ROGERS LAKE AUTHORITY
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF July 11, 2018
A meeting of the Rogers Lake Authority (RLA) was convened at the Rogers Lake Clubhouse at 7:30 PM on July 11th. The following members were present: Dennis Overfield, Robert Recor, Toni Phillips, Mark Hastings, Tom Baehr and Dick Smith. Ten local attendees were also present. The minutes were typed by Nicole Krol.
The meeting of the Rogers Lake Authority was called to order at 7:29pm by Dennis Overfield.
The minutes from June were read aloud, Bob made a motion to accept the minutes, Toni second, the motion passed unanimously.
Lake Patrol
Lake patrol is going well, they have run into a few instances with local boaters. There are jet ski riders not following lake rules, the RLA is stopping them for safety. The 4th of July was a busy day on the lake.
Weeds
Budget
14% of the budget was remaining at the end of June. All bills will be sent directly to the town of Old Lyme for payment, lake patrol staff will now be employees for the town of Old Lyme instead of independent contractors.
Old Business
The RLA purchased new shirts and hats, they are a high visibility color, and have been distributed to the lake patrol staff and the RLA board members. Thank you to Toni for all of your efforts getting the shirts before the 4th of July!
Tom did deploy one of the weed mats, there are two more to go out. Residents have requested information on how to receive the weed mats after reading the RLA article in the Old Lyme events magazine. Carolyn Reed’s mat deployed in April was taken out June 29th, the mat did not compost the decaying material. The mats do not work on decaying material, but they do work on the live plants.
Dick asked why the survey is not expanded to other areas of the lake? Dennis has a meeting scheduled with Steve Mattson this month to get more information.
Dennis sent a letter to Scott Fisher from SWCA requesting information on the parrot feather invasive. Jen from lake patrol attended the meeting with a sample of the parrot feather. There is quite a bit of the parrot feather weed growing near the boat launch, the roots are very large. When the plants were first discovered they were floating fragments and now they have taken root in shallow areas. Jen is going to continue pulling the weed. Dennis sent before and after pictures of the parrot feather weed location to Scott Fisher, he indicated the job was being done well. An attendee noticed a new plant growing near his house as well.
New Business
There was an incident with one of the rowing camp groups, one of their chase boats ended up on a resident’s dock, Dennis did contact Candace Fuchs with concern and she was very responsive.
Next week is CT lake awareness week, the RLA was thinking of holding an event to celebrate and asked if anyone had ideas. Last year RLA had a lake clean-up weekend, that may work well this year and if notice is sent out the board may get volunteers. An attendee noted there are many geese in the lake.
There is a boat lift outside the launch area, Dennis has been in contact with the owner and there is a resolution in the works.
The RLA will put a danger buoy just outside the boat launch where there is a sandbar.
There are many fishing tournaments and kayak events scheduled for the next month.
Tom drafted a plan for a weed mats program: If the RLA board locates the target areas to be treated with mats, residents associated with the target areas can be contacted and asked to participate. The plan would last 5 months, and 10 mats would cover 50 locations. 20-30-man hours per month for weed mat deployment and retrieval is estimated. Deployment and retrieval would take place in two 30-day periods for each targeted area. Proposing the plan to the town would help with storage and cleaning of the mats so they are available for the next season. The number of hours involved in this proposal may be too much for a volunteer, if the town’s select person could be involved and possibly hire the public works department to complete the task, it would be much more successful. The responsibility would be a shared between the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme. Cost estimate per mat is about $280. Continuing to promote the program though articles and a possible mailing would help to
educate lake residents. Tom will continue to work on the weed mat plan. Toni suggested starting the program with fewer mats if needed to fit the budget. Dennis suggested getting SWCA involved to find the target areas.
Jen asked if a weed mat could be deployed past the boat launch to work on the invasive weeds, the response was yes. Dennis has received many requests for dock assistance and he thought employing a handy many to work on docks and mats may be added to the budget for next year.
There is a floating dock lodged alongside a property, Jen will look for it and see if it needs to be disposed of.
A motion to adjourn was made by Dick, Toni second, motion passed by unanimous vote. The meeting ended at 8:44 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
The next meeting of the Rogers Lake Association will be on August 8th, at 7:30PM at the Rogers Lake
West Shores Clubhouse.
Dennis,
Following up on our weed mat discuss at the June 13 RLA meeting, I'm outlining a benthic mat program for Rogers Lake and the RLA.~ I look forward discussing this on Wednesday evening, July 11.
1. ~ ~The RLA Weed Mat program will be underwritten by Lyme and Old Lyme as part of the annual RLA budget.
2. ~ The program will require the endorsement and co-operation of the First Selectmen from Lyme and Old Lyme.~ The involvement of the Departments of Public Works for both towns with be critical to the success of the program for deploying, moving, and recovering the mats, as well as storing the mats and re-bar at the end of each season.
3. ~ ~Using the recent 2018 SWLA survey, the RLA will locate properties on the lake, by address, that correspond to the milfoil, fanwort, parrot feather weed outbreaks that were newly identified. ~
RLA members will reach out via telephone and/or by post card to offer the use of a weed mat.~ We can also advertise the program to Rogers Lake lakefront property owners in the Old Lyme Events Magazine and on ~each town's web sites. ~ We should also consider a targeted mailing program to lakefront property owners.~
4. ~ The RLA board members will contact the property owners and ask if they are interested in participating in having a weed blanket deployed to stop the weeds.~ Factors to consider for each property~are the topography of the property and the lake bottom (Muck or Sand / Gravel) which will determine if the blanket can be deployed and recovered easily, and if the~deployment can be successful
5. ~ The mats would be deployed for up to two (2) 30-40 day periods. ~ Where applicable, the property owner would participate with DPW works for the deployment , movement and recovery of the mats.~ The mats would them be removed from the property. ~ The property owner would see the results and encouraged to ~purchase a weed mat for themselves if the deployment is successful.
6.~ Deployment would be on a first come, first served basis. ~ Mats can be deployed from May 1 through October 1, then cleaned, folded and stored in the town garages of both towns.~
7. ~ Mat deployment would be completed in the first week of May. ~ The mats would be moved or recovered and re-deployed during the first weeks of June , July, August and September.~ Final recovery would be during the first week of October.
8. ~ The approximate cost for (10) 10 X 40 foot mats with re-bar is approximately $3500. ~
9.~ If (10) mats are purchased and deployed over five months (May-September) , weeds can be removed from 40-50 lakefront lots.
10 ~ Approximate time (cost) of the deployments are one hour per mat, plus travel and set up time, or approximately 20-30 man hours per month if two DPW workers per town are assigned the work~
I considered the involvement of the Rower's Clubs, Lyme Youth Service and the Old Lyme Conservation Commission for deployment, recovery, cleaning and storage of the mats. ~ Each are problematic for many reasons, but most notably, each organization will require voluntary labor which is unreliable and will result in an unsuccessful program.~ We need the endorsement and oversight of both1st Selectmen and the involvement of each towns DPW (paid employees) to ensure proper oversight and to ensure that the mats are properly stored and maintained.
~
| 
