Board of Directors Monthly Meeting Minute, Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Present: G. Colbert, A. Richardson, B. Molyneux, D. Vonier, S. Oshiro, B. Tassie, J. Fernie, M. Compton (via telephone), J. Compton, Melody Spencer (Administrative Assistant), Cindy Turner (Webmaster), and Bob Bourke (Scientific Advisor).
Absent: G. Gustavson, M. Novack, G. Lingle and R. Castanha.
A quorum was called and the meeting was called to order at 7:09pm.
Approval of minutes: The minutes of the September 13th, 2016 meeting were approved.
Finance Report: A. Richardson provided copies of the Profit and Loss Previous Year Comparison, the Balance Sheet Previous Year Comparison, and the Income/Expenses (Comparison of Proposed and Actual). He informed the board that he will make a presentation of this and related fiscal information at the ELRA Annual Meeting on October 14, 2016. There was discussion of the need to spend around $900,000 of the money received from the lawsuit by July 2019 on lake improvement to avoid being taxed on that amount.
DPP: G. Colbert reported that not quite one half of the 137 lot owners have assented to the DPP extension so far. This leaves a significant number to reach the 2/3 required for the needed extension. Methods to increase these numbers were discussed.
Community Relations: M. Novack attended the October 6th meeting of the Kailua Neighborhood Board. In her absence tonight, she provided a written report of matters discussed regarding Enchanted Lake. In the Mayor’s report, there was discussion regarding the request for testing the water that emanates from the lake into the bay. City is asking for recommendations for the location of the testing. It is unclear who is handling this-perhaps Donna Wong’s committee. ELRA’s Bob Bourke gave a very well received presentation about the 5 things that need to happen to restore the Kailua Waterways. They are: get rid of all the mangroves, restore water flow from the Kawainui Marsh, open the stream mouth with greater consistency, dredge the Kaelepulu channel to improve exchange, and incentivize the City to put filters on all the storm drains. Questions were answered and Chris Lee stood to applaud Bob’s work in the Kailua area and noted that Bob was principally responsible for the $800K appropriation by the legislature for mangrove removal in Kailua.
Molyneux briefed the Board on the planning for the Annual Membership meeting on Friday, October 14, 2016. There will be presentations regarding the DPP extension, the treasurer’s report, the lake health, and voting for Board members. There are five openings and five applicants. Four of these are existing members who have agreed to run again and one new applicant.
Lake Maintenance: S. Oshiro has been working with Kailua High’s Project Grad. As a way to make money, they would like to participate in a cleanup of the lake. G. Colbert discussed the need for group liability waiver for the volunteers. He will contact Beverly Hiramatsu regarding this. It is hoped this work will occur in early November. In some cases, volunteers may need to enter lot owner’s yards from the street. An email explaining the project will go out to all concerned as soon as the date and details are finalized. A $500 donation to Project Grad was agreed upon. Several board members have agreed to also be part of this effort using their own boats and barges.
Lake Health: B. Bourke has written a letter to the EPA, cc’ed to the DOH and City questioning what has happened to the TMDL. In verbal discussions with EPA personnel engaged in TMDL’s, it was suggested that ELRA focus on the City’s NPDES storm water permit before it needs to be renewed in 2020. He has also sent a letter to the DLNR planning team responsible for the Kawainui Marsh master plan asking that the concept of flow restoration from the Kawainui Marsh to Kawainui stream be included in the Master Plan. The DLNR syphon flow restoration project is complete and the DLNR has asked for the temporary syphon to be removed. It is hoped it will stay. C. Turner asked if ELRA should write to the DLNR in support of keeping the siphon in place to help Kailua’s Waterways. B. Bourke will draft a letter for Greg to send supporting keeping the syphon in place. Regarding the dredging project, B. Bourke is preparing RFP’s to send to three companies that have expressed interest in the work. The berm was opened by the City on September 18 and about 1000 cubic yards of sand was moved and piled up on top of the dunes. The stream remained open to tidal flow for 12 days. About 36 million cubic feet of water exited the lake and about 32 million cubic feet came in. Thomas Takeuchi has not yet called a meeting to discuss lake openings for 2017. B. Bourke and G. Colbert will meet with him and then with Ross Sasamura. If the City keeps to it’s intent of opening the berm every 6 weeks, we should expect the next opening during the first half of November.
Executive Session was called by G. Colbert.
Next meeting date: The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8th. The location has not yet been decided.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:16pm.
Action List: 10/11/16 ELRA Board Meeting
16/3-7 All Provide brief articles for C. Turner to use in the newsletter.
16/9-1 All Work on gathering signatures on the DPP Consent forms.
16/9-2 All Assist R. Castanha with Annual dinner-M. Spencer and Kathy Novak will man the entry table and J. Compton and J. Fernie will count ballots.
16/9-3 A. Richardson and G. Gustavson Redistribute funds at American Bank to bring each account within FDIC Coverage.
16/9-4 B. Bourke Finish consultant RFP Packages.