August 2018 Minutes
MINUTES OF THE ADAMS LAKE CONSERVATION CLUB MEETING OF
AUGUST 25, 2018
The meeting was called to order by President Carolyn Moeller at 10:00 am at the Patio of the Adams Lake Pub, with 18 loyal attendees, in the rain. Barb Mulholland offered her garage next year for any rainy day meetings. Thanks to my generous neighbors I have acquired 15 parking spaces. You may park in the driveways of my neighbors the Clossons, Warricks and Stritmatters to add to my driveways. I might even convince Bob Closson to be a parking attendant if needed.
Since there were no corrections to the minutes as emailed to the membership, they were approved as distributed.
Dr John Lutz handed out copies of his financial report which showed a balance in checking account of $19,343.00 with total assets as of 22 Aug 2018 of $42,044.91. John asked if the board should have a liability insurance policy or possibly the treasurer's position should be bonded. Carolyn will check with Charlie Heiny on this topic.
Dr John Lutz announced that Becky Gump is taking over the director position, previously held by him. We are in need of a director for the 84-C – 84 O area. If you are interested, please contact President Carolyn Moeller. Rosy O'Brian is the director of her area, Jim Burns, who has shared this position with her is retiring from that position.
Rex Pranger, LARE Grant Chairman, will work on this and file for 2019. Scott Banfield will be holding his annual meeting to review lakes for LARE funds.
LaGrange County has a leash ordinance for animals. Your animals must be on a leash and under your control, or fenced in your own yard as many dog walkers have experienced dogs lashing out to their pets when walking them. We would like to encourage pet owners to practice the poop ordinance as well. Please respect your neighbors and make Adams Lake a great place to live for ALL.
If you are the owner of a discarded boat, jet ski or other lake toys, here are some suggestions as to rid them of our neighborhoods: There may be a tax deduction for your donation. 1. Kendallville “Impact” is a five county vocational school and they may accept your discarded item to teach their students of marine mechanics. 2. Kendallville Iron and Metal will accept old boats etc. There may be a fee. 3. Hildebrand Boat Junk Yard in Coldwater Michigan will accept discarded boats. There is also an ordinance in LaGrange County against abandoned boats and jet skies.
Kim Warrick will continue to investigate an installation of a dry hydrant for the remainder of the lake as the West side already has one. She will have a report for our May 2019 meeting. If you would like to help Kim with this project, let her know or inform your director and he or she will see that Kim receives this information.
Water quality was discussed at length. The last testing on Aug 5, 2018 was 14.5 which is a good reading. Ecoli testing was discussed. Joe Kraft has copies of all the last testings. It was recommended that we start in the spring and test the same place each time. The cost for one test is $37.00. For now we will test May, June, July and August for 2019 and if a good reading, we will just test once annually. If we get a bad reading
we can test more often.
Phil Shirmeyer gave a report on the Fire Works. He thanked his committee for their contribution to this project especially Mike Randolph his co-chair. The fireworks is a big show with a big expense. The cost is about $9,000. to $10,000. each year. If you would like to contribute you may do so by sending your contribution to Phil or donating to your director.
Carol Sievers has agreed to chair the Adams Lake garage sales next year. A goose round-up chairman is needed in case we will have a need to do the round-up in 2019. We will need to prepare in advance.
If interested in playing bridge contact Dr John Lutz cjlutz@gmail.com. Book Club meets the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the Pub. The book club was started in Aug 2008, it is ten years old. Liz Kruger is chairman and she may be contacted at krugerliz716@yahoo.com
A Reminder, it is a state law that boats and jet ski's etc must travel counter-clock wise around the lake. You may be ticketed by the DNR if they happen to be on our lake at the time. It is a safety issue and should be followed to protect everyone on the water. If you have any questions please refer to your directory on page 16. It is a good idea to refresh the laws of the lake each new season by anyone that may be driving your watercraft.
Since this was our last meeting of the year, we want to thank all our volunteers that have made it a successful one. Thanks to Water stewards Wayne Slabach, Ron Martin and Tim Moeller, Garage Sales chairman Carol Sievers, Flotilla Chairman Jodi Heeter, Buoy's installer Mark Hageman, Traffic Sign chairman Doug Sutton, Directory Rosy Obrian, Webmaster Jeff Fox, Communication chairman Charles Heiny, Carp Contest Chairman Jim Lewis and Joe Kraft, LARE chairman Rex Pranger, Cards chairman John Lutz, Book Club chairman Liz Kruger, Dry Hydrant chairman Kim Warrick, Water Quality tester Chris Koop, All of our Directors and our Officers and anyone that I may have missed. I always fear to list the people that we need to thank as I probably have missed some. If so, please acceept my apology as we are grateful to you all. We want to thank Rex Pranger for his 40 years as president of our Conservation Club and to Joe Kraft for 30 years as treasurer. Also thanks to Carolyn Moeller for taking on the presidency, and to Dr John Lutz for accepting the treasurer position. These are not easy tasks. We look forward to another successful year in 2019. Any suggestions for improvement of our organization are welcomed.
Respectfully submitted, Barb Mulholland, Secretary