Enchanted Lake Residents Association, Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Present: M. Novack, G. Lingle, D. Vonier, S. Harding, G. Gustavson, J. Fernie, B. Tassie, C. Turner (Webmaster) and M. Spencer( Administrative Assistant).
Absent: G. Colbert, B. Molyneux, S. Oshiro, A. Richardson and M. Compton.
Guest: Joelle Simonpietri
The meeting was opened informally at 7:02pm without a quorum by M. Novack. Items under discussion were the boom that has been installed to catch trash by the Hele Stream outfall. Also, residents that do not maintain their coconut trees there and allow the fronds and coconuts to fall in and clog that drainage ditch. J. Compton arrived and we had a quorum.
A quorum was called by M. Novack and the meeting was called to order at 7:17pm.
Approval of minutes: B. Tassie moved and G. Lingle seconded the minutes of the September 14th meeting be approved as corrected.
Finance: G. Gustavson presented the financial report. The Profit and Loss sheet and Balance Sheet were distributed. Next year’s budget was discussed. At present, we plan to stay within our operating budget, saving all proceeds from the settlement for the dredging project. C. Turner brought up the possibility of acquiring an EcoHarvester. This machine can skim floating debris and also pull up aquatic weeds to a depth of 4 feet. The board will research this machine online. G. Gustavson has proposed hiring a tax expert to give us ideas of potential routes to mitigate the taxes (about 25%) that will have to be paid on our settlement money if it is not spent on lake improvement within three years after it was awarded. This could include getting an extension on the 3 year time limit. The expert’s fee is approximately $800 an hour. M. Novack moved and B. Tassie seconded to approve hiring this specialist. Motion passed with G. Lingle abstaining. B. Tassie has completed his audit of our books and has found no discrepancies. M. Novack moved and S. Harding seconded that we approve the audit. Motion passed.
Community Relations: C. Turner audited the KNB meeting. Approximately a year ago, she had reported a portion of the wall at the Keolu Skateboard Park was crumbling and needed repair. A contract has finally been awarded and construction on the break should start soon. C. Turner had a recent visit from Maria Hu, an oyster research expert. Ms. Hu had seen our lake about 8 years ago when she kayaked our perimeter examining the oysters. We have some of the East Coast variety, but some could be the much hardier Pacific variety. No live oysters were found this time but there was evidence that in some places some had recently been harvested. If there were at least 3 dozen healthy adult oysters found, there is a chance they could become reestablished. They are a great filtering organism and help to keep the lake clean. Removing the floating algae is one of the first things that could help them become reinstated.
Nomination Committee: Three of the six board members completing their 3 year term have volunteered to run for another term. That leaves us with at least 3 vacancies. At present we have Don Young volunteering to run. There is need to talk more residents to volunteer for the Board.
Lake Maintenance/Health: S. Oshiro was unable to attend the meeting, but communicated by email to the Board. He feels we need to remind residents of what the lake maintenance does remove – trash, bottles, floating coconuts and fronds, and all mangrove seedlings seen anywhere he can get to them. This does not include weeds or limu. Each property owner should take responsibility for cleaning up the limu/algae fronting their property. S. Oshiro has been in touch with a person on Iana Street who is open to doing routine cleanups. They will meet soon so he can learn the scope of the job. Oshiro and sons recently went to Kimo’s cove and cleaned up, bagged and disposed of rubbish including trash that had previously been stored to dry on the ELRA rafts. He would like to build a more stable raft for trash pickup using barrels instead of foam and will put together and estimate of the cost of the raft and possibly a used motor. He has been talking to Kailua High School – both Project Grad 2019 and the soccer team. Both are open to doing a cleanup as done in the past 2 years. Mangrove removal near the Keolu bridge area would also be addressed. G. Lingle will convey to S. Oshiro that the Board had previously approved money to cover these efforts.
Dredging Actions: S. Harding reported our permit has been assigned to their Alaskan Office. We should hear from them in 1 to 2 months. Our 401 permit to the DOH is also in the “wait “ mode.
Next Meeting Date: The next meeting date will be Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 at 7pm in the A & B meeting room. The meeting was adjourned at 8:08pm.
Action List: 9/11/18
17/9:2 S. Oshiro: Hire help to clean up lake on a trial basis.
18/9:1 G. Gustavson: Hire tax expert to mitigate loss of settlement funds through taxes due to time limit.