Mirror Lake Association – Board Meeting Notes

May 7, 2022

Ralph Hines Park

Attendees: Marcus Jaeger, Mark Blakeslee, Cathy Sperl (on phone), Erich Herbst, Dave Clemens, Barbara Libman, Kimberly Flood.

Guests: Waldo Peterson, Paul Zajackowski (DNR district supervisor)

Not in attendance: Greg Gustafson

Meeting Called to order by Marc 1:20pm. 

Welcome & Approval of Minutes from January, 2022

• Approved with addendums communicated via email — Moved by Erich, seconded by Barbara. Approved.

Financial Report: verbal run through over phone, Cathy will email details

• Confirmed all board membership paid, except Greg & Barb
• 109 paid members (similar to previous years), $755 miscellaneous contributions
• Seth Peterson voted to give us $2K this year (and moving forward)
• Approval Moved by Erich, seconded by Marcus. Approved.

Mirror Lake Management District(MLMD) Update: Mark Blakeslee

• Clean Boats – Clean Waters: Seeking people to work Clean Boats – Clean Waters (1 confirmed, 1 potential) (need 200 hours to receive DNR grant).  Let Jerry Collins, Cathy or Mark know if you know anyone, high school age and above (especially any connections with local schools or local clubs – boy scouts, 4H)
• Weed harvesting this year: We partner w/ state park, Jerry is currently doing this but wants to transition out – seeking replacement (3x year effort); currently in conversations with various groups (e.g., Dells Water Sports, Mirror Lake State Park), but if anyone knows someone who might be interested / available, pass along the word and have them reach out to Jerry.  Requires individual to be mechanically inclined, as well as agile and potentially some manual labor (when things don’t go exactly as planned).   
• Lead terminal report: no significant progress with additional assessment of original DNR report (COVID limitations, though Jerry has been trying to request support at UW-Madison for some research).  Current DNR assessment is that their deep settling indicates no risk of releasing toxic material into the lake.  Vierbicher estimates $28K to remove terminals from the water (this has been added into the dredging project plan).
• Delta runoffs / Dredging project (Vierbicher) report: Being presented to all legislative offices to pursue funding and approval (Village of Lake Delton, Town of Delton, governor’s office, etc.).  Mark continues to help everyone understand what additional steps are required, and to get them to provide additional support.  Project estimated cost $1.3M,
  • $650K commitment from county (spend by 2024)
  • MLMD plans to commit $100K (taxes)
  • MLA committed $10K, offering an additional $15K ($25K total)
  • Seth Peterson Conservancy committed $5K
  • Seeking additional support from Village of Delton (Kay & staff committee – ideally match 100K MLMD)
  • Continuing to consider state funding, too (though would require waiting a couple years for budget cycle) and various political conversations (for governor grant money approval): Rep. Tony Kurtz, Rep. Dave Considine, Sen Joan Baldwin or Sen Jon Erphenbach
  • Unsure if it’s realistic to expect finalizing funds this year (2022) – if we end a little short on $, MLMD could consider loan & special assessment for property owners.
• Future consideration: upstream efforts to reduce impact on Dell Creek Watershed

Sauk County will help landowners with shoreline preservation: Michael McCarthy will do assessment and provide information on cost share assistance. Mitchell.mccarthy@saukcountywi.gov

Project Clean:

Dave provided a report of what was just completed.  Many roads were cleaned but not many people showed up for the free lunch, other than MLA board members and spouses, plus a few others.  We were successful getting many roads clean. Waldo mentioned he felt we should return to doing a clean up on the lake using the MLA pontoon boat.  He also liked the morning gathering on Saturday, where road assignments were given and the day started. Dave said this would be fine, as long as someone sends out the postcard and runs the morning meeting. Currently the event is promoted using social media and posters around town.  Stewards of the Dells cleans areas along the Wisconsin River and in the Dells(Debbie Kinder). Dave runs the Lake Delton portion and organizes the luncheon.  Mark or Marcus will now be sure MLA meets in the state park parking lot on Saturday morning. It will continue to b done the first Saturday in May each year. Lunch will stay the same, and t shirts will stay the same. Other areas around town will stick to the new format of going out whenever you want. If Dave is informed of the cleaning being done, he will call the public works supervisor in that area and make sure the bags are removed.

Committee Work:

• Communications:
  • Targeting mailing
  • Several articles ready to go (Bob Prosser / Ishnala, Ryder / DNR partnership); Marcus writing President’s letter,
  • THIS WEEK, articles to finish:
    • Marcus: president’s letter
    • Mark writing letter: 20 year kissing trees fell
    • Dave Clemens: Project Clean summary
  • Need to establish an email list – start w/ member list & add to it
  • Confirm we have added (from Cathy’s) addresses for Sauk County, Village, Town and WI State representatives (so we can send future communications)

State Park Update

• 2 vacancies: Ryder Will’s position as superintendent (expecting accepted offer in next couple weeks) & conservation biologist position(Steve Rodenkirk just retired)
• Visitation numbers continue to increase
• Lots of work on HWY 23 trails(Canyon Bluff and Lake View)
• Ribbon cutting to re-open Elroy-Sparta trail (two new bridges & replaced 27 structures after flooding a couple years ago), Sat May 14: 10 am in Kendall at Kendall Depot

Annual Meeting:

• Speaker likely to be Tom Diehl
• Need Postcards to be mailed
  • Mark can share template
  • Erich & Greg – kimberly to check if they can get out the postcard
• Barb: ask to update website w/ annual meeting info & Calendar items / dates
• Everyone to pursue / bring Raffle Items
  • Marcus to go to Dells Water sports, the Keg, the Dell Bar or Mr. Pancake
  • Others to identify and bring either donation items

Dates for future board meetings / events

2022 Dates:

Adjourned 2:43pm