July 2023 Meeting Minutes

Enchanted Lake Residents Association Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Tuesday, 11 July 2023

PRESENT: Mike Compton, Gus Gustavson, Connie Jewell, Linda Jenks, Margaret Novack, Alan Richardson, Fran Tannen, Melody Spencer (Admin)

ABSENT: Dustin Dawson, Greg Colbert, Todd Jewell, Danny Medeiros, Cindy Turner, and Don Young

CALL TO ORDER – Gus Gustavson: The meeting was called to order at 7:13 pm. A quorum was declared.

APPROVAL OF THE JUNE MINUTES – Connie Jewell: Draft minutes were emailed to the Board prior to the meeting.  F. Tannen moved to approve the June minutes and L. Jenks seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

FINANCIAL REPORT – Gus Gustavson: The Monthly Financial Report for the month ending June 2023 and the Actual versus Budget Spreadsheet for June 2023 were emailed to the Board along with the following summary prior to the meeting:

• There are no significant changes in the ELRA finances for the month of June 2023.
• The American Savings Bank April end of month balances are $2,252 in Savings and $42,683 in checking.
• Expenses are tracking well with our budget estimates. I have attached the Budget versus Actual for the period ending June 30, 2023.
• At the end of June, we renewed the boat insurance for the security boat and the Ecoharvester. Insurance costs are $1013 for the security boat and $3080 for the Ecoharvester for the period 8/28/23 to 8/28/24.
• We are receiving the payments for the FY 2023-2024 assessments. As of last week, we have received about 40 payments from Assessed Members and seven from Voluntary Members. Thanks again for the hard work of Melody and Adam to get the assessment notices delivered promptly, and to continue to process the payments and boat stickers.
• Of the payments received so far, six payments were received where the Assessed Member paid the FY 2023-2024 assessment, but they were in arrears for previous years. Per board policy, their payment was applied first to late fees, then to the oldest outstanding assessments. I have written letters to these six members telling them that they continue to be in arrears in their payments and provided a breakout of the history of their payments and late fees.
• Regarding liability insurance, we have received notice from Scottsdale Insurance Company that they will not renew our General Liability insurance when it expires on October 26, 2023. Scottsdale states that the reason for the refusal is that our account no longer meets their underwriting guidelines. We will begin work with our insurance broker, Pyramid Insurance, to establish new liability insurance coverage.
• We also received notice that the U.S. Liability Insurance Company will renew our Non-Profit Management Liability (Officers and Directors Insurance) in August 2023.We have not yet received an invoice for this coverage.

The Financial report was approved by acclimation pending audit.

ADMINISTRATION:

Correspondence Report – Don Young: G. Gustavson reported for D. Young that an invitation for the October 2023 Annual Meeting was sent to Esther Kia’aina.

Kailua Neighborhood Board Meeting Report, 6-July 23 – Alan Richardson: See Appendix A for report.

Annual Report – Don Young: Reminder that Committee reports are due September 25^th.

2023 Goals and Objectives Review – Todd Jewell/All: No update.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Dredging Committee – Greg Colbert:

G. Colbert was not in attendance, however, he emailed the report below prior to the meeting. The Board reviewed the report and there were concerns about the island. The Board tabled the discussion until a future time to discuss if the island is an acceptable alternative.

Army Corps of Engineers – Greg Colbert and Bob Bourke from ELRA along with Berna Senelly of Oceanit met with the Army Corps of Engineers via virtual teleconference on June 28, 2023 to discuss what would be required from ELRA to obtain a permit that would allow us to place dredge materials back into the lake in some form.  The idea would be to create an island or do some other form of fill that would allow the dredge materials from the canal bottle neck to be placed elsewhere in a fashion that would benefit the ecology of the lake estuary and better open the flow of water through shallow area of the canal.  We offered three sample project types for discussion in order to understand the relative position of the Corps on various project approaches so as to get a reading on what type of project might be most preferred.  The examples included (1) building an island with interlocked hard vinyl barriers to hold in the dredge materials, (2) filling in parts of the Kamehameha property and creating smaller bird nesting islets to mitigate the loss of KS wetlands and (3) filling in the area around the Kukilakila island next to the Kukilakila common area property to create more recreational space for Kukilakila and compensate with bird nesting islets.  Note that these examples were only hypothetical and were intended solely to stimulate a discussion on what elements of a permit would be required for various types of fill efforts.

Representing the Corps were Vera Koskelo and CJ Cayanan, both stationed in Hawaii.

While the Corps representatives were hesitant to endorse one form of fill over another, we did have an insightful discussion about the types of rationale that would apply to various forms of fill and the permitting process.

The good news is that the permitting process would appear to be relatively straightforward.  It would also appear that we would not need any additional State of Hawaii approvals to obtain the permit. The Corps laid out the process and forms that would be required and emphasized the importance of a well stated rationale that shows significant benefits to the environment.  They did not indicate any foreseeable issues with extending our current permit to maintain that approval while seeking the additional permit.

Bob and I, along with Bernadette Senelly from Oceanit, had a follow-on discussion after the session with the Corps ended and we concluded the following (if we choose to apply for the added permit):

• Bob has a good handle on the rationale that would need to be set out in the permit.
• While it would be helpful to retain the services of Oceanit to help guide the process, most of the actual writing could be done by Bob with some assistance from Greg.
• As such, we would continue our relationship with Oceanit but avoid a large portion of potential consulting fees by utilizing Bob’s expertise and contributions.Of the potential types of fill projects discussed with the Corps, we believe that an island would be most straight forward and should be considered by the ELRA board.We have some early cost estimates for the barrier material and can share those costs during board discussions.We understand that there are mixed feelings on the acceptance of an island, and we would need a good amount of discussion on the pros and cons of moving forward with an island strategy.  Placement of the island would be an important part of that discussion.We further understand that our lakeside residents/members may have concerns as well, and we would need to host membership meeting(s) to discuss the process.
• The Hawaii Kai Marina association has constructed an island to contain their dredge materials.  We should seek their input regarding issues with the approach and should also visit their site.

Proposed Next Steps – I propose that we move forward with the needed discussions, but at the same time, allow Bob to start work on the application process.

Pending approval from the board, I will contact the Hawaii Kai Marina association to seek input from them and get advice on how to best observe and understand their island.

I also propose that we budget $5,000 to retain Oceanit and use their services to further facilitate contact with the Corps and review Bob’s work.  The $5,000 was proposed by Bernadette Senelly of Oceanit as a likely consulting amount.  She would bill based on time invested, but she believes we should be able to accomplish most if not all goals within the $5,000 amount.  I will get an updated estimate as we better understand the application process and what specifics we might ask of her.  Jordan continues to be our primary Oceanit Consultant, but Bernadette is a specialist in obtaining this type of permit.

Other Disposal Site Leads – The management of Olomana Golf Couse is still considering our offer but has not yet come up with a specific return offer.  We will continue to stay in contact.

Operations Committee – Mike Compton:

Security –

• Recovered a loose barge and took it back to Luke’s and the owner came and got it.
• Plans to stick notes on all unregistered barges, including unpowered barges at Kukilakila because they are floating vessels as stated in ELRA’s rules and it is unknown who the owners are. M. Novack reminded the group that Bill from Kukilakila still owes us a list of the barge/dock owners.
• Stopped 15 one-man canoes from Kai Oni Athletics. D. Young will send a letter to them for liability add on. They did assure M. Compton that they were all club members and had liability insurance.
• Stopped a fishing boat and barge that were unregistered and asked that they leave.

Boat Maintenance – Spent $90 on parts and gas over the last three months.

Operations – Since D. Young sent a letter to the Creedens’ two boats have been salvaged and the larger ones still remain. There’s been some progress but may have to talk more about next steps.

Mangrove Removal – There are a bunch of little mangroves around the lake but there are some large ones growing behind some rental homes on the canal. George talked to the resident that’s next to him, but the other home had a lot of contractors working in the yard that threw a lot of debris in the lake. M. Compton spent a great deal of time picking it all up out of the lake and threw it back in their yard. The mangroves that remain are too large to easily remove and this is not a project that can be assigned as an Eagle Scout project and next steps need to be discussed further.

Environmental Committee – Linda Jenks:

L. Jenks reported that per Derek Esibill, the system gets stratified when the berm is opened. Three months later, it becomes much more homogeneous. Currently, the system is homogeneous with an average salinity of about 9 parts per thousand. It is very interesting that the salinity decreased over time, rather than becoming hyper-saline as in other ponds. It makes Derek wonder where the salt goes. Oxygen and bacteria are at acceptable levels. The nutrients are high. Nothing unexpected.

Membership Committee – Danny Medeiros/Mike Compton:

M. Compton received two application requests to register their watercraft. One for a lake front renter, Tyler Kelly with a motorized watercraft and the other for Justin Curp from Kaneohe for a non-motorized watercraft. He will access the lake from the cannel. M. Compton will forward the information to D. Medeiros to respond to them.

OTHER BUSINESS:

4^th of July Parade on the Lake – G. Colbert:  Greg Colbert emailed the following report prior to the meeting:

I was able to tow two of our new work barges out to the middle of the lake and set up an anchor site for other barges to join on the evening of July 4. The work barges provided an open surface, and we added some tables/chairs.  The arrangement seemed to work well.  They were anchored with two concrete blocks, one for each barge.

AJOURNMENT: G. Gustavson adjourned the meeting at 8:07 pm.

MINUTES SUBMITTED BY: Connie Jewell

NEXT MEETING:

• Board of Directors Meeting: 8 August 2023 at 7:00 pm – Virtual Meeting
• Kailua Neighborhood Board Meeting: 3 August 2023 at 7:00 pm – Todd Jewell

Note: See the Enchanted Lake Residents Association/Ka’elepulu Pond website’s home page for meeting schedule and link to the approved board meeting minutes (kaelepulupond.org).

APPENDIX A: Kailua Neighborhood Board Meeting Report – 6- July 23 – Alan Richardson

The meeting began at 7:03 PM. I attended by WebX and the audio was poor, especially for the standing speaker’s microphone so it was sometimes not possible to get complete information. Draft minutes will be available eventually at https://www.honolulu.gov/cms-nco-menu/site-nco-sitearticles/865-site-nco-agenda-minutes-list-cat/20543-neighborhood-boards-agenda-minutes-listing.html?nb=31&year=2023. The agenda is attached to the transmittal email.

Highlights:

• Election of KNB officers for FYE 6/30/24:
  • Chair – Bill Hicks
  • Vice Chair – Levani Lipton
  • Secretary – Deferred for lack accepted nominations.
  • Treasurer – Jade Lowe
• Announcements:
  • Emergency Preparedness Fair 9AM-1PM, 8/26/23, Kailua Town Center (see Agenda)
  • Kailua Concert in The Park will return 5:30PM, 8/2/23.
  • Kailua Fall Festival 9/30/23
• Board Vacancy for Enchanted Lake Sub-District 2
  • Two nominees: Cheyenne LoBue and Travis________?
  • Travis won unanimous approval. He is Executive Director of the “HI Bicycling League”?
• Resident Concerns
  • Randall Hew discussed his findings that land assessments are less per square foot for large lots than small ones in his 105-lot tract.
• Public Agency Reps
  • Mostly nothing pertaining to ELRA.
  • Blangiardi’s rep grilled on terrible state of restrooms in public parks.
• Elected Officials or Reps
  • Representative Natalia Hussey-Burdick.
    • Reported on sewage plant overflows in Kailua Bay
      • Perfect storm of about 6 simultaneous problems
      • State Dept of Health fined City $334,000
        • The City says fine will not come out of deferred maint. fund.
        • Rep was asked to find out how State uses such fines.
  • Esther Kia’aina
    • Says commission is looking into problem Randall Hew mentioned above.
    • Homeowner RPT exemptions are going up in the coming fiscal year.

• Presentation by Complete Streets Administrator, Rene Espiau
  • Showed lots of slides on plans and progress with safety and traffic calming projects in Kailua mainly using federal funds
  • Kalapawai traffic circle is about 1 month behind due to the discovery of Iwi, but is still likely to finish within the two year estimate.
  • A resident on Kuukama street says detour routs 4,000 cars per day through his neighborhood. Suggestion to move detour sign west on Kainalu to Kuulei.
  • Planning for Keolu Drive traffic calming and bike lane safety to start by end of 2023 – public input phase.
  • Gary Weller, KNB Board member: Is this all worth the traffic disruptions caused to complete them?