President Dick Sonderegger called the meeting to order and read the minutes from the 2005 annual meeting. Bart Barker noticed the misspelling of Steve Walczewski's name which was corrected and minutes accepted.
Sue Nilsen gave the treasurer's report. We had a surplus of $318 in 2005 and we should almost break even in 2006 keeping the dues at $170 per household per year. Our current balance is $9891. We have forty properties that regularly pay their dues and eleven who do not. Five of those eleven live on Route 10. The treasurer's report was accepted by the membership.
Lance Bushey gave the lake committee report. We need to make sure we don't add any aggressive weeds to the lake but how to control access to the lake? Sue Nilsen mentioned that she'd received a report from the Farmington Valley Health District indicating that the lake was safe for swimming. The lake committee report was accepted by the membership.
Steve Walczewski gave the road committee report. All agreed that Rich Thoms is doing a great job and the road committee report was accepted.
Dan Gonzalez reported that he's been finding a lot of garbage dumped on his property. He's found Christmas trees and car batteries. It's becoming such a nuisance that he's considering selling the property. Elaine Stuart-Thoms mentioned that she's found big kitchen knives around. We'll all have to keep our eyes open.
Dick Sonderegger announced that Sue Nilsen was willing to continue serving as treasurer and that Steve Walczewski, Lance Bushey and Elaine Stuart-Thoms were willing to continue in their roles as committee chairs. Bart Barker would shift from vice president to secretary and Madeleine Follett (who was unable to attend the meeting) had volunteered to serve as vice president. Dick did not wish to continue as president. He discussed the duties but there were no volunteers so Dick reluctantly agreed to serve one more term. The new board was accepted by acclimation.
Sue Nilsen introduced the 2006 budget as being pretty much the same as 2005 except with a little inflation figured into the insurance and snow plowing. Elaine proposed spending some money on a new swim float and a new fence for the beach since the beach requires a fence because of our insurance policy. Lance proposed running the fence fully across the beach in an attempt to prevent unauthorized boat launches. Before any of these special purchases were approved, the budget for 2006 was approved.
As a special one-time expense Elaine proposed purchasing a swim float. She showed the membership brochures describing her proposed purchase. The float will be made of aluminum and should require no maintenance. The cost is expected to be $1783 including delivery. Sue said that we have about $10,000 in the bank now and we want to keep one year's operating budget on hand just in case. Bart moved to allocate $2000 for the purchase of the swim float and motion passed unanimously.
As another special one-time expense Sue proposed purchasing two standard Granby style street signs for the north and south entrances of Lakeside Drive. Bart moved to allocate $400 for the two signs and the motion passed unanimously.
Gene Suponski recommended rebuilding the mailbox shed at the north end of Lakeside Drive. Dan Gonzalez suggested a new structure of plastic made to resemble wood. Dick suggested simply repairing the existing structure and a new coat of paint. Elaine suggested adding a bench. Steve Walczewski volunteered to coordinate the project and moved that $100, as a special one-time expense, be allocated. Similar work on the mailbox shed at the south entrance would be considered next year. The motion passed unanimously.
Bart Barker proposed closing the boat launch at the beach in order to reduce the number of motor boats on the lake and help prevent the introduction of any more invasive weeds. Don Chieski was opposed since he uses the boat launch. Gene Suponski mentioned that Manitook Lake is a state regulated body of water and there's a 20 mph speed limit. Sue Nilsen proposed a committee to study the ramifications of the boat launch on lake health. Bart, Gene and Lance Bushey volunteered to serve as the committee.
Don Chieski gave a lake weed update. There are currently two invasive weeds in our lake, not counting the lily pads. The milfoil is the bad one. He suggested taking out what we can manually but we can never get the lake back to the way it was before the milfoil. If we can convince the owner of the dam at the mill we might be able to kill a lot of the weeds near the shore, but we'd have to worry about shallow wells running dry.
Hearing no further new business, the annual meeting was adjourned.