Minutes of Lake Beseck Ad Hoc Advisory Committee - April 2014
Lake Beseck Ad Hoc Advisory Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday April 28, 2014
1. Call to order
Amy P called the meeting to order at 6:12PM.
2. Members in attendance
Amy Poturnicki, Rob Poturnicki, Rebecca Adams, Craig Lundell, Lucy Petrella, Jim Irish, Ed Bailey, Jon Brayshaw, Daria Vander Veer.
3. Approval of the agenda
Ed Bailey made a motion to approve the agenda which was seconded by Jim Irish and passed unanimously.
4. Approval of Minutes
Rebecca Adams made a motion to approve the March 24, 2014 meeting minutes which was seconded by Rob Poturnicki and passed unanimously.
5. Public Comment
No public comment was offered.
6. Chairman’s Report
Chairman’s Report – Brief of Progress to 4-28-2014
Milone & MacBroom collected composite soil samples from sand removal project areas on 3-24-2014. Test results came back essential the same as the initial tests, which means that the disposal options will remain the same. Areas were staked out at the beach in preparation of the Sand Removal Project, scheduled to begin today.
Pilings – To address concern raised over the exposed pilings on the raised trolley bed, Jon Brayshaw has been working with DEEP to trim down or remove them. It is felt that the pilings are a hazard to those that are unfamiliar to this shallow area of the lake. DEEP verbally agreed to cut them down.
Community Outreach projects are moving along.
• The outreach post card mailer reached mailboxes on Friday April 18. It was delivered to residential and business mailboxes within the Beseck watershed.
• The April 22 Earth Day “Ask a Scientist” workshop was a success. Approximately 35 participants came out and learned to identify invasive aquatic plants, were brought up to speed with our lake manager’s accomplishments and efforts underway, Ed Bailey talked about town efforts with the lake.
• “The Turion project” We heard back from DEEP on the idea of a lake vegetation clean-up effort. Initially, they were hesitant to entertain the idea. Chuck Lee supported the initiative and worked to expedite approvals through the various DEEP departments. Chuck suggested giving DEEP the earliest date possible for the effort. Paperwork was submitted to DEEP for the first weekend of May. The requirement is that vegetation has to be disposed of at our transfer station and everyone must fill out volunteer paperwork. I have spoken with Boy Scouts, Parks & Rec, Inland Fisheries and Coginchaug High School who were receptive in coordinating efforts with us. Mark June-Wells has generously agreed to volunteer the plant education portion of the event. (keeping it very simply - a narrated lake bed tour that passes by educational poster boards marking out areas where our invasive plants are mapped)
• Storm Drain Project was researched a bit. There a lot of creative ideas out there for this type of outreach initiative that we can discuss.
• Our next meeting will be Tues May 27th at 7 P.M.
7. Selectmen Report
Ed Bailey confirmed that sand removal work is underway. There are several disposal options including the gravel pit, the public works facility, and the transfer station. DEEP issued guidance for treating and disposing of road sand most recently in 2007 and the Town will follow those guidelines. Ed Bailey stated that a local topsoil business may be interested in taking some of it.
Chris Hurlbert, Director of Parks and Recreation, asked whether there will be a beach season at the lake this summer. Ed reported that DEEP is unsure exactly when they will begin to allow the lake to fill. Perhaps 4-6 weeks. They are waiting for a 48 inch pipe which will replace the current 18 inch pipe but they don’t know when it will be delivered. DEEP has been noncommittal about it. DEEP has agreed to take out the pilings sticking out of the trolley bed.
CT DEEP has approved the volunteer turion raking project for the Saturday May 3. All volunteers must sign up and sign in. The State wants to know exactly who is working there. Mark June-Wells has volunteered to do plant education during the cleanup. The turions can be bagged and disposed of at the vegetation area at the transfer station.
Ed reported that the Board of Finance’s proposed fiscal year 2014-15 budget includes funding for work at the lake consistent with that proposed by the Selectmen. Jim Irish explained that the BoF decided that the water testing funding should be in the CNR budget and $8,000 for that is found in line item 8595 with $25,000 in the operating budget found in line item 2258.
The Board of Selectmen plans to re-establish the ad hoc committee at its next meeting, appointing the same members.
8. Community Outreach
The committee discussed the mailer and the Earth Day event. All agreed that everything went really well and that ongoing education and outreach are important and should include the entire town. Future communications should include an email address for inquiries. Lucy Petrella said she thinks the whole town needs to be aware of what is happening if we want the clean up and maintenance funds to stay in the town budget. The committee discussed that we did look at a town wide mailer for the Earth Day event but decided to mail only to households in the Lake Beseck watershed due to budget constraints.
The committee agreed that stenciling storm drains to remind people not to put anything in them, is a good next project. Amy did some research and has some ideas for stenciling. Ed has seen some in shoreline towns that he thought were well done. The committee will talk at the next meeting about the number and location or drains to stencil and the budget for and logistics of completing that project.
9. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7:16PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Adams, Secretary
May 5, 2014