Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance
Minutes of the Board of Directors – Work Session
Thursday, October 11, 2018
4:30 p.m. at BWB Building
Directors Present: Jim Andrews, Jay Bailey, Pierre Chagnon, Bruce Erickson, Ted McCague, Dave Shepherd, and Dave Wesp.
Absent: Linda Barber & George Borrello
Staff in Attendance: Erin Brickley – Alliance Executive Director, Randall Perry – Alliance Project Manager.
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I. Call to Order:
Mr. Chagnon called the work session meeting of the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance (Alliance) to order at 4:40 pm. It was noted for the record that there was a quorum (7 of 9) present.
II. Approval of Minutes:
Mr. Shepherd made a motion to accept the minutes of the 9/13/18 Board Meeting, seconded by Mr. McCague. The motion was approved unanimously.
III. How best to clarify the Alliance mission to the community:
It was discussed that the mission of the Alliance is not necessarily well understood by all parties and there are many expectations of what we could or should be that cloud the topic as they are not always in line with the stated mission. It was decided that directors would go outbound for small group meetings with member organizations and present a prepared narrative as well as be available to answer questions and provide clarification on misinformation or misconceptions. Directors will start on this effort after the December work session.
IV. Alliance/Foundation project prioritization service:
One of the three scoring groups will be outside independent qualified consultants from EcoLogic LLC who will have three individuals participate in scoring and will follow the same administrative process as the other two scoring groups. Cost proposal of $396 per application reviewed was received. Mr. Wesp made a motion to contract with EcoLogic per their proposed costs for scoring services, seconded by Mr. Andrews. The motion was approved unanimously.
V. 2019 County funding:
Mr. Chagnon advised that there is pending 2% Occupancy funding through the County budget process for the Alliance, which is not yet finalized. Since Mr. Borrello is not in attendance and the discussion would benefit from his perspective and the budget has not yet been finalized by the Legislature who may or may not apply conditions, further discussion will occur at the next work session.
VI. CLP meeting:
Mr. Chagnon advised that he had recently met with Jim Wehrfritz from the CLP and gave a summary of the meeting to the group.
VII. Karen Rine communications:
Mr. Chagnon advised that he had recently seen letters being circulated by Karen that were negative toward the Alliance but that seemed to be based on misunderstandings and so had met one on one with her. He gave a summary of the meeting to the group.
VIII. Officer vacancy:
Since Mr. Spann stepped down after the July meeting, we have no acting Vice-Chair. Mr. Andrews made a motion to nominate Ted McCague as the new Vice-Chair, seconded by Mr. Wesp. The motion was approved unanimously.
IX. Discussion on membership structure:
Membership structure and dues were discussed. No final determination made and will be further discussed closer to next years’ membership drive.
X. Ad-hoc committee recommendations:
Initial discussion was had regarding the first recommendation which would be to add two more at-large directors to the board. Primary topic is if adding more at-large would be a benefit or detriment for those member organizations seeking local funding. It was decided that it was critical to do the director led outbound member meetings before any changes to the board composition. Therefore, this first recommendation will be further discussed at the next work session meeting. Interest was expressed in proceeding with the second recommendation to expand the committee structure, but no action was taken.
XI. Adjourn:
The meeting was adjourned at 6:30pm.