Attending: Scott Auger, William Earnhardt, Pamela Howe, Matt White, Gary Bulman, JoAn Purvis, and Erin Loftus. The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.
February’s meeting minutes were read and accepted into the record.
The 2017 Proposed Budget was discussed. Maintenance costs still require Zsolt’s input, so this portion of the budget remains in question. Expenses so far for 2017 total $466.70 (for the P.O. Box, signage, and tax prep). We have received $3300 in membership dues so far, with another $300 coming in. The possibility of offering PayPal as a means to pay dues was discussed. Our assets currently total $15,534.83 ($4873.99 checking; $10,660.84 savings).
Pamela reported a good response to the membership flyers in the neighborhood. People seemed to like the idea of a name change for the organization. Pam will also make a flyer to give to fishermen with information about the pond. We discussed the idea of an ice cream social, with notification flyers to go out June 1st. The event could be combined with the annual membership meeting.
Matt reported on Pond Maintenance efforts. He met with Pam, Zsolt, and Jay on Saturday, April 7 to clear up litter, briars, and branches from the shoreline and spillway, and took down three of the small trees we had identified for removal. Mowing has not been needed yet but will likely be needed soon; Zsolt, Matt, and Jay will assess maintenance after they do a few mowings and will see if this is something we can handle on our own, to lessen costs. Also, there are some new holes in the ground at the wide end of the inlet, right near the beaver dam. Gary suspects there might be a beaver and is fairly sure he heard one recently. This area will need to be monitored.
Ongoing difficulties with visitors who violate rules posted around the pond were also discussed. One particular group has been repeatedly unruly, necessitating multiple calls to the Cary Police. Recent vandalism, including the destruction of our wooden bulletin-board kiosk, was also discussed (the kiosk was pulled out of the ground, probably using chains and a truck). William still has the salvageable parts of the kiosk; the general sentiment was that we would like to rebuild it, possibly in a different location. Gary submitted a draft script that we can use when calling the police to intervene in difficult situations with visitors (copy attached to meeting minutes). He described a recent encounter with a man fishing right next to a “No Fishing” sign who became very angry when Gary asked him to fish in the allowed areas. With the onset of warmer weather, such incidents will likely increase.
The project to undertake some shoreline restoration on our own was discussed. Pamela has identified a grant from the Town of Cary that would reimburse us up to $5000 for man-hours that we contribute to beautification. She will write up a proposal for submission to the board at the next meeting. She also submitted a draft sketch that included species of plants suitable for the various levels of shoreline that need reinforcement and erosion control (attached to minutes). Pam thinks that we might be able to include repair of the kiosk in the grant proposal. Scott mentioned along those lines that we someday will need to replace the Coronado Village entrance signs and might want to come up with a way to link them to the pond and preservation society.
Regarding the geese, William mentioned a type of solar-powered LED light that anchors and then floats on the surface of water. Geese HATE them. They cost about $400 each. Erin cautioned that we need to find out whether blue herons, kingfishers, merganser ducks, mallards, and other birds also hate them. We don’t want to drive away our wildlife.
Scott mentioned that he is going to follow up on pending insurance business and with updating our emergency action plan. This needs to be done at the next meeting. He will get a copy of it to William. Scott will be away in May.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 17, at 7 p.m.