Author: Ryan Mueller

Meeting Called to Order by Amy Heaven 9:00 AM at the Gardner Senior Center.

Board Present: Amy Heaven, Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jahrus, Blake Larson, Leslie Hind, Clifton Bencke

Board Absent: None

Introductions: Board members and new lake residents were introduced.

Agenda: Amy Heaven presented the agenda for approval. Miranda Burnett moved to approve the agenda, this was seconded and approved.

Secretary: Ryan Mueller presented the previous resident’s meeting minutes. Blair Honeyman moved to approve the minutes, this was seconded and approved.

Treasury: Presented by Leslie Hind. Major expenses in 2022 were: $636 for 4^th of July Parade, $188 for kayak race, $1,472 for dumpsters (for 4 tons of trash removed!), and $850 for the Grass Carp addition project. Funds that were received in 2022 are: $3,954 in dues collected from 115 members, $2,008 collected from merchandise sales, and $4,150 received from 51 benefactors specifically for the Grass Carp addition project (thank YOU!). Leslie explained that of the GLA’s assets, $15,000 has been earmarked for infrastructure expenses and the remaining $3,806 is in the general fund, with another $435 in the Paypal receivable account.

Special Events: Presented by Melinda Broward. Melinda led us down memory lane with a review of the fun events held throughout the year. Some special highlights were the 4^th of July Boat Parade with online voting, 2 very successful lake cleanups that beautified the dam / spillway area, and a kayak race with 25 volunteers and 40 participants (including a paddling pup!). Melinda built more excitement for the Annual Chili Cookoff that occurs later this day (10/8/22) and announced a Christmas Light Contest to occur later this year.

Special Presentation: Lake Infrastructure:

-Amy Heaven addressed the recent article by the Gardner News. In response to the article, Amy and the GLA board created a Gardner Lake Infrastructure Taskforce: a subset of GLA board members and residents especially dedicated to getting into the deep details of what it would take to repair the dam and spillway. The taskforce is made up of Leslie Hind, Mike Rankin, Ryan Mueller, Tim Orrick, and Amy Heaven.

-Leslie Hind reviewed the history of the dam / spillway repairs as well as the inspection report produced in 2021 by engineering firm Olsson. The lake Dam is currently classified as a High Hazard dam because a failure of the system could result in extensive loss of life, damage to homes, or traffic on high volume roads.  At the 2021 inspection, the dam was found to be in fair condition but deficiencies and needed repairs were noted including deterioration of the spillway crest, undesirable vegetation along the dam embankment, and sparse riprap in certain locations.

-Tim Orrick presented information on the current governance of the lake and nearby properties. Importantly, it was noted the dam / spillway repairs are estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $800,000. Of this total, Johnson County has offered a grant to pay $400,000 towards these repairs. This has been declined for several years by the city of Gardner due to a lack of funds for the remaining portion of funding – approximately $400,000. So far, the city has expressed that some portion of this cost will be burdened by the residents of Gardner Lake. To this point, the GLA Infrastructure Taskforce is currently investigating options that would help get the dam and spillway repaired with various forms of financial structuring. These options and some of their pro/cons were:

1) Do nothing and allow the city to repair on their terms and timeline

-pros: passive choice, happens automatically

-cons: no control, city could decide to raise dock fees unilaterally to cover costs

2) Work with city to finance a ‘resident portion’ of the cost through dock fees

-pros: some voice in structuring of dock fees

-cons: dock fees not a good mechanism – overcharge some residents and undercharge others

3) City of Gardner passes ownership of the lake to Johnson County

-pros: county has authority to levy tax assessments in a more equitable way than dock fees

-cons: unlikely that Johnson County is interested

4) Transfer ownership of Gardner Lake to a private entity such as a newly formed HOA

-pros: an HOA would have control of decisions

-cons: would be difficult to form an HOA, resident responsibility for repairs increases

Old Business:

-Calendar Update: Sandy Adams is preparing calendars for 2023, sponsorships are available.

-Membership Update: Mike Rankin is working to build a contact list of lake residents for email notifications. Let the GLA know if you are not getting lake announcement emails.

-Dredging/Grass Carp Update: Leslie Hind said that dredging is still a priority and will be investigated soon. The existing and newly added grass carp have been working hard cleaning up algae around the lake.

-Raffle Update: Ryan Mueller showed off the awesome items available in the raffle for the Chili Cookoff.

New Business:

-By-Laws Update: Amy Heaven announced forthcoming proposed updates to the By-Laws to be voted on at the Spring Resident’s meeting.

Adjournment: There was a move to adjourn, which was seconded and passed unanimously.

Meeting Called to Order by Amy Heaven 4:00 PM in Zoom format.

Present:           Amy Heaven, Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jahrus, Blake Larson, Leslie Hind

Absent:            Clifton Bencke

Infrasturcture: Presented by Tim Orrick. Tim presented several options for ways to move forward on the lake’s infrastructure. He has agreed to present these to the larger resident’s meeting in October.

Treasury: Presented by Leslie Hind. Total in bank = $18,216, total in paypal = $435.90. Kayak run cost: $372.03, Kayak run income: $91 from raffle, October raffle made $105, $30 donations, $335 for clothing.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: Presented by Ryan Mueller. Mike Rankin moved to approved, Leslie seconded. Unanimous approval.

Special Events:

Kayak Run: Hugely successful event with 40 participants including pro athletes, out of state competitors, a dog, and 2 princesses. There were generous donations from companies like Blazers, Fronteras, and Tumbleweed totaling over $300.

Chili cookoff: Coming right up on October 1^st. Tons of planning going into this delicious event.

   Christmas Light Contest: Decision made to facilitate a contest this winter. More to come.

Old Business:

-Getting low on some of our clothing supplies, and a new design is incoming. The group decided to have a sale on t-shirts soon.

New Business:

-Resident’s meeting October 8^th. The group is preparing for this event.

-Amy is preparing some suggested updates to the GLA by-laws, to be distributed to residents prior to the meeting.

-Algae is building up to the point the spraying company has requested to spray it to keep it under control before fall. No sprayings have happened yet this year. The city so far has not approved this request.

Adjournment: Sandy moved to adjourn, Leslie seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

Meeting Called to Order by Amy Heaven 4:00 PM in Zoom format.

Present:           Amy Heaven, Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jahrus, and Leslie Hind.

Absent:            Blake Larson, Leslie Nemitoff, and Clifton Bencke were unable to attend.

New Business: Leslie N. stepped down from the board, leaving the Secretary position open. Melinda nominated Ryan for Secretary and he accepted. Greta seconded this motion which passed unanimously.

Previous Meeting’s Minutes: Presented by Ryan Mueller. Mike motioned to accept the minutes as read and Greta seconded, motion passed unanimously.

Treasury: Presented by Leslie Hind. The organization’s account has a balance of $20,606.99, reflecting a debit of $636.42 from 4^th of July expenses.

Membership: Presented by Mike Rankin. The effort to build the lake contact list continues. A lake road rep BBQ is being considered for the fall in order to fill in a few positions and discuss ways reps can help build GLA membership and involvement.

Special Events: Presented by Melinda Broward.

Lake cleanup (8/20): starts @ 8am, pictures to be taken to document

Rock the Docks (9/4): not a GLA event but excitement is building for a fun weekend of music and the KC Airshow. GLA to facilitate a food truck at the marina in the afternoon and evening.

Kayak race (9/5): Lots of preparations being made for an exciting morning packed with races and prizes. Winners will get Amazon gift cards. There will be a drawing for prizes – all participants will get a free entry and everyone else can buy an entry for $1 per ticket.

Chili cookoff (TBD): This year’s delicious event will include a raffle of a luxurious hanging chair and 2 pieces of fine art, 1 of which was painted by the Lake’s resident artist David Paine. Raffle is 1 ticket for $5 or 5 for $20. Don’t have to be present to win. First winner has choice of all 3 prizes, 2^nd winner will have choice of 2, and the 3^rd winner will get the remaining item.

Gov’t Relations:

Leslie Hind: City aware of algae growth, unlikely to spray due to weather conditions. Sign replacement project in progress to replace outdated signs and possibly add signs where needed, building list of needs.

Amy Heaven: City returned that county is uninterested in helping fix the lake infrastructure.

New Business: Residents are clamoring for the latest Newsletter from Amy Heaven.

Beautification Project: The city has given the GLA reasonable freedom to improve the dam entrance as desired. Fall may be a good opportunity to get a team together to improve many areas around the lake.

Adjournment: Ryan moved to adjourn, Leslie seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

Meeting Called to Order by Amy Haven 4:00 PM in Zoom format.

Present:           Mike Rankin, Sandy Adams, Ryan Mueller, Melinda Broward, Greta Jarhaus, Leslie Hind, Leslie Nemitoff, and Clifton Bencke. 

Absent:            Amy Haven and Blake Larson unable to attend.

Mike sent out the agenda prior to meeting let us know he would run our meeting since Amy was out of town.

Mike called the meeting to order.  Then presented the June meeting minutes for approval.

Ryan Mueller made the motion that we accept the agenda as submitted and Leslie Hind seconded.  The vote was unanimous and the minutes were accepted.

Leslie Hind sent in the treasury report. We have $20,703.09 in bank account and $435.90 in PayPal, total of $21,138.99.  We still need to pay the bill of $1,472 for the two large trash dumpsters we used for the dumpster weekend. Also still need to pay Sandy and Greta for the 4^th of July parade expenses.

4^th of July Boat parade was discussed that we had a nice turn out of boats.   All the trophies were given out and we retrieved all but 2 of our reusable boat numbers. The trophies were nice and heavy and a nice size.  We stayed close to budget. Leslie will get us the final numbers once all the invoices are paid. The downside to the parade was that we had a few complaints of a couple of boats were political.  We discussed that we could but in next year’s announcement to please avoid political statements and that we would like to keep the parade family friendly.

Sandy was able to get pictures of each boat and it’s number and sent them to Ryan for posting on our Facebook page for voting.   Had a nice voting turnout.  Also discussed next year we could have boat themes.

Discussed Rock the Dock’s that Amy and Suzy are working on.  Hope to have another good turn- out for 2022.

Discussed Kayak race scheduled for Labor Day.  If we can get some items donated for a raffle that would help generate some revenue and interest.  We are going to give out ribbons like last year and Greta will customize these.  Going to ask the Shawnee Kayaking group if they would like to participate again.  They donated funds.  We couldn’t get a food truck so we are going to do a potluck like last year.  Sandy will sell T-shirts.  Will ask Todd Chapell to do announcing again. Mike will have a boat for the kids turn around (beach house), ask the Burnett’s to cover the adult turn around (band stand).  Amy and Dave will use they double decker boat for the starting line and the judges to be on top.  Also, we will have a first aid boat and another boat at south end by fishing point for professional turn around.  Leslie Hind will work with city to get a porta potty for the fishing derby and the kayak race.

Weekend of the 20^th we set for the annual weed and brush cleanup.  Sandy will make a flyer and send it to Mike to send out.  Setting this for prior to the kids fishing derby an outside group is having weekend prior to Labor Day.

The GLA mailing list still needs additional updating some missing emails or phone #’s or dock numbers.  Road reps could also help get this information.  List of membership director hasn’t gone out in a while and discussed this needs to go out again.

Road rep part was canceled and need to setup sometime in September with new date options.  Get the word out ahead of time.

Discussed our Zoom link for meetings needs to be updated so we can have longer meetings.  The free Zoom access is restricting out meeting time and have to relog back in.  Could go ahead and pay for a GLA account.

Discussed Lake Rules, had some complaints folks are swimming off boats.  The City updated the rules in summer of 2021 restricting swimming areas, no tubing, no alcohol and other items.  Probably need to post these again on our website.

Also docks need to get their numbers on several are missing.

Discussed city has no plans or budget this year to treat the algae in the lake.  The carp have done a good job on the main channel down in the south end.  There is a some growing now along the bank and around docks. 

Will work on the Chili cookoff details after the kayak race.  We will be selling tickets for the raffle items Ryan is collecting (hanging outdoor chair and artwork).

The meeting was adjourned.

May 2022 Minutes

-Treasury

               $19,469.21 – 96.12 to Paypal for carp campaign = $19373.09 total in Treasury

               $5000 for carp

               collected $3276.42 in donations from 40 donors

               now $3.50/fish paid by GLA

               110 members in GLA

               $2701 from shirts (revenue or profit?)

               Treasury approved by Sandy, seconded by Mike

               Leslie N. mentioned putting excess money towards spillway, Amy mentioned we are earmarking some funds for infrastructure within the bank account

-Membership

               -address updates – Mike says we need some help from lake road reps

                              -Leslie N. volunteered to host a lake road rep meetup

                                             -determined 6/1 for the date

                                             -roads 5 and 12 need reps, can invite potential candidates

                                             -GLA board members to bring food, 8 board members, 15 Lake Road Reps

                                             -Mike/Leslie N. to lead

-Events

               -4th of July

Lake Infrastructure Developments

               -Amy met w/ Leslie H., Tim Orrick

               -options discussed:

                              -county take ownership of lake

                              -voluntary annexation

                                             -Gardner doesn’t want us

                                             -Olathe doesn’t want us

                                             -need approval of residents

                              -3rd class city

                                             -expensive

                                             -more solution than needed for this problem

                              -take lake private

                                             -promising but not quick solution

                                             -could control our own lake

                                             -we do have time (lake not crumbling this year)

                                             -85% buy-in from residents potentially (that’s a lot)

               -Amy’s plan of attack:

                              -exhibit + Amy’s book could help lake get on National Register

                                             -helps w/ funding

                                             -won’t cause excess regulations

                              -build resident support through block parties

                                             -will need people power

                              -need to attend Gardner city meetings

                                             -Ryan & Mike & Sandy volunteered to attend some fairly regularly

                                                            -can start rotating members through

                                             -will build partnership

                              -possible lake parties for residents

                              -beautify the lake

                                             -mailboxes

                                             -monument sign at the dam

                                             -gardening @ marina

                              -public forums

                              -get dredging moving

                                             -shows we can get things done

                                             -residents would love

                                             -plan – maybe city raises dock fees to get paid for?

                              -Amy to meet w/ Mayor

                                             -then a GLA taskforce to be put together

               -Dam report

                              -maintenance plan and downstream resident list not updated

-New Business

               -flags for Rock the Docks

                              -collect from residents to get a flag to show support and fundraise

                              -idea tabled by Sandy    

-Meeting was adjourned