Grand Lake St. Mary’s Restoration Commission
For
Grand Lake St. Marys Lake Restoration Initiative (LIR)
November 5, 2010 Meeting Minutes

Note: These minutes are prepared only for the use of the members of the Commission and their further distribution is prohibited without the express permission of the LRC Facilitator.

The Grand Lake St. Marys Restoration Committee met at 1 P.M on November 5, 2010 at the Wright State University Lake Campus. Members present were:

Also in attendance was Supporting Member - Linda May, Bruns Realty

Also excused were supporting members - Tim Lovett, LIA President, and Ron Puthoff, Community Development Services

The minutes of the October 29 meeting were approved.

Tom K. reminded members that KCI has arranged a meeting with Corps of Engineer and EPA representatives at the Mercer County Courthouse auditorium to discuss the Lake on November 10 at 10 A.M. Commission members are strongly encouraged to attend.

Linda reported that she has located a printer in the Dayton area who will print the master plan for free. The printer will require that the master plan be prepared in the .pdf format.

There was some discussion on the possibility of getting interest credits from projects from the Ohio EPA Division of Financial Assistance.

Governor Elect Kasich, in private conversations, has indicated the LRC master plan will be the State’s plan for the Lake’s restoration. The plan needs to be tied to the economic engine effects of the Lake on local businesses. Agricultural income needs to be used as justification for funding the Lake clean up. Any income data from local businesses that can be found should be included in the plan. December 1 is the deadline for the master plans publication. Tom K. will share a final draft with Senator Faber, Representative Zehringer, and Chief Hanselmann in mid November. In early December, a meeting will be held with Governor Elect Kasich to present him with the plan. He can then distribute it to his staff. A blank appendix page will be included for endorsements supporting the plan.

The graphic artist should be assembling the pictures to be used in the master plan. The cover can be prepared now. KCI will prepare pop up text boxes for important issues to be included in the text.

Future LRC meeting scheduling was discussed. The next meeting will be on a Monday, November 15 at 11:30 to 1 P.M. Members should bring their lunch.

Milt has submitted the LRC application for the Pepsi Refresh contest. He will be notified if our application is accepted for the December contest. The tickets are being printed for the duck races in
January. He is investigating having LRC labels put on bottles of water that we could sell for $1.25 at events. The LRC funds are nearly spent.

Jared reported the Barnes Creek collector bid came in $37K over the grant budget. Since the work has to be completed by March 31, 2011 to be eligible for the grant funding, there is no time to revise or
readvertise the project. The requirement to pay prevailing wages when grant funds are used caused the project costs to be much higher than the costs for the first two collectors. After some discussion, Tom R. made a motion seconded by Jeff for the LRC to provide $37K for the installation of the Barnes Creek collector so the contract can be awarded. The motion was unanimously approved.

The LRC will need additional funding for the legal assistance and our consultants. Battelle has indicated they may find a funding source for their work on the Lake. Possibly other funds can be located by the counties for the legal assistance.

It was noted that we need to have the two collectors installed working soon. We need to demonstrate that they are effective. Directions from Streamside on when they should be operated are needed. We need to be able to explain when and why they are operated to the public and show some results. The design of a unit to add a flocculent to remove dissolved phosphorus in the creeks upstream of the collectors will not be completed for some time so we will not be able to demonstrate the technology this winter. The rough estimate is $80K to install a unit to add flocculent to the flow. Jared indicated there will be a meeting with Battelle and the Soy Council on November 30 to discuss the development of a soy flocculent.

The financial addendum to the master plan was discussed. Based on Tim’s recommendation, funding of $100K for a lake coordinator’s salary and support costs was added to the budget. We will need to prioritize the funding the funding requirements since we may not get all the funding required for the master plan. The Corps of Engineers will be asked for a $100K to further develop the plan’s implementation.

Nancy Allen will have a front page article in the November 5th Standard on rough fish removal.

Jeff reported that the aeration in Behm’s channel reduced the sediment in the channel by 8 inches. Windemere installed bubblers in their channel and got good sediment removal results. Henry Pate is writing the report on the Airygators. The initial results look very promising.

Ralph Furman from Indian Lake has offered to sell a wooden map of the Lake for $200. Greg said he would buy it and determine if it can be used as a fund raiser.

The use of the LIA website by the LRC was discussed. It was agreed the LRC should reserve the domain name “lakerestorationcommission”.

Linda reminded the members that the total number of master plan pages must be a multiple of 4. She reported that the dollar volume of home sales in Mercer County is down significantly and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not insure loans on Lake related homes. Linda reminded the members that the Ball State students will present their plan on December 6th at 3:15 P.M. at Ball State. Commission
members are encouraged to attend.

Ron Puthoff is applying for Clean Ohio grants for land purchases for treatment trains. The top priority is Coldwater Creek, but backup sites are needed if the Coldwater Creek land is not available.

Tom K. has not sent the letter to possible sponsors for the carp derbies (rough fish round ups). He is waiting on state approval. Samples have been collected to test flesh of Lake fish for toxins. The testing results will not be available until late winter.

Jerry reported there will be an all day meeting at Marie Stein on nutrient management for producers in the watershed.

Linda reported she is not getting adequate support from the realtor community on a home tour during the holidays. She wants to get the LIA to assist. It was agreed to defer it until the spring.

Jared reported the attended the recent Ag breakfast where he discussed the master plan. The presentation went well. He will follow up with a Marion Local Ag group.

The next meeting of the Commission will be Monday, November 15 at 11:30 A.M. at Wright State University Lake Campus, Rm. 102 Dwyer Hall (admin conference room).

Minutes prepared by Tom Rampe

Note: These minutes are prepared only for the use of the members of the Commission and their further distribution is prohibited without the express permission of the LRC Facilitator.