Meeting Minutes Aug. 5, 2023

Twin Lakes Association

Annual Meeting Minutes

August 5, 2023

Isola Bella

The meeting was called to order at 10:30 by Grant Bogle, president of the Twin Lakes Association.  Grant thanked the attendees for coming, the board for all their service, Fred Schmidt for his diligent work in managing the lake water levels and Jeff Bravin, for his ongoing support and partnership with the Twin Lakes Community regarding hosting our meetings and Twin Lakes Day.

In attendance from the board were Grant Bogle, Bill Barton, Jean Bell, Jeff Bravin, Erica Cohn, Russ Conklin, Rich Haupt, Dan Kadlec, Blake Morrison, Pat Miller and Eric Stoer. 

There were 73 TLA members in attendance and another 57 Proxy statements were received.  Each of the proxies submitted voted in favor of supporting the resolutions approved at the meeting.  Given the in-person attendance and proxies, a quorum of more than 55 TLA members was met. 

For a deeper understanding of the material presented and discussed in these minutes, please see the slides posted on the website.   

The first item on the agenda was a presentation by John Landon representing the Salisbury Association Land Trust.  John provided an overview of the mission of the land trust and then discussed the current situation regarding several large parcels of land that are owned by Bob Boyett within the Twin Lakes area.  These parcels are either on the market or will likely be listed for sale shortly. The parcels the trust is looking at are on the CT side of the state line. There was widespread support to find a way to work with the seller to put the land in conservancy. 

Bill Barton explained that the herbicide application to East and West Twin is now scheduled for Monday, August 14 rather than Monday, August 7.  This delay is unfortunate and due to a supply chain snafu by our herbicide vendor.  The signage around the lake is being updated to reflect the new treatment date.   Bill thanked everyone for their patience.

Russ Conklin then led a discussion on the lake management activities including water quality testing, the rare plant survey completed this spring, and the TLA permit application and approval letter from the DEEP.   A discussion the challenges and implications of the permit ensued, including a review of the approved treatment areas for 2023.  Russ then provided an update on the hydrilla found in the marina area.  We are fortunate that NEAR found the plant in the marina area and they have been systematically mapping where it has been found and then removing the plants by hand.  Going forward, in partnership with NEAR, we will continue to monitor the lake for hydrilla and work with DEEP to develop a treatment plan that includes spot use of herbicides to eliminate this invasive plant. 

Grant Bogle then reviewed the current financial status of the TLA as well overall expense of managing the lake system.  This included an overview of what expenses have been incurred or contracted for in 2023, new expenses that have or will occur this year due to the final DEEP permit and hydrilla eradication and how these expenses will be covered between the TLA and the Salisbury town budget.  In addition, Grant provided an overview of the expenses that the TLA must be prepared to make before June 30^th, 2024, when a new town budget will be approved. 

Based upon this discussion, a motion was made, seconded, and passed to allow the TLA board to “engage contractors to manage all lake quality and treatment matters” by spending “up to $80,000 of funds from the TLA General Fund through June 2024 and up to $30,000 of earmarked funds to support weed harvesting and skimmer operations on West Twin”.

Erica Cohn spoke briefly about the education subcommittee and its efforts to educate all lake users on things we can do to limit further impact on the lake ecosystem.  This includes increasing the number and scope of native plant buffers along the shoreline.  Please refer to the June meeting minutes and newsletter for more information on this topic.

Eric Stoer was pleased to announce the availability of a new Twin Lakes Association directory for 2023.  Directories were handed out to those who attended the meeting.  More may be secured by contacting membership@twinlakesorg.org. 

Finally, Dan Kadlec announced the winners of the photo contest.  These included Neil Schechter and Jennifer Lee Dulin for their photo submissions. Dan also reminded the membership that the TLA website has a new URL:  twinlakesorg.org.

The meeting adjourned at 12 pm.  This was followed by a picnic and very successful 123^rdTwin Lakes Day.  Shout out to Sharon Aiuvalasit, who has assumed the leadership role in organizing Twin Lakes Day and Justin Meyer, the past organizer who once again donated his time to help set up and run the event.  Sharon and Justin were assisted by other lake residents and TLA board members.  Thank you to ALL for making Twin Lakes Day a success.