner Seth Hamilton. This meeting was to discuss future projects, funding options, and other items for the annual meeting agenda. Steve had hand-outs for everyone, which are attached at the end of these minutes. These will be referred to in the minutes.

Updates were given on the “new” harvester, new equipment shelter, the old harvester, dam maintenance, and the boat launches. Specifics are in the attached hand-out. Dredging in front of your own property was discussed, and within the next month Tim and Craig are going to check into permits, cost, renting, etc.

It was decided to eliminate page 6.

On page 7, insurance is going up about $500 because we have to list board members as employees for workman’s comp purposes.

As of today (August 7), about 30 hours have been put in harvesting, resulting in about 30 loads of weeds. It was discussed just where we can cut, but right now we are just trying to get rid of the curly leaf pond weed, an invasive plant, that has really taken over parts of the lake. We decided to combine pages 3 and 8 for the annual meeting hand-out.

Reviewing the budget (pages 8-10), we decided we need a project sheet for 2025. Steve will create that. We will need Property Works to come out and look at spots where rock seems to be “disappearing” from the berm. In one spot a stump will need to be removed. We are guessing about $8000 for the berm projects. We will need to cut extra projects such as the purchase of a mower and building a shed by the berm to house equipment for dam gate control and the mower. The John Deere needs new brakes which will be about $5000-$6000.

Craig is going to research chemical treatment and get up-dated quotes. We also need to find a person who would be willing to float the pond to record types of weeds, both invasive and non-invasive, and chart their locations.

We need more volunteers! People are needed for mowing, dam maintenance, driving tractor, running harvester, and general help. Mary Jo will create a sign-up sheet for people to sign at the annual meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 10:30 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo Meyer, Recorder

Arkdale Lake District

P.O. Box 79

Arkdale, WI 54613

The Arkdale Lake District annual meeting was called to order by Chairman Steve Haskell at 9 AM on

May 27, 2023, at the Strongs Prairie Town Hall. Chairman Steve Haskell and Commissioners Eric Moulton, Tim Meyer and Craig LaCount, and Recorder Mary Jo Meyer were in attendance, along with 21 Lake District members and 3 guests. Absent was Commissioner Seth Hamilton.

Paul Beyer made a motion that the minutes be read personally. Second by Eric Moulton. Unanimous voice vote. Motion carried.

Eric Moulton gave the treasurer’s report. Being no questions, the treasurer’s report stands as presented.

Dredging: Tim and Steve verified that the dredging was done correctly (correct depth and width). Approximately 30 feet of the last channel wasn’t completed due to having difficulty anchoring, and also because they got a late start at the beginning of the project and at the end the lake started to freeze over. ECO Waterway gave us a credit of $3500 for that portion not dredged. The Township is willing to take the sand, saving us about $15, 000 since we don’t have to haul it. We were denied grant money as we needed an engineering study of the channels and we also had to make the launch handicapped accessible. This was too expensive to pursue so we dropped it. Someone mentioned that it seems to be filling in between the islands, which it is. Since Cottonville is upstream and their flow affects the banks between them and us, a few suggestions were mentioned: maybe they don’t fully open their gates but open a little each day; maybe we can get together with Cottonville and pursue rip-rapping; maybe we need to open up channels of communication with them so their dam control doesn’t affect us so.

Dam Updates: The Arkdale Lake District now has complete ownership of the dam. Brush has been cleared from the berm. Steve wanted to thank Tim Meyer, Dan Laber, Jim Fanning, Steve Hermanson, Craig LaCount and Fred Bittner for their help in doing this. Someone was concerned about kids throwing boulders at the dam, seeing kids on the pier every day, and wondering about our liability. A posted No Trespassing sign covers our liability. We will need to replace them as we now own the berm on both sides of the dam. She was also concerned about people launching kayaks, etc. but we need to provide a portage area as we are a recreational waterway. We should probably take the pier out.

Tractor: We tried to start our tractor but the engine is seized due to water damage. The tires are cracked, the seat needs to be replaced and it needs some paint. Repair cost was estimated at $11,000. Steve Hermanson found a good used John Deere tractor for $4500 with our trade-in and the board approved this in February.

Weed Harvester: Our harvester is a 1984 Aquamarine H-700, 39 years old. Engine works; hoses, tires, winches and batteries need to be replaced. In March we pulled off the pontoons and found holes in the main barge of the harvester. Bottom very rusty but holding. Without repairs the harvester is not useable; however, since the south boat landing still has dredging bags on it we wouldn’t be able to launch anyhow. We won’t be harvesting weeds this year.

Weed Management: We are going to research repairing the harvester although that is probably not feasible. Other options: purchase a newer (used) harvester and sell or scrap the old one; contract with a provider to do chemical weed treatment (requires DNR approval); contract with an outsourcer to do the harvesting; just do nothing. This summer we will research these options and in September we will hold a special meeting and present the options to the District. You will vote on what you want us to do. We will have researched what a new harvester will cost and we will bring that information to the meeting. Paul suggested contacting Cottonville as they have the new smaller machine and see how they like it. They should be able to tell us where to get them. With outsourcing we need to check on how low they cut, off-loading, how often they would cut, and cost. Someone mentioned raising the lake level. We have tried this 3 times; this last time 5 riparian land owners said no. We are not thinking about revisiting this issue at this time. Karen mentioned fund raising. Since we are now a municipality we fall under different rules so we need to get some legal advice first.

2023 Plan: Finish the south launch cleanup; purchase a used lawn mower to maintain property; install a shed for lawn mower and dam gate equipment storage on north berm property. Eric has volunteered his carpenters to build the shed so we just have to come up with funds for materials; research and recommend weed management options; special meeting in September; continue monitoring invasive plants; continue brush management on berms.

District Approvals: Eric went over the 2023 budget. Steve Haskell moved to approve the 2023 budget. Second by Craig LaCount. Carried by unanimous voice vote. We are proposing the creation of a non-lapsible fund, which is basically a savings account to be used for larger, infrequent expenses, thereby avoiding the need for additional loans. Eric made a motion to create a nonlapsible fund. Second by Craig LaCount. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Wisconsin Statutes Section 33.30-1 states that “every district shall have an annual meeting. Each annual meeting shall be scheduled during the time period between May 22 and September 8 unless scheduled outside those dates by majority vote of the previous annual meeting.” Our District by-laws state that our annual meeting will be held on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Historically we have a poor turn-out as people would rather spend the time with their family. A question was brought up as to whether we should vote on moving the date of the annual meeting to a different time frame so we could get a better representation of the District. Another issue is that businesses usually do their contracts in late fall to early January. When we need District approval of spending monies, that is done at our annual meeting in May which makes it difficult to contract any work out. Proposed date changes are: keep it the same (Memorial Day); Saturday before Labor Day; 2^nd Saturday in Sept.; 3^rd Saturday in May; 1^st Saturday in Oct. Steve opened it up for suggestions. One was the 2^nd Saturday in Oct. Another mentioned having a pot luck after the meeting. Another was the possibility to Zoom the meeting (you can attend but you would not be eligible to vote). Paul asked what the procedures were in the by-laws for changing the annual meeting date. We need to check on that. Steve said we will do this in two parts. Steve proposed to change the date of the annual meeting. Second by Craig LaCount. One no vote (Tom Rawski), rest were yes. Motion carried. Next we voted on the proposed date changes (listed above), eliminating the first option since we just voted to change the date. This left 5 options; of those we took the top two vote getters (Saturday before Labor Day and 2^nd Saturday in Sept.) and voted on them. The 2^nd Saturday in Sept. received 15 votes and the Saturday before Labor Day received 6 votes. The annual meeting in 2024 will be held on the 2^nd Saturday in Sept. Commissioner election: Eric Moulton’s term is up. Eric agreed to run again. Three calls for other nominees. Being none, Paul made a motion to cast a unanimous ballot for Eric Moulton. Second by Charlie Lande. Carried.

Special Recognition: Paul Beyer was recognized for his 35+ years of service to the Arkdale Lake community. Without him we wouldn’t be the organization we are today. Tim said he could talk for hours about all Paul has done but what stood out most to him was the 2002 flood. Paul stepped right in and got the Army Corps of Engineers here to dredge out part of the east end-for free! He also figured out the hydraulics for operating the gates and procured the needed boards as the previous ones were ripped out by the fire department during the flood. Tim also thanked Sandy for her support of Paul and the time he spent working for the Association and then the District. Steve then presented Paul with a plaque in recognition for what he had done. Paul, we will miss you.

Open Discussion: Can the DNR do a lake management class for shore owners

We will try to keep web site updated

Set up page on web site for volunteer opportunities

You can do your own shoreline dredging. Go to the DNR website for more information

Adjournment: Motion to adjourn (Kelly Hermanson). Second by Craig LaCount. Carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:31 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Jo Meyer, Recorder

9-23-23 Minutes

ARKDALE LAKE DISTRICT

P. O. Box 79

Arkdale, WI 54613

A special meeting of the Arkdale Lake District was held on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 9:00 AM at the Strongs Prairie Town Hall, Highway 21 and Church Street in Arkdale, Wisconsin. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Steve Haskell at 9:00 AM. Chairman Steve Haskell and Commissioners Eric Moulton, Tim Meyer and Craig LaCount, and Recorder Mary Jo Meyer were in attendance, along with 22 Lake District members. Absent was Commissioner Seth Hamilton. The purpose of this meeting is to make a decision on how we will manage the weeds going forward. Our current harvester is no longer useable so we will be deciding today how, going forward, we’re going to manage the weeds. Steve then went through and discussed the pages of our meeting packet.

Steve read through page 3 of the meeting packet, noting that our harvester is 40 years old and unusable. We haven’t managed the weeds for the last 5 years due to the fact that the launch has filled in and we couldn’t get the harvester in or out. We did the dredging project last year but, unfortunately, the harvester has to be replaced. We do have the danger of curly leaf pond weed, an invasive species, taking over as time goes on.

Page 4 shows the areas the DNR says we can and can not harvest. No matter what we do, the lake will never be without weeds. You will always see weeds. We need to remember that. This is a shallow lake so the weeds will always grow. But we can keep some channels clear for navigation.

There is a Waterways Grant available, which would pay up to 50% of the purchase price of a harvester, that we have pre-applied for. Also have loans available but then there is the pay-back of the loan, which is something else we would need to consider. The grant would consider a new or used harvester. Steve then read through the weed management options listed on page 6.

Page 7 showed some of the harvesters out there. We would like something smaller than we have so that it is easier to launch. We need to consider not only the purchase of a harvester but the purchase of a trailer as well. A new harvester runs from $100,000 to $150,000.

Page 8 listed some information on purchasing a new harvester. We would need trained volunteers to run it and also a shelter to protect the harvester and tractor from the weather. It was mentioned that, when we vote on the options we need to keep the grant in the back of our minds as there is no guarantee we will get it. A used harvester runs $50,000 to $90,000. However, right now they are in pretty high demand. If one comes up we would need to jump on it, if it is the right one for us. We have $69,000 right now and we are not going to spend more than what we have. If a harvester comes up and we don’t have the money we will wait until we have enough money. We don’t want to take out a loan. Besides, we can’t take out a loan without District members approval.

The quote for chemical treatment of the weeds, given to us by Cason, a pretty reputable company, is $12,855. However, there are other expenses involved, including a DNR permit, which is more expensive than a harvester permit. They are able to deal with the curly leaf pond weed. Chemically treating the weeds would be an operating expense. We have around $6000 in our operating funds for maintaining the harvester, which isn’t operable, so we could apply this towards the chemical treatment. We could draw from the $69,000 but we also have to have monies for other projects as well. There is not enough in our operating budget to allow us to do this every year unless we want to add an additional assessment tax. One thing we could do is save up and do a treatment every 2 years. The chemical they use is a liquid. It is weighted so it goes down fast, it acts fast and dissipates fast. The lake district we contacted, Silver Springs lake, is about 100 acres, so larger than us. They treat in the spring and say it works for them. According to the DNR the chemical is safe and won’t harm your drinking water or the fish. One drawback: they treat only 20 foot lanes whereas a harvester does 80 to 100 foot lanes.

We have had some trouble getting responses from harvesting contractors. Silver Mist gave us a price of $5000 per day. Eric got hold of Midwest, who was bidding a job ½ hour from here. He seemed interested, came out and looked at our lake but it fell through because he didn’t want to come out for just one lake. His estimate was $4000/day for 4 or 5 days. They would harvest the whole large side of the lake and the channels. TSB, another harvesting company, just contacted Eric. Their estimate was $4000/day for 5 days. They would do all of the channels and about 20 acres of harvesting. These companies us a 5 foot harvester (width of the cutting bar).

Our last option is to do nothing. We haven’t harvested the last 5 years, and you can see what the pond looks like. We do have the curly leaf pond weed, an invasive species, which the DNR is in favor of getting rid of. It can take over the lake. They wouldn’t mind if we go out of the cutting lanes to get it. If we do decide to do nothing we could get rid of the equipment we do have and return the $6000 we have in our operating expense account to you.

Steve went over the basic costs for the first four options, showing a one time cost and the cost over a ten year period. These are just straight line figures, not allowing for inflation. We do know, however, that costs go up over time.

At this point, the meeting was opened up for ½ hour for open discussion. Following are questions or comments that were asked or made:

Is there any kind of fish or animal that eats weeds?

Not that we know

How much would taxes go up for on-and-off lake people if we have to raise more money?

We would follow the same rules that we did for the loan for the dredging. Since we don’t know what we are going to do yet, we have no figures.

What are we going to do with the old harvester? You’ve mentioned that there is no fix to that. We have some pretty talented people around here that might be able to repair it, not knowing what is wrong with it.

Tim answered that our machine is 40 years old, eleven gauge material, which is about 1/8 inch thick. He talked to an engineer who had worked at Aqua-Marine, the brand of harvester that we have now. Our machine has rusted through. Why can’t we just cut it off at the water line, as everything is great above the water line, and have a new part welded on? He said we didn’t want to do that as there are so many braces inside that hull to support the hydraulic motors, and also to keep it from flexing. If you cut it off all that brace work will also need to be repaired. It probably wouldn’t work, and it would cost as much, or more, than the cost of a used machine. They also talked about having it foamed but that’s too dangerous. Aqua-Marine did foam a few machines but when they had to weld the final unit on, it blew up. If you use foam, don’t weld! Our trailer has 2 flat tires. We aren’t able to lift the 10,000-12,000 lb. off the trailer so we can get at the tires. We need to replace the tires then have the machine towed to a salvage yard in Nekoosa. We would keep the trailer as some of the used harvesters don’t have a trailer.

With no water, how can we use the machine?

We would be able to use it on the pond in the channels to be cut, but we can’t get it up the creek. Also, we are looking at a smaller machine, which wouldn’t have as much draw.

A gentleman made the comment that he is not comfortable condemning anything. He had been in the heavy equipment business for over 40 years and had never seen a machine that couldn’t be repaired. Also, he wondered how many man-hours would be needed to harvest the entire pond. He also wanted to know how much we will have to pay in taxes.

Tim replied that when he harvested he worked one day a week and was able to do all 4 lanes two times. That was with the old harvester, which has a 7 foot cutter bar. As far as taxes go, it depends on what we do. We will need to bring our findings to a meeting such as this, or at the annual meeting, and it would be voted upon. As previously discussed, we can’t give you any definite figure at this time. All we want is your authority to pursue looking at it, not that we’re going to do it.

A gentleman questioned if we have pursued something with other lakes. Everyone has a weed harvester. Eric contacted our insurance company to check on lending, say, Roche-a-Cri’s harvester and our agent said that would cost us another $4000-$5000 because we are leasing equipment. Steve said we could explore this, if that is what we want to do.

It was asked if we can make a corporation of Roche-a-Cri, Friendship and us to own a machine.

Answer was no.

Tim mentioned that in order to get a grant for the harvester we need to have a lake assessment done of the weeds in the lake. Land and Water will help us with that. That way the DNR knows what weeds we have, where they are located, and where they would like us to concentrate on cutting.

A woman questioned if we were going to scrap the old harvester or sell it for parts. She mentioned that it sounds like there is some money to be made from selling parts. Scraping doesn’t seem like it is helping our financial situation. She also mentioned that she and her husband had cut the weeds in front of their place in late June and they haven’t grown back.

We will do whatever comes up as the better option. We haven’t made a decision but it looks like we will scrap it in some way.

Someone who lives east of the launch on South Shore Drive said the pond is filling in up there. Eventually we won’t have a pond. Steve said that was more of a concern than getting rid of the weeds in the lanes. Tim then explained about the flood in 2000, how the county handled that and how that has affected the filling in of the pond.

A lady asked if we voted for a chemical treatment and we saw that didn’t work, can we stop the treatments.

Yes. If we are doing an annual contract we would put that on the annual meeting agenda to decide to continue the contract or not.

Steve commented that there are things you can do as a homeowner on the lake in front of your property. As an individual you have options to take care of what is in front of you.

Open discussion was closed. Steve went over the 5 options we will be voting on:

Purchase a new weed harvester
Purchase a used weed harvester
Chemical treatment
Contracted harvesting
Do nothing

He then explained the voting process. If we have 2 options that are within 2 votes of each other we will vote on those two as we want a clear majority. However, a question came up: what if we wanted one option and a used machine became available within our budget, could we vote for two options? Steve decided we could do that.

Voting results:

B-1

C-6

D-1

E-3

B/C-13

B/D-2

B/E-1

We will be working with Cason regarding chemical treatment and also search for a used weed harvester. Chemical treatment will cost about $14,000; $6000 will come from operations and the balance from our savings. The reduced amount in our savings is what we have to spend on a used harvester.

Steve then read the resolution for applying for a grant to purchase a replacement weed harvester that we need to submit to the DNR. Members voted unanimously to submit the resolution.

Steve then called for a motion to adjourn. Motion was made by Marlene Rolling; second by Kelly Hermanson. Unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 10:38 AM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Jo Meyer, Recorder

5/23 Annual Minutes

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