TLA Board Meeting, March 6, 4:30-6 pm EST
In attendance on Zoom:
Grant Bogle, Dan Kadlec, Richard Haupt, Jessica Swartz, Bill Barton, Jackie Blombach, Jeff Bravin, Ruzz Conklin, Eric Stoer, Jean Bell, Danny Vogus, David Mathus, Adam Mayer, Jack Mahoney, Carey Fiertz, Erica Cohn and Sharon Aiuvalasit.
IWWC Regulation Update: Grant gave a brief history of the regulation rewrite process undertaken by the Salisbury IWWC including the initial proposal to extend the Upland Review Area to 300 feet for all the regulated lakes in Salisbury. When initially proposed appoximately 4 years ago, lakefront homeowners primarily around Twin Lakes formed a group called Salisbury Lakes Homeowners to engage with the IWWC and to push back on what many felt was regulatory overreach. The IWWC has been working on the updated regulations since then and has agreed that the URA for each regulated lake in town will remain at 75 feet unless a different URA is requested by each lake association. A public meeting is currently planned to discuss the proposed regulation update and URA’s for all the regulated lakes on May 12, 2025
Peter Neely provided an overview of the current IWWC regulations and discussed his rationale as to why the URA should be increased from 75 feet to 100 feet. In essence, a 100 foot URA is consistent with DEEP recommendations and consistent with the TLA’s efforts to protect the entire watershed, including the work ongoing with the watershed study being conducted by HVA. Peter authored a short document entitled “The Last 100 Feet” which summarizes his position and was sent to the board ahead of the meeting for review.
The board then proceeded to discuss the pros and cons of keeping the URA at 75 feet vs recommending an extension to 100 feet. In addition, the board reviewed a working draft document being prepared by the IWWC, which is intended to be separate from the regulations, but which will specify a list of allowable activities that a homeowner whose home is within the URA may do without seeking prior permission from the IWWC. This list is posted on the IWWC website and is being discussed March 10 during their normally scheduled meeting. The board felt that this proposal, as currently written, seems reasonable and strongly urged the IWWC to adopt this document as proposed. At that point, the board members unanimously agreed by oral consent to endorse changing the URA to 100 ft URA for Twin Lakes provided that a reasonable list of allowable activities be approved concurrent with the change of URA.
Lake Management: Dominic Meringolo from Solitude Lake Management and Russ Conklin, Vice President of Lake Management, updated the board regarding the 2025 permit status and treatment plan for Twin Lakes. We expect to receive our NDDB
determination letter shortly followed by the permit in early spring. We will share the results of the permit and its requirements with the board when the information is available.
Financial Status/Updates: Jackie presented that we have received $203, 000 in grants since 2023 including two grants from The Anne and Rollin Bates Foundation for $25,000 eachand two DEEP grants for $75,000 each.
Erica presented on fundraising and membership. Total donations received since August 2024, when the 2025 fund raising campaign kicked off, are nearly $300,000 with pledges totalling over $80,000 yet to be paid this year.
Jean presented the Treasurer’s report and financially the TLA is in strong shape. Jean reported that the State of CT had reimbursed the TLA for its share of expenses for the 2024 season. Given current balances in the general account, along with anticipated support from the Town of Salisbury and outstanding pledges from the fall fundraising campaign, the TLA has sufficient liquidity to meet its obligations for 2025. The Treasurer’s Report will be posted on the TLA website and a complete accounting of the income, expenses and projected budget of the TLA will be covered at the June membership meeting.
Board resolutions:
The board unanimously agreed to allow the President, the Executive Vice President and the Vice President of Lake Management to enter into contracts with Solitude Lake Management and North East Aquatic Research to be our herbicide applicator and our lake limnology advisor/contractor, respectively. The Board authorized expenditures up to $250,000 for Solitude and $130,000 for NEAR and charged the officers to manage within these limits provided there are no unforeseen issues.
The board agreed by unanimous oral consent to June 14 as the Summer membership board meeting and Aug 2 Annual meeting plus the 125th Twin Lakes Day and evening dance. All meetings and events will take place at Isola Bella. We thank The American School for the Deaf for their generosity in allowing the TLA to use their beautiful facilities.
The next board meeting will be in May, the date yet to be determined. The meeting was adjourned after 90 minutes.
Minutes submitted by Erica Cohn , secretary