Lake Development Corporation Minutes
4/02/07
The April, 2007, Lake Development Corporation Meeting was called to order by President Jim Dabbelt at 4:04 pm.
Present were: Dabbelt, Todd Fleagle, Donna Grube, Kent Hinton, Milt Miller, Frank C. Murray, Greg Schumm, Matt Schwieterman, Doug Temple, Max Gilpin, Craig Morton and Nancy Allen of The Daily Standard.
Frank C. Murray moved the March meeting minutes be approved as e-mailed to the members, seconded by Todd Fleagle, motion carried. Milt miller presented the Treasurer's report which shows a bank balance of $10,556.40. Miller noted that the LDC still hasn't received any bills for the Wildlife Summit.
Craig Morton submitted the lake report:
Lake level 10 to 12" above normal pool, wind from west 10 to 20mph.
- Dredge
- DMRA under construction on Behm's Rd. to handle Behm's Channel and Duckfoot Channel areas
- Working on the tear down of the Liette DMRA. Big job.
- Work to prepare the two floating suction dredges for the season is progressing well. Forecast not good for end of this week, temps in low 20's. Should be able to send both out early next week.
- Mouth of D&W and Bass Landing West, Grandhaven and Burge Creek areas. SMBC and Schell's area possibly later this season.
- Still short one dredge operator due to injury, working thru Worker Comp appeals.
- New capital budget process to begin soon. New Dredge and Shoreline protection are high priorities along with Campground Bldgs.
- Shoreline capital work???
- Dock repair work last week along Edgewater Drive and Marina. Crews have pulled many logs and debris from the lake.
- Expensive repairs over the winter to the long reach trackhoe, D-5 dozer, Komatsu dozer, Pump-A-Little and W-14 loader.
- Anderson area in lake DMRA permit request in progress. Kozy DMRA approved. Windy Point on the drawing board.
- Sediment trap monitoring. First session in Feb. thru the ice. Should monitor monthly thru the summer. LIA volunteers.
- Park
- Waterline replacement for campground and along Edgewater Drive off to a slow start. May not be done before busy season!!
- Working on turning on water to buildings in camp and around the lake
- Officers have handled the first couple of stranded boaters for the season and towed several boats in.
- Alligator found dead at the West Bank boat ramp Friday morning 47
- Lake Cleanup Day April 28, 9am to noon at East Bank, Windy Point, and West Bank.
- Marina - installed new showroom carpet.
- Park Budget FY07 still tight but surviving. Received $10,000 supplement for utilities, $ to replace snowplow dump truck, $5,000 for service buildings roof repairs, $6,000 for Loramie mower decks, and $1,100 for replacement of a campground playground slide. FY08 looking flat, park budget figures are still subject to change.
- Dredge budget, no news yet.
- Park Managers Conference, April 10 and 11 at Mohican.
- Grand Lake Management Consortium (Northwood, Linda Conover) has sent a second letter to Director Logan. Responses unknown at this time.
- Campground buildings winter damage. Four toilets broken two from building heaving and cracked walls. Seven buildings all built in approx. 1966 need replaced. Water and sewer leaks under the buildings. Were built with floating pads and not footers.
- Natural Resource Management Plan. Will start this spring. Due by Dec. 2008. Good opportunity for LDC, LIA to have input.
Following the lake report, Greg Schumm inquired as to the problems of flooding this wet spring and if a group wanting relief in that area is still meeting. Milt Miller said they are meeting and he believes they have sent one, if not two, letters to ODNR Director Sean Logan about their problem. Donna Grube said that is an example of what former ODNR Director Sam Speck told her last week. Grube noted that Mr. Speck stopped by the CVB office and they discussed some of the issues concerning Grand Lake St. Marys. Grube said Speck noted that there needs to be more working together, especially with the farming community. Grube said she told Speck she thought things were improving a bit, he also told her that he believes the perception in Columbus is that there are too many voices with too many issues and that may be a reason we are not seeing the (funding) results that we'd like.
President Dabbelt said that is just a lame excuse. He said the LDC & LIA are working diligently together to get funding to clean up the lake. Grube noted that may be true, but told Dabbelt you do not know the other groups or interests that may also be sending messages to Columbus such as the farmers and those wanting the lake lowered in the fall. Those aren't things that you control or may even be aware of.
Frank C. Murray said it shouldn't matter what other issues are being brought to Columbus, cleaning this lake is the real issue that shouldn't be ignored. Murray noted that there wouldn't be any significant changes until there were real consequences for the offenders. He added that as a business owner he would be heavily penalized for dumping anything into the city system, but if a farmer can dump shit straight into the creek and only pay a $350 fine, why would they bother to truck it out?
Greg Schumm noted that a lot of these problems might have been taken care of if the state had followed the management plan they developed over 30 years ago instead of abandoneding it.
