Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance
Minutes of the Board of Directors – Work Session
Thursday, June 12, 2025
4:30 p.m. at the BWB Building, 201 West 3rd St. Jamestown, NY 14701 & via Zoom
Directors Present: Pierre Chagnon, Don Emhardt, Martin Proctor, Paul (P.J.) Wendel, Jr., JoDee Johnson, Mike LaTone, Andrew Goodell, Larry Anderson
Staff in Attendance: Randall Perry – Executive Director, Jay Young – Communications Coordinator
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I. Call to Order
D. Emhardt called the Board Meeting of the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance (Alliance) to order at 4:31 PM. A quorum of 7 out of 9 Directors was present at the start of the meeting.
Note: Agenda items IV and V were completed prior to items II and III based on the timing of attendee arrivals. They are summarized here in the order they appeared on the agenda.
II. Seating of New Directors
The Board welcomed incoming directors A. Goodell and L. Anderson. R. Perry indicated that A. Goodell and L. Anderson have completed their orientation and paperwork needed to be seated. R. Perry indicated that all directors and staff have submitted their conflict of interest statements for the year. R. Perry thanked the new and returning directors.
D. Emhardt thanked A. Goodell and L. Anderson for serving on the Alliance Board and indicated that the Board seating is complete.
III. Election of Officers
The Board discussed the process for electing officers and the roles of officers. R. Perry indicated that there are currently vacancies for Treasurer and Secretary, positions with one-year terms, and that current Chair D. Emhardt and current Vice Chair P. Chagnon would be eligible to serve new one-year terms.
D. Emhardt indicated that he would prefer to no longer serve as the Chair, due to constraints from his other duties.
After discussion, P. Wendel made a motion to select P. Chagnon as Chair and M. LaTone as Vice Chair. The motion was seconded by M. LaTone and was passed unanimously.
M. Proctor made a motion to select J. Andrews as Treasurer and J. Johnson as Secretary. The motion was seconded by D. Emhardt and was passed unanimously.
R. Perry indicated that he will update the organization’s contact list and distribute that to the Board.
IV. Approval of 5/8/2025 Board Meeting Minutes
R. Perry indicated that the minutes in the meeting packet included a correction to a pair of typos identified in the original draft sent to the Board on 6/6. P. Chagnon made a motion to accept the minutes as presented in the packet from the 5/8/25 Board Meeting. The motion was seconded by J. Johnson and was passed unanimously.
V. Financial Update
R. Perry indicated that the meeting packet includes an updated financial summary report for May.
P. Wendel made a motion to accept the financial summary report as presented. The motion was seconded by J. Andrews and was passed unanimously.
VI. Lake Management Consultant Update
R. Perry indicated that GEI Consultants is continuing to its work as outlined in their contract and scope of work. R. Perry indicated that the consultant is in the process of conducting interviews with service providers and their contractors, certain other Alliance Members, DEC, and researchers. R. Perry indicated that the consultant is also in the process of performing background data and report review and will be scheduling their second lake visit soon.
P. Wendel indicated that it would be good to have GEI present at the Alliance’s August Board meeting.
R. Perry thanked P. Wendel for his suggestion and indicated that GEI is scheduled to attend that meeting.
J. Johnson asked for details on the deliverables GEI will be providing.
R. Perry indicated that he is continuing to keep GEI updated with relevant information on lake conditions, and that the deliverables requested can differ depending on the task outlined in the scope of work. For meetings, the expected deliverable would be a copy of slides. R. Perry indicated that there is a written document planned as a result of the background document review. R. Perry indicated that one of the deliverables will be an end-of-year report.
J. Johnson indicated that the end-of-year report should be helpful to make funding decisions for 2026.
P. Chagnon indicated that funding recommendations are included in GEI’s current scope of work.
P. Wendel asked to what extent GEI will be using the North Carolina State 5-Year Management Plan.
R. Perry indicated that GEI will review the document as part of its background research, and that they also plan to speak with Dr. Rob Richardson about the document as part of their stakeholder engagement.
M. LaTone indicated he hoped that the document would be used after it was funded by the Alliance.
L. Anderson asked if GEI will be working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
R. Perry indicated that the work being done by GEI and the Army Corps will likely remain separate, as the Army Corps is working closely with the County on their own scope and schedule. R. Perry indicated that GEI is staying generally informed of the Army Corps work.
P. Wendel and M. Proctor indicated that they recently met with a tourism related stakeholder, and indicated that there are concerns about negative press surrounding the lake and possible impacts on tourism.
M. Proctor indicated that conditions near the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel have not been good.
P. Wendel indicated that a prominent film crew was recently visiting the area to get footage of the lake and region.
VII. 2025 Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program
a.) Status of Awards Made to Date for 2025
R. Perry indicated that the 2025 Consolidated Local Funding Program has received a total of $566,666 in grants from the CRCF, Lenna Foundation, and Sheldon Foundation. All funds were allocated to Member projects at the 3/13/25 Alliance Board work session.
b.) Status of Other Local Grants – County, Hultquist, Holmberg, and Other
R. Perry indicated that the Alliance has received a grant award of $50,000 from the Hultquist Foundation to support the Chautauqua Lake Partnership Herbicide Program. R. Perry thanked M. LaTone for providing information in support of that grant request.
A. Goodell asked how that grant award amount compares to years past.
R. Perry indicated that the Alliance has received Hultquist grants of $80,000 and $100,000 in the past, each being directed to the CLP herbicide program.
A. Goodell asked about the current status of CLP’s grant agreement with the Alliance.
R. Perry indicated that grant contracts can be amended via a letter when new funds are allocated, or a new grant agreement can be created. R. Perry indicated that in this case, a letter amending the existing contract may be the simplest solution.
M. Proctor made a motion to accept the $50,000 grant from the Hultquist Foundation to support the Chautauqua Lake Partnership Herbicide Program in the form of a pass-through grant. The motion was seconded by D. Emhardt and was passed unanimously with abstentions by M. LaTone, A. Goodell, and J. Johnson.
R. Perry indicated that with this grant the CLP herbicide program has been allocated $155,000 from the Alliance in 2025, and that there is currently an outstanding request for additional funds.
A discussion followed of municipal contributions to the CLP herbicide program.
A. Goodell indicated that in the future the Alliance could consider designating a percentage of funds in its grant agreements as contingent or discretionary, that way they would only be released to the grantee if certain work is performed. A. Goodell indicated that one potential downside to this would be that grantees do not perform work until they are specifically asked to do so.
P. Wendel asked if 10% would be a good amount to hold as contingent funding in grant agreements.
A. Goodell indicated that GEI may have recommendations on how best to structure performance-based contracts.
P. Chagnon indicated these are ideas that could be looked at going into next year’s grants.
R. Perry indicated he has not yet heard from the Holmberg Foundation regarding a possible 2025 grant to the Alliance.
c.) Status of Alliance Lake Maintenance Operations and Capital Reserve
P. Chagnon briefed the Board on the status of the Lake Maintenance Operations and Capital Reserve.
J. Johnson asked about the current status of funding for the Chautauqua Lake Association.
R. Perry indicated that CLA general operations have been granted $250,000 from the Alliance, while Mobitrac support operations have been granted $20,000 for 2025. R. Perry indicated that the County is attempting to contract separately with the CLA to directly fund their work.
P. Wendel briefed the Board on the status of the County’s attempts to contract with CLA.
A. Goodell indicated that all permitted CLP herbicide treatments have been conducted, and asked what the current funding shortfall is for that work.
R. Perry indicated that there is currently a shortfall of about $200,000 reported by CLP, after factoring in the $155,000 that has already been granted by the Alliance. He indicated that CLP is also seeking additional permits to perform treatments this year, but those costs are not included in the estimated gap.
Discussion occurred related to other possible funding sources such as state funding due to be paid to CLP, fundraising by CLP, and County funds available for lake maintenance.
P. Wendel made a motion to award $92,521.65 in funds to the Chautauqua Lake Partnership 2025 herbicide program. The motion was seconded by L. Anderson and was passed unanimously with abstentions by A. Goodell, J. Johnson, and M. LaTone.
VIII. 2025-2026 Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program Update – Solicitation and Review Process
R. Perry indicated that the meeting materials include an overview of the planned Alliance Consolidated Local Funding Program for 2025-2026. R. Perry indicated that a Request for Applications will be sent to members in early July and will be due in early September. R. Perry indicated applications will be evaluated by staff and committee volunteers using the Multi-Criteria Analysis tool, as one of several steps in the process. R. Perry indicated that no substantive changes from the 2024-2025 application or process are planned, with the exception of incorporating GEI into the Board’s review.
A discussion followed of how GEI may be involved in the process. It was suggested that GEI receive a copy of the application as background information.
A. Goodell asked if the application is available online.
R. Perry indicated that it is typically sent directly to Members by email. R. Perry indicated that he could send a copy of the application to A. Goodell.
IX. Alliance Board Structure and By-Laws Discussion
A. Goodell indicated that R. Perry had provided him background on the matter being considered.
A discussion followed of the structure of the Alliance Board, by-laws, possible alterations, and next steps.
P. Chagnon asked if a by-law change is all that would be needed to alter the structure of the Board.
A. Goodell indicated that a change to the Board structure would require a by-law amendment needing a two-thirds affirmative vote by directors in office.
P. Chagnon suggested that this discussion continue at the August Board meeting, which will be open to invited Alliance Member representatives and funders.
X. 2025 NYS Consolidated Funding Application Update
R. Perry indicated that the 2025 NYS Consolidated Funding Application opened in mid-May, and that Alliance staff are currently preparing two Water Quality Improvement Project program grant applications to construct new culverts in the Town of Chautauqua, which would result in over $1 million in work if awarded. R. Perry indicated that staff are also looking into a possible stormwater grant application at Chautauqua Institution.
XI. Other
P. Chagnon indicated the agenda includes a list of upcoming Alliance Board meetings.
Discussion occurred regarding plant conditions in areas that had been treated with herbicides compared to untreated areas and the relationships among fisheries, native plants, and invasive plants.
P. Wendel indicated that DEC fisheries staff has met with the Alliance Board and offered to do so again.
P. Chagnon asked R. Perry to contact DEC fisheries staff about speaking to the Alliance Board again.
XII. Adjourn
P. Wendel made a motion to adjourn the June 12, 2025 meeting at 6:15 PM. The motion was seconded by M. LaTone and was passed unanimously.
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The Alliance Board of Directors passed a motion to approve these 6/12/25 Meeting Minutes on 7/10/25.