Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance
Minutes of the Board of Directors – Work Session
Thursday, April 11, 2024
4:30 p.m. at the BWB Building, 201 West 3rd St. Jamestown, NY 14701 & via Zoom
Directors Present: Bruce Erickson, Ellen Barnes, Don Emhardt, Paul (P.J.) Wendel, Jr., Janis Bowman (via Zoom), Mike LaTone (via Zoom), Jim Andrews, JoDee Johnson, Martin Proctor
Staff in Attendance: Randall Perry – Alliance Executive Director, Taylor West – Alliance Project Manager, and Jay Young – Alliance Communications Coordinator
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I. Call to Order
B. Erickson called the Board Meeting of the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance (Alliance) to order at 4:32 p.m. A quorum of 8 out of 9 Alliance Board Members were present at the start of the meeting.
II. Approval of 3/14/2024 Board Meeting Minutes
D. Emhardt made a motion to accept the minutes from the 3/14/24 Board Meeting. The motion was seconded by P. Wendel and was passed unanimously.
III. Financial Report
R. Perry indicated that the meeting packet includes an updated financial summary report including an unaudited Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement through March 31. R. Perry indicated that on the Balance Sheet, the March 31, 2023 balances shown for the Key Bank Savings account and Key Bank CD should be swapped but that the totals are not affected.
D. Emhardt made a motion to accept the financial report as presented. The motion was seconded by E. Barnes and was passed unanimously.
IV. Alliance Committees Updates
R. Perry indicated that a Lake Management Committee Meeting has been scheduled for 4/22/2024 at 4:30 PM at The Lawson Center in Bemus Point. R. Perry indicated that a Watershed Management Committee meeting was held on 3/19/2024 at the Town of North Harmony municipal building. R. Perry thanked Committee chair Rob Yates for hosting the meeting, which was a productive discussion of ongoing as well as planned watershed work.
V. 2024 Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program
a.) Status of Awards Made To Date for 2024
R. Perry indicated that the meeting materials include a table of grant awards made thus far for the 2024 Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program.
b.) 2024 Hultquist Foundation Grant Request Update
R. Perry indicated that a grant of $75,000 has been secured from the Hultquist Foundation for the purpose of targeted herbicide treatment of invasive species led by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership.
c.) 2024 County Occupancy Tax Funding Update
R. Perry indicated that the County has awarded an additional $100,000 in Alliance agency allocation funding, which is intended to fund early-season harvesting by the Chautauqua Lake Association. R. Perry indicated that brings the total agency allocation funding from the County to $400,000.
d.) Alliance Lake Maintenance Operations and Capital Fund
R. Perry indicated that the Alliance’s Lake Maintenance Operations & Capital Fund currently contains $40,000 in 2023 carry-over funds from the Holmberg Foundation and $7,332 from the County. R. Perry indicated that he does not yet have new information about a potential 2024 contribution to the Alliance by the Holmberg Foundation, and indicated that in the past those grant awards have been announced around May or June.
J. Johnson asked if the $300,000 in County funding that is unallocated may be used for all lakes in the County or just Chautauqua.
R. Perry indicated those funds are for Chautauqua Lake.
P. Wendel indicated that the additional $100,000 in funding has been in negotiation for some time, and thanked the legislature for their work to secure funding.
e.) Other
R. Perry indicated that the meeting materials include a potential funding scenario and provided an overview.
P. Wendel made a motion to award (i) $100,000 in County pass-through funding to the CLA for 2024 early season lake maintenance work and (ii) $75,000 in Hultquist Foundation pass-through funding to CLP for its 2024 herbicide program. The motion was seconded by J. Andrews. During discussion of the motion, M. Proctor indicated that it is important that the CLA funding is used for early season work as agreed to by the County and CLA, and the Board concurred. The motion passed unanimously (Abstain: B. Erickson, D. Emhardt, J. Johnson, M. LaTone).
A discussion followed of the presented scenario and alternatives.
J. Johnson indicated that the Chautauqua Lake Partnership should have more information on its herbicide treatment program soon, and indicated it may be best to leave some funds unallocated for now.
B. Erickson indicated that 2023 operations for the CLA were around $1 Million, and indicated that it is difficult to anticipate DEC herbicide permitting.
P. Wendel indicated that during a recent flight over the lake he could see some patches of what may have been plant growth. P. Wendel indicated he was pleased with the science-based approach being used so far in 2024.
J. Bowman indicated that there is still discussion ongoing about the potential usefulness of herbicide or algaecide treatments for invasive starry stonewort.
P. Wendel asked if permitting for starry stonewort chemical treatment had an impact on other CLP permit applications.
R. Perry indicated that around 325 acres of treatment had been requested for DEC permits for invasive curly-leaf pondweed, per Glenn Sullivan of Ready Scout LLC. R. Perry indicated that around 200 acres are expected to be requested for DEC permits for ProcellaCOR treatment of Eurasian watermilfoil. R. Perry indicated that around 29 acres of treatment were planned to be requested for a starry stonewort chemical management pilot. R. Perry indicated that these estimates were based on information provided by G. Sullivan at the CLP’s meeting on March 16.
D. Emhardt indicated he supported J. Johnson’s suggestion of leaving some funding unallocated until more is known about the costs of herbicide treatment.
J. Andrews made a motion to allocate the following funds for the 2024 Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program: (i) $100,000 to Chautauqua Lake Association 2024 All-Inclusive Operational Support (Holmberg Foundation and County funds); (ii) $26,453 to Town of Chautauqua Mobitrac Near Shore Cleanup (County funds); and (iii) $40,000 (County funds) to Alliance Operational Support. The motion was seconded by E. Barnes and was passed unanimously (Abstain: D. Emhardt and B. Erickson).
T. West indicated that the state grants for diver assisted suction harvesting of invasive starry stonewort for the Towns of North Harmony and Chautauqua are moving forward quickly.
D. Emhardt indicated that those grants are being processed through a new State Financial System of reporting.
T. West indicated that the next steps will be to secure a contract and bid out the work to a DASH firm.
J. Johnson indicated that she had met with T. West recently to discuss available data sets.
VI. Other
a.) Alliance Board of Directors Election and Annual Meeting Update
B. Erickson indicated that P. Chagnon has been nominated for an at-large seat on the Alliance Board.
R. Perry indicated that D. Emhardt has been nominated for the municipal seat.
B. Erickson indicated that because both he as Chairman and D. Emhardt as Vice-Chairman are up for election, he recommends waiting until after the election to discuss officer candidates for the coming year.
A discussion followed of the composition of the Alliance Board and by-laws.
J. Johnson indicated that she and Terry Toy of the CLP had met with T. West recently to discuss available data sets. J. Johnson indicated that there is a large amount of data available, but it remains to be seen how it can be put to work. J. Johnson asked if some of this information could be shared with researchers that will be presenting at upcoming lake science conferences sponsored by the County and Chautauqua Institution.
P. Wendel asked if the Data Analysis and Research Committee should be taking the advantage here, and indicated he agreed with J. Johnson’s idea.
J. Bowman indicated she was also in agreement that some of this data should be shared prior to the conferences.
T. West indicated that some of the discussion between himself, J. Johnson, and T. Toy was related to new GIS mapping of populations of invasive starry stonewort and brittle naiad.
J. Johnson indicated that it would be good to use some of these tools to plan for invasive hydrilla, should it be detected in the lake in the future.
J. Bowman indicated that it is important to show that collaboration is possible on tasks such as this.
A discussion followed of Alliance Board composition and how the Director seats are designated.
J. Johnson made a motion to direct R. Perry to draft a by-law amendment for Board consideration that would designate that three of the four at-large seats be held by someone from the CLA, CLP, and CWC. The motion was seconded by P. Wendel. After discussion, the motion was withdrawn and no vote was taken.
R. Perry indicated he could send relevant sections of the Alliance by-laws to the Board to further this discussion.
B. Erickson indicated that in addition, the Board would like R. Perry to draft a by-law amendment that would specify particular at-large seats for particular members. After discussion, it was indicated that any possible change would not be taken up by the Board until after the May election and that R. Perry should have the draft ready for the June 13 Board work session.
VII. Adjourn
E. Barnes made a motion to adjourn the April 11, 2024 Board meeting. The motion was seconded by P. Wendel and was passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 5:52 PM.
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The Alliance Board of Directors passed a motion to approve these 4/11/24 Meeting Minutes on 5/9/24.