The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
5:00 pm
Lake Delhi Office
Delhi, IA 52223
The regular meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District was called to order at 5:00 pm by President Burger.
Present: Burger, Althoff, Jasper, Leonard and Thompson. Scherrman by Zoom
Absent: Staebell
Visitors: Laurie Kramer, Ed Schmidt, Todd Gifford, Gary Grant, Larry Murphy, Pat Colgan, Dakota Drish and Randy Rattenborg
Burgerasked for a motion to approve the meeting agenda. A motion was made by Jasper. seconded by Scherrman to approve the agenda. All ayes. Motion carried.
A motion to approve minutes from previous meetings was made by Thompson, seconded by Leonard. All ayes. Motion carried.
The Board reviewed claims from the General Fund as presented. Claims included utilities, maintenance contract, engineering services, clerical expense, lobbyist expense, miscellaneous supplies, dam repairs, beach maintenance, bond fee, copier expense, Zoom contract and internet expense. Claims totaled $30,277.88. Claims for fund 81005 included engineering fees totaling $21,255.00 A motion was made by Leonard, second by Jasper to approve claims as presented. All ayes. Motion carried.
May financial reports were presented. The General Fund had revenues of $6,728.90 from Delaware County. Expenditures for May were $14,377.97 ending May at $2,049,022.60. The Debt Service Fund had revenues of $7,311.82 from Delaware County with no expenditures ending May at $189,057.87. The Dam Improvement Fund had a transfer from the General Fund of $10,000 and no expenditures ending May with a $60,000.00 balance. The Lake Impoundment Fund had revenues of $125.86 with no expenditures ending May with a balance of $392,750.86. A motion was made by Althoff to receive and file the May financial report. Scherrman seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Leonard, second by Thompson to approve renewing the contract with L & L Consulting for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022. Burger requested that the Trustees discuss the renewal processing in December of each year beginning with December, 2022. All ayes. Motion carried.
The Trustees discussed lawn/maintenance work at Lost Beach. At present, Rich Hughes has been dragging the beach and Randy Kramer has been doing the weed-eating. Hughes has agreed to continue dragging the beach for $1,500 of which $1,300 of that will be donated to the LDRA. Kramer is requesting $35 per time to do the weed-eating. Leonard made a motion to approve both men to continue at the rates noted above. Thompson seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
The next agenda item was to discuss possible action on allowing the Property Management Committee to make minor purchases prior to approval by the board at the regular monthly meeting. Burger had several concerns noting contracts cannot be approved without formal Board approval. He also noted that the Present/Vice-President currently have the ability to approve expenditures up to $5,000 without formal approval. Leonard made a motion to table any action until all committees review and bring back recommendation to the Board. Jasper seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
Committee Updates:
Burger wanted to note that Jason Schilling is planning to donate two steel picnic tables for Lost Beach. The Property Committee approved this as there was no cost to the District. Burger also mentioned that the gentlemen who removed the fence by the Scada office for tree removal was asking about putting a gate in the area where the fence was. After much discussion Burger will contact said gentlemen allowing for a gate to be put in with the stipulation that the District reserves the right to control the lock on the gate. Burger informed the Board that the concrete work on the south side of the dam will be starting next week.
Water Quality – Leonard gave a brief update on the sediment trap studies. Recommendations will be coming at a later date.
Community Events – The June 4th event was scaled back due to the weather but overall it was a success. It was reported that the paperwork has been completed for the fireworks event in August.
Operations & Maintenance – Colgan noted that the committee will be meeting with Lunda in the near future to review 5-6 projects to be completed within the next 2-5 year time span. A current concern is the moisture issue in the powerhouse. The committee will be reviewing this with Lunda as well as it is of immediate concern. Part of the issue is the damaged epoxy membrane that was put over the powerhouse several years ago. It needs to be replaced and is part of the moisture issue. Colgan also noted that the Trustees need to have a log of work that has been done on the dam and when so they can go back when issues arise. Burger mentioned that earlier in the month Randy Rattenborg and Dave Larson put in the stop logs to remove a tree log stuck under gate one. Randy called the Delhi Fire Department, and they came down and were able to move the log away from Gate 1. Randy mentioned that he has worked with the Delhi Fire Department on several lake issues, and all agreed they are a huge asset to Lake Delhi.
Property Management – No further update
Budget & Finance – Burger noted that we are closing out our fiscal year in very good shape.
Dredge – No further update
Wall of Recognition – Leonard spoke to the need to get the plans for Wall of Recognition finalized and get the project completed. He asked the Board for permission to establish a committee to get the project moving. Leonard recommended Pat Colgan and Todd Gifford along with himself to be on the committee. Althoff said he thought there was already a committee established that included Staebell and Burger. Burger stated he felt both he and Staebell should still participate in the decision making. After more discussion, Althofff suggested have the complete committee submit a plan.
Scherrman left the meeting at 5:48 p.m.
Legislative – Gary Grant gave an update on the last legislative session. L & L Consulting has worked on several things for Lake Delhi. Those include the Lake Restoration Fund and the Impoundment Fund which was created several years ago. They also help monitor any adverse DNR regulations that could affect Lake Delhi. Funding the Impoundment Fund was huge this year. The Fund is not specific to Lake Delhi but there’s not a lot of eligible participants which is beneficial to Lake Delhi. The goal is to make the funding go on auto-pilot. Challenges going forward include the expectation of lower gambling revenue. If that goes down funding will be a challenge. Grant noted that the fact that Lake Delhi is a part of the Maquoketa River Watershed Authority is also an asset for Lake Delhi in terms of additional funding. Althoff asked what other funding opportunities are available going forward. Grant responded that dam maintenance and public amenities are a couple of areas that would be of benefit to the District. Thompson asked if the District would be allowed to carry-over funds and Grant said he highly recommended we don’t do that because if there would be a revenue shortfall at the state level they could come back and asked for any unspent monies. Discussion continued regarding eligibility for funding and how the DNR assesses projects that are submitted, etc. Both Murphy and Grant recommended applying for a maximum amount for both dam projects and dredging knowing the District may not get the full amount. Leonard noted that the District needs to move quickly if they want to apply for funding because the application will require engineering work and also an endorsement from the Water Shed Authority. Leonard has already spoken to Andrew Judd regarding engineering services and he’s willing to help with the guidance of the Trustees of what the needs are.
Public Comment:
Pat Colgan mentioned that he received a call from Oran Love from the Cedar Rapids Gazette telling him how impressed he was with the dam rebuild and that he’s understanding is the fishing below the dam is as good as it’s ever been.
A motion to adjourn was made by Jasper, second by Thompson. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.