Lake Development Corporation Minutes
9/10/07
In attendance were:
Jim Dabbelt, Sharon LaRue, Terry Wissman, Frank C. Murray, Max Gilpin, Doug Temple, Rick Bachelor, Tom Knapke, Kent Hinton, Greg Schumm, Craig Morton, Milt Miller, Kelly Kill & Todd Fleagle.
Max Gilpin moved the minutes from the July meeting be approved as e-mailed; Tom Knapke seconded that motion which was approved.
Milt Miller Reported the current treasury balance is $7338.96.
Craig Morton presented the Grand Lake St. Marys State Park Report:
Lake Level
- 6 to 7 below normal pool
Dredge
- The smaller dredge is progressing down the Behms Channel and recently cleaned out the SMBC.
- The large dredge is at Burdge Creek and has recently dredged at the mouth of Windy Point East Channel, D&W and Bass Landing.
- Long reach track hoe is working on cleaning out the DMRA at the park maint. area. Dozers intermittently working on Liette DMRA tear down.
- Next few channels are Windy Point West, Schells.
- Stump pulling planned for end of Sept. or early October.
- Long range. Beaver Creek mouth, Coldwater Creek mouth, and Barnes Creek.
Lake Safety
- Beach samples came back with good low numbers for E. coli all summer until the very last week and then the West Beach and East Beach went very high. We retested Monday, 9/10 and the results show the levels are back within safe standards.
- Boaters are urged to use caution going into late summer and autumn conditions. Be sure to have good proper fitting life jackets on board your boats along with emergency signal devices such as flares, orange flags and communication devices such as radio or cell phones. Fire extinguishers should be checked for adequate pressure. Night time navigation is to be at 10 mph or less and navigation lights must be used. Forward docking lights should only be used when approaching your dock and very sparingly to avoid blinding other boaters. Water proof outer shell and layers for clothing.
Park
- Memorial trees all seem to have made a comeback with help of the watering bags.
- Tree program info. Would like to plant more trees this fall.
- Emerald Ash Borer quarantine, now includes all of Auglaize County.
- Thursday 8/30 the Ohio EPA and local media were at the lake for the water quality testing mandated by congress. The Ohio EPA is testing 19 lakes in Ohio and over 900 nationwide.
- August 13 the Ohio EPA tested a pond on Auglaize-Mercer County Line Rd. Natural causes, see email.
- Halloween Campout on October 5,6,7. Our volunteers will be approaching local businesses and asking for donations of candy, food and prizes. We are trying to coordinate so that each business is approached only once but if more than one volunteer asks for a donation I apologize in advance. Any business owners or individuals that want to donate to a Halloween event attended by families and children can call the park office at 419-394-3611. The event is for registered campers in our campground. Camper Host volunteers are forming a friends group and have applied for a 501,C,3 status. This will be very helpful in the future.
- Boat house. Brian Miller and the Division of Watercraft have been working on getting a boathouse at the west end of the lake. LIA kicked in $5,000 and Mercer Co. and Celina may contribute also. The boathouse will hold 3 boats, 1 Park, 1 WC and 1 Sheriff boat. The park has also recently received a used Boston Whaler 20 boat from WC that will be housed at the west boathouse. This should reduce our response time for rescues at the west end of the lake.
Tom Knapke suggested building islands on the lake and filling with bottom material-to create a saleable site for development.
Todd Fleagle talked about the lock #13 to be fixed up for St. Marys.
Jim Dabbelt suggested ODNR dredge out Montezuma Creek from Whiskey bridge to Montezuma with long reach dredge or the small dredge. Craig to check it out.
Greg Schumm talked about the room we use at the campus--no problem for now.
Jim Dabbelt said the boat house on the West end of the lake is a very important thing and needs to happen A.S.A.P.
Milt Miller- asked about the solicitation for money and Dabbelt said Donna is going to mail out a request before the end of September. Everyone agreed it is in good hands with Donna.
Kent Hinton agreed with Dabbelt about dredging Montezuma Creek, that it would help cut down on the silt going into the lake.
Mayor Sharon LaRue suggested people take a drive on West Bank road to see the progress of the walkway. She also told everyone about the Model Boat races at Eastview Park this weekend.
Frank Murray told everyone to go to the St. Marys football game.
Adjourned at 4:50
Respectfully Submitted
Jonas B. Dabbelt
El Presidente
Note From Donna: Our next scheduled meeting will be October 1st, 4 pm in room 182 at WSULC.
