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Introductions                     Tom Heid

Cedar Lake Improvement District (CLID) includes properties in both Helena and Cedar Lake Townships. It includes 452 lots with 371 property owners. Years ago, the county decided which properties were included within the CLID.

Treasurer's Report                     Bob Vanasek

Funds are held in a checking account and Certificates of Deposit established for the CLID at a local bank. Overall, expenses were lower than anticipated for 2012. Money spent on the lake treatment and carp seining were under the proposed budget. The DNR contributed $15,000 in grant funds towards the 2012 bay treatment of 100 acres which decreased the payment from CLID and Scott Watershed Management Organization (SWMO); the winter carp seining didn’t occur but a late fall 2012 netting in one lake area by a substitute commercial fisherman was lower in cost than budgeted amount. Administrative costs were slightly higher due to creation of website and a couple mailings to residents.

Lake Vegetation Management Plan                     Melissa Bokman, Scott Watershed Management Org
                                                                           Keegan Lund, Department of Natural Resources

Together, Melissa and Keegan wrote the Lake Vegetation Management Plan that was required by the DNR in order to chemically treat Cedar Lake. Typically, the DNR will allow an average of 15% of a lake to be treated in a year. The CLID’s proposed plan approved by residents in 2011 was more aggressive and a report needed to be written and submitted to the DNR for approval. Melissa and Keegan had to take vegetation readings from Cedar Lake at various times to accompany the written plan. Ongoing vegetation studies will be required during all years of treatment. After many months of preparation, the report was submitted and the proposed CLID plan was approved by the DNR in early 2013.

Melissa reviewed the results of the vegetation studies including the current dominance of curly leaf pondweed over native plants in Cedar Lake. Keegan answered all questions from the audience about the chemical treatment (its safety and history in treating other lakes).

Spraying and Weed Treatment                      Tom Heid

The Scott Watershed Management Organization is responsible for improving water quality of Scott County’s lakes, rivers and streams through various means. Melissa Bokman has been instrumental in spearheading the creation of a comprehensive plan to improve Cedar Lake. The CLID represents the residents to approve and assist with those plans. Melissa requested bids from treatment companies to treat the DNR-approved areas for the next three years (the maximum bid period). Melissa and Tom Heid, chairman of the CLID, reviewed the results. Three companies submitted bids with PLM being the lowest bid for all three years. A contract was submitted and signed by all three parties. Per the approved plan, PLM will treat the Northeast Bay (100 acres) for a second year and the south 100 acres of the main part of Cedar Lake for the first time. Cedar Lake (800 acres total) is divided into 5 treatment areas: Areas 1 and 2 consist of 100 acres each; Areas 3, 4 and 5 are 200 acres each and extend northward from Area 2. As an average, each area will be treated a minimum of 3 times in order to control the curly leaf. Yearly vegetative studies will reveal the effectiveness of controlling this non-native invasive plant.

Carp Seining Update                     Mike Speltz

Mike had many conversations throughout 2011-2013 with Don Geyer, the DNR-approved commercial fisherman solely allowed to seine/net carp on Cedar Lake. For various reasons he has not been able to do so in winter 2011-12 or 2012-13. He decided late in fall 2012 to allow another commercial fisherman, Jeff Riedermann, to net for carp. Even though Jeff didn’t have much time to search for where the carp may be congregating, he did manage to pull about 1500-2000 pounds from the south end of the lake just a couple weeks before the lake froze over. Don searched for where carp were grouping together this last winter to seine but did not have any success finding them. He had indicated he would try a spring netting but didn’t accomplish that before the opening fishing weekend…the deadline for carp netting until fall 2013.

First Carp Tournament                     Brad Eller

A Stewards Grant application was submitted by Marie Jaeger to SWMO for consideration to receive $2000 for a carp tournament. The grant money was to be used for a project to enhance the water quality of area waters. The carp is a non-native invasive fish that severely impacts water quality. After review of the submitted applications, the CLID was awarded the grant for running a carp tournament. Brad Eller volunteered to head up this project. He worked closely with several organizations to coordinate the event including SWMO, Three Rivers Park District (Cedar Lakes Farm), local fishing groups, etc. He brought along extra copies of the tournament announcement and application forms for the 8 bow fisherman boats that would be allowed to participate in the event scheduled to begin at 10 pm on Friday, May 17, and end at Cedar Lakes Farm at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 18. The public was invited to attend the weigh-in and view the carp catch.

New Board Member Election                      Bob Vanasek

One board member, Bob Vanasek, was retiring from the board this year. At the 2012 annual meeting, a couple CLID residents applied for future board vacancies. They were contacted and Theresa Jacobsen remained interested in becoming a board member. She attended a couple meetings to better understand the board’s function and board members duties. The board agreed to nominate her for consideration and approval by the residents at the annual meeting. She was voted in by the attending residents. No other nominees stepped forward for consideration.

Website                     Marie Jaeger

The CLID website (CedarLakeImprovement.org or CedarLakeImprovement.com) has been operational since September 2012. It has grown from 30 hits per month to over 1200. Most of the 75 residents in attendance raised their hands to show their utilization of the website.