Lake Groton Association
Annual
Meeting Notes 2007
Saturday September 1, 2007
John LaRosa and Paul Sykas coming off service.
Motion made to have John, and Paul continue service for
association. Move accepted.
Current clerk, Oreste Reader renominated for another year of service,
motion approved.
200.00 to Groton FAST squad
200.00 to Groton Fire Department
dues remains set at $5.00
motion to approve made. Recommendations approved.
1.
Boating safety: Jim Soutar reported on
boating safety coarse. 21 successful completions. “all went well,
the state co-operated, and the students were attentive” Again a special
thank you to Jim for his time, and efforts to insure safe future boaters.
Next year the course dates will be Saturday 07-5 0930-230pm, and Sunday
0930-230pm. Contact Jim with questions: 584-3878
2.
Welcome committee: Jim Soutar, and Milt
Lamberton welcomed new members-no new members at this time. Comment
made by Jim, that the association members do a really good job in welcoming
newcomers, and representing the association.
3.
Federation of Lakes and Ponds: John LaRosa
attended this year. There was a lot of discussion about lake milfoil
monitors. All of us have a responsibility to insure that our lake remains
milfoil free. Take the time to check in front of your areas. If
questions, contact, Dave Spencer, Oreste Reader, or John LaRosa. For
additional information on aquatic nuisance species, you can refer to our web
site. www.grotonpond.com.
Additional federation news, discussed liability insurance for association
sponsored events. After discussion with a local lawyer (by John L) it was
felt that the boat parade does not need coverage. He did recommend
coverage for the fireworks display. John discussed with Northstar, and
they will add us to their event policy at no extra fee.
Also: Agency of
natural resources ANR, is setting up a “vip” program for invasive species
recognition, and reporting. It is probably going to be a 2 to 3 hour
course offered to anyone interested. John is going to try and set
something up for next summer here on the lake. It would involve class
work, as well as a wet workshop down on the water. Dust off the row boats
folks-this should be a good educational tool!
Federation of lakes
trivia: Lake Groton Association joined in 1976 with the forward thinking
of then president Milt Lamberton. Thank you to Milt for always having the
best interests of the lake at heart. We were the 7 or 8th
association to join.
4.
Web site new: Dave Spencer has set up,
and operates our lake web site. KUDOS to Dave for doing an outstanding
job, keeping the site current, and responding to the ‘contact’ box associated
with the site. Dave said that he is currently working on picture
software, to be able to scan in more photos, and possibly historic photos as
well. Dave also mentioned that Peter Bragg also had historic information
formally listed on the Spoor camp site, and that, that would be transitioning
to the Groton Pond Site. The annual
cost for the site is approximately 61.00
5.
Lake water quality lay monitor program: Dave
and Cathy Donath perform the monitor. See attached report. Of
special note; the technique used for the monitor information collection is
quality controlled by visual examination of technique, and this year when their
technique was observed, a camera crew filmed it, hopefully to use in some type
of education film. When that becomes available, Cathy said she would let
us know, if we wanted to view the material. Thank you to Dave, and Cathy
for their efforts.
6.
Milfoil watch team: the current team, John
LaRosa, Oreste Reader, Dave Specner, Paul Sykas, Tom Page, Steve LaRosa, and
Jeff Holden, are pleased to report that no milfoil has been found. With
that said, we echo the previous statement that all of us must be vigilant in
watching our areas, encouraging boat washing before launch, and educating
anyone we can about the transmission of this aquatic nuisance. Jeff
donated an underwater camera packet to the association, for use as a monitor
tool, as well as lost and found! Call John LaRosa if you would like to
use this tool. Pretty amazing to see the underwater terrain.
Jon Desilets had a question; has there
been any recent new findings of milfoil-At this point no. A brief
discussion on eradication methods followed, mentioning weevils, herbicides, and
matt bottom coverings. All things to be aware of, but the focus here is
PREVENTION.
7.
4th of July 2008 dates: boat
parade set for Friday 07-04, fireworks set for Thursday 07-03 evening with a
rain date of Sat 07-12.
*fireworks donations have been good. Thank you to all that participate in both the parade (Roger’s
tradition), and the fireworks display.
8.
There will be a spring muffin/coffee social too,
date and time to follow. These dates will be included with the
spring mailer for your convenience.
NEW business
All the new gravel in the sand pit, to be used in
the upgrade of the Stillwater parks water system, as well as miscellaneous site
repair, and forest roads.
She discussed the multiuse trails (yellow blaze
markings) the current status, and construction of these trails. At this
point progress is being made, they have rerouted one trail to the cold water
brook road versus boulder beach road to avoid dangerous traffic issues.
Seyon pond ranch is under dispute between VAST
trails, loggers, and ecologist for the water shed. Hopes to have these
parties come to some type of compromise for use of this area.
Ricker pond is having a new main water line
installed, after the freezing of the previous one. Ricker also had a new
septic system installed in the ranger house located at the park entrance.
Kettle pond boat portage is under improvement, as
well as New Discovery camping area. Continued site improvement, and
structure repair as needed.
Owls head look out has a new information stand-it
was built with leftover stones used by the CCC during the original construction
of the observation point.
Forest signage will be improved. Forest and
Parks, the DOT, and Town to be involved with that project.
There will be a new contact station built this fall
at boulder beach entrance. Should be ready for 08 season.
Thank you to Susan for coming out
today! There was also a thank you to Lisa Fisher the Stillwater
Ranger! Lisa led the park for its distinguished 2007 Park of the Year
Award.
Dave Spencer discussed the Town and State
committee set up to manage town and states shared interests in the park.
Dave is on the committee representing town government, and John L is a member
from the association.
Dave
discussed the paving of boulder beach road, and that it will be delayed, in
order to resolve the dangerous Y intersection at the junction of 232 and
boulder beach road. The town will look at this, and try to find a way to
preserve the historical approach, as well as meet safety standards of today’s
roads. More to follow as this unfolds.
The boulder beach road also hosts a new water
well-dry hydrant for use during fire. This is adjacent the the coldwater
brook, and will allow rapid fill up of tanker/pumper fire trucks. A good
thing!
A question was asked as to if we could use
the gravel pit gravel for improvement on state constructed access around the
pond-Susan did not have a answer, but will present it at her next stewardship
meeting. John L spoke up, and discussed the better back roads grant, and
asked that Susan also bring this topic with her, as they will go together
towards overall improvement of road quality and stewardship of the area.
Comments were made as to how nice the nature
center is, and what a wonderful beach (boulder beach) that we have. Jim
Soutar also mentioned to Susan the idea of marketing the beach to increase day
use. Susan is open to ideas. Feel free to contact her with any
suggestions. She is listed on the Vermont Forest and Parks Website.
Next years meeting has been set for Labor Day
Saturday 08-30-08 at 930, with coffee and muffins at 900am.
As per tradition, Jon Desilets made a motion
to adjourn, it was accepted and the meeting ended.
Respectfully submitted:
Oreste Reader Clerk 09-01-2007