TLA Board Meeting Notes from 12/19/2024
Attendees: Grant Bogle, David Mathus, Dan Kadlec, Russ Conklin, Rich Haupt, Jean Bell, Jackie Blombach, Bill Barton, Jessica Swartz, Eric Stoer, Sharon Auvalasit, Jeff Bravin, Jeff Cox, Erica Cohn, Blake Morrison, Carey Fiertz
The meeting convened at 4:30 pm and ended at 6:30 pm. All attendees joined via Zoom.
Russ covered this year’s lake management with the focus on hydrilla, primarily located in the East Bay. Based on advice from our expert consultants, the 2025 treatment plan will focus on a “whole bay” application in the East Bay using low dose Sonar applied in multiple applications starting in late May and continuing through September, 2025.The Board agreed to engage Solitude as our herbicide applicator for 2025.
Jessica presented a cyanobacteria testing program, explaining that this is an important natural plankton in lakes. However, some blooms can form toxins which can affect humans and animals. Red tides are an example of cyanobacteria. NEAR conducts water quality testing once a month from April to October. This information helps us understand what is happening in the lakes and is helpful, when compared to historical data, in understanding how the lake is changing. If we do more testing, we could incorporate professional and volunteer testing which keeps costs low and fuels local education.The EPA is willing to train volunteers for free in the Spring. Jessica has engaged teachers at Salisbury School who are interested in partnering on this initiative and she is also talking with Curtis Rand to liaise with other local lakes.
The board had a discussion regarding how to go forward with the cyanobacteria program in order to educate our local citizens and to generate important information over time. It was also agreed that training of the volunteers is critical and that communications about this program must be handled extremely well so the public understands the goals of this program and why it may be beneficial for the community. Several board members agreed to participate in the volunteer testing program. Jessica will continue to develop a plan, taking into consideration the feedback from the board and other stakeholders, and present an update at the February 2025 board meeting.
Jackie discussed the grants we received in 2024 which totaled $128,000. The TLA submitted another grant request to the CT DEEP AIS program for a total of $75,000 for the 2025 season. We won’t know the outcome of this grant submission until the spring of 2025. We will continue to look for more grant funding opportunities.
Erica presented an update on fundraising with over $225,000 raised or committed to date. Funds continue to be received daily consistent with year end giving. Many TLA members have made multi-year commitments to the TLA.
Bill Barton spearheaded an initiative that resulted in the establishment of an account at Fidelity by which the TLA may now accept stock donations. This was communicated to members via a TLA newsletter today.
Jean reviewed the treasurer’s report which shows that TLA finances are strong. Sources of revenue include donations from membership and the town of Salisbury, grants, membership dues and merchandise sales. The TLA continues to spend less than 5% of our revenue on administrative expenses. The board reviewed an initial 2025 TLA budget of $425, 000. The increase over 2024 is driven by the increased costs of fighting hydrilla.
The board then discussed the impact of Between the Lakes Road in terms of lake health and what role, if any, the TLA should play in the current proposed changes.
The meeting was adjourned after 120 minutes.
Minutes submitted by Erica Cohn, secretary