President’s Report:: The annual request letter for a Community Grant from the town of Ridgefield was sent to Rudy Marconi. We requested $12,000 for the FY2015 Community Grant.
Committee Reports:
Fundraising: Even though we received donations during November and December in response to our last fundraising letter, the year-end fundraising total for 2013 reflected a shortfall to budget.
Stormwater Drainage Project (SDP): Representatives from MLIF met with Town officials requesting their input and assistance with the Third Lane Stream Project that is presently at a standstill. A subsequent meeting was held which included our project engineer, John McCoy,. A number of important decisions were made and a timeline constructed to move the project forward.
Lake Management: We received the proposed 2014 contract from Aquatic Control Technologies (ACT). Timely approval is needed so that ACT can apply for our treatment permits early in the year as the permit process has a drawn-out approval time. Suggested corrections and additions to the contract were noted. The proposed contract for 2014 was approved by the Board contingent on the inclusion of our specific corrections and additions.
Drawdown: The three-week drawdown (10/15-11/15) lowered the lake by 22-24 inches. The lake stayed below full for approximately another seven weeks. This week is the first time since the drawdown started that the water is coming over the spillway again, so the lake is now back to full. We had a great deal of cold weather during that span of time so, hopefully, it resulted in some aquatic weed die-off.
Old Business:
Anne S. Richardson Grant: Workers were hired and a 3′ area in the west end of the lake was cleared, but that was all that could be done because the muck was too deep to work in. The organic matter is 4-5′ deep in that area of the lake. In lieu of the failed attempt on that project, the Grant afforded us the option of renting a 30-yard dumpster so that lakeside homeowners could remove the lake’s dead organic matter in front of their property and deposit it in the dumpster. Lakeside homeowners were informed of the project and its purpose.
