we're going to wait another minute or so just to give a few more people a chance to get online um we have six committee members present which means we have a forum I'll introduce everybody a few minutes uh but we're pretty much good to go at this point here no Walter's not here yes and Eric I guess is not coming today and David Green is not coming today Terry's also not coming today so um all right U why don't we get started since we do have a quum here it's a little after little after 9ine so we're going to start off here the agenda item so we're officially opening the meeting now which is around 9:04 um I'll review the agenda items which is the next next thing on the meeting I'll review the agenda then we'll have a bit bit of time for public comments we'll review the minutes from the last meeting uh George ab's here for the association to give us an update on the proposed work for 2024 uh we'll talk about a task force that's trying to be formed too uh oh yeah yeah thank you to tell me can you speak it's okay Tom me that I haven't Inu everybody yet but let me finish the agenda that I'll introduce everybody but thank you Tom um so we're talking about proposed task force to look for funding options to road maintenance around the lake uh I'll give an update on the notice of intent and Dam repairs and what's going on with burog uh there's a request from Trac the last meeting to uh review the scope of the meeting and uh and any other items that uh we didn't add to the agenda uh so now as far as attendees uh in in town here Town Hall we have John Glory Mary David Howard Kinder myself uh online is cathine Hilton uh guest for the meeting is uh George abd's online uh Jennifer Wallace is online Tracy M is online and Tom seeper is here in in person all right um did I miss anything good all right so now trac's got her hand up there I don't know if well we're I think we're on item two on the agenda which is review of the which is it three which is public comment and so I'll U since try has her hand raised uh go ahead Trac I think you're muted though yeah it just unmuted me um yeah so a couple of things um first I had wanted to make a correction um for something that was said at the last meeting before you guys approve your minutes um and second I guess I would do go with second first I would like to move um my agenda item to next month because so many members of elwak aren't here and it doesn't make sense to do it today I guess the select board has a a joint school committee meeting right now and so Eric's not going to be here than so many of the other members um actually the one other item that was supposed to be on the agenda and we were supposed to receive a copy of the uh MVP uh application that was filed I think it was last year 2023 um that had been brought up by Bob Douglas last meeting and that was to be sent out to everybody and we haven't gotten that yet so that should be put on the agenda for next time too um and then the the thing that I wanted to correct is that stayed by one of the uh lwac members at the last meeting and I'm going to assume that that they just weren't home on the weekend that it was done but when um the uh the gravel was spread on Shore Drive back about a month and a I think it was probably five weeks ago it was said that the um person who did it had scraped down all the potholes and used a higher grade gravel and that's not accurate the the gravel was taken from the pile down the road half that pile is gone now and no um potholes were scraped down actually that couldn't have been done anyway because that material would have to be brought somewhere um outside of lake wyola and brought um a um I don't know what they call them the facilities where you can bring the debris so that should be changed from the last meeting that's it okay thank you f any other comments uh or any other public comments okay thank you um enough for me Members so next M next item on the agenda is to review the minutes from the March 16th meeting um and uh uh any any comments or suggest question or Corrections that need to be made I didn't see anything Cas motion to approve second all right all in favor I guess we have do a voice callot here for Mary hi John Howard hi Walter hi Mark yes and and Catherine yes okay thank you very much so next item on the agenda is U is is a an update on proposed road work for 2021 24 that the association has plan and uh we have George abdow uh online here and so to George you're currently muted hello how are you great okay um I guess I was asked to come to the meeting and explain Lake W association's process and um what we have planned for this coming year in terms of the roads um what we do is last couple years we've had the our contractor who also happens to be the person that the town hires to plow the roads Dave boron go around the roads in the spring and come up with an assessment of what he thinks needs to be done prioritize them and give us budget numbers as to what it's going to take to fix them um in addition to that I sent him the note that I received a note that I received from the Conservation Commission which was uh dated April 11th and asked him to incorporate that um he's in the process of putting all those things together he gets back to the board the board um looks at what we use for a budget our our typical budget on the roads is about a third of our operating budget which last couple years has been about $113,000 last year we had an emergency issue where the the Culvert that goes under the beginning part of shore drive by the Association Hall had collapsed and failed and we were worried about a wash out so we had to we had to use emergency funds to replace that Culvert um and that's where the process is that's where the process stands we are in process part of conservation commission's letter to us said that they they want to know what our plan is and everything within the next 60 days which I mean we'll have it to them much quicker than that um I I don't know what more of an overview I can give you okay thank you very much um comments from committee members questions for George I think catch that Mark I'm sorry so now I'm asking the committee members um uh if they have any comments or questions okay um Tracy has her hand raised so I guess I'll call Tracy go ahead um I think that sending out a copy of that Conservation Commission letter would be helpful or to show it um isn't it I don't know this is the first I've heard of it so um and also another question that I would have is in regards to Dave Boron my understanding is he has no grading equipment so I guess I would want to know how it's possible for him to actually do uh a repprofile and and creation of a crown I've never seen it done since he's been doing the work here so I would I would be curious as to why he's the person also the roads policy states that the roads committee is supposed to be doing the assessment and it would be pretty hard for Dave Boron to know what the issues are well I mean Dave Bor drives the roads all the time he plows the roads he's very aware he doesn't drive the all we've had two snowstorms that he's had to plow okay and and he puts the roads committee is involved in this the thing goes from Dave Bor onto the roads committee to the board that's that's that's the trail thank you let's turn over to Jennifer he has hands raised hi everybody um and I I'm not okay I'm unmuted George my question had is similar only that the that I'm just curious about the chain that you mentioned of how that goes that that you get in touch with Dave Dave drives the road does a survey and what you had said is then he prioritizes the projects I mean he prioritizes the projects when he presents me what he presents to us right let me just thead go ahead okay so my question is I think I'm just trying to get clarity that that he prioritizes in his view what the project should be he gives you a budget and then you either accept his priorities or refine them or revise them in some way as the roads committee and you present those to the board exactly that's the way it goes exactly exactly exactly I'm I'm asking his opinion on the priority list and then we review it and then when we review it then we figure out whether or not we agree with his priority list but I mean he's not when he does that it just makes it easier for us to to look at things okay so I would just ask that the minutes reflect that because the initial thing that George said basically said that that Dave Bon the contractor prioritizes the project but it's really the roads committee that prioriti he prioritizes what he presents to the roads committee and then the roads committee reviews everything adds things changes things and then presents to the board okay so just try and get some clarity on how that works okay thank you welcome okay any more comments um question for by for um if J you wanted to get a copy of that letter which you go directly to the Conservation Commission and get a copy yeah yes okay so probably probably the best best okay thank you thank you George I appreciate the um getting up in morning up and joining us today giving us an update in the roads and uh I have one Mark I have one more question for George okay can I go y go ahead George how many me how many members of the roads committee are year round residents that's a good question one two three three okay great thank you um let's see um next next agenda item I think ready to move on okay and that's uh the next item is item six U proposed task force to investigate funding outs for Road Mak around the lake um this was raised last month Jennifer and uh and the committee here thought it was a good idea to create a task force or subcommittee or something to look at Alternate Source of funding for Road ments uh beyond what this the association currently has um uh you know whether it's private funds whether it's public funds um but just to keep an open mind about it and and and look at all all avenues uh to form the task force or sub committee we need the blessings of the approval of the select board uh and um and we'll have to couple of scope or someone help with a scope and a uh and agenda items and things like that so I uh unfortunately we haven't been able to get on to the select board agenda uh to have this discussion U we were there was too many agenda items in the last meeting the next meeting that the select board has I can't attend and so they and their preferences to hold off until I can't attend so I think we're on for the May 7th uh meeting right now and we're asking them to approve the uh approve the formation of a task force and membership or a separate sub a separate committee that's which is an option have reports directed to them um uh and so we're kind of at a holding patter right now I think it's going to go through I don't think it's going to be a big issue whether it reports to us or whether it reports to the director the select board uh there is a question on membership and that there'll be there'll be a number of members who are not part of el on this task force um so I don't understand the the mechanism to um have them on the committee if it's part of el just a task force membership have to also be an OAC membership I don't think it does I think you can create it wow it would have to be approved by them I think you can create say still many members that are not out just like the creation of this group here is represented from this from this this department so I think put that together so we're currently on hold uh I Jennifer has her hand raised go ahead Jennifer hi um I I just want to make an important I mean so I brought this to the elat group last meeting meeting and um it's something that I've talked to Becky about in the past but I want to make an important correction for the record but also for all of the thinking around this because the more we talk about the purpose of this if it comes to be as road maintenance around the lake the more misconceptions will occur and the more bottlenecks will face my proposal proposal has little to do with road maintenance around the lake my proposal has to do with a public and private coming together to deal with storm water erosion issues around the lake which are caused by sources that are both public and private sources and I think that of course you know the roads and damage to the roads from storm water is kind of colle Al damage from from the storm water problems and I'm not saying that the lake W Association isn't involved and isn't a crucial member but to say that we're trying to figure out funding sources for Lake wyota Road maintenance is too narrow a job for the task force and probably not even legal in that the lake wild Association has their own um requirements for Road mate maint so I really want to try and get the the labeling of it to shift to storm water erosion damage to the lake if if that can happen and and I hope I've been clear and maybe people don't agree but that's that's the proposal that I've brought forward and I wanted to make that important distinction thank you very good comment I I think that's that very accurate very accurate statement um comments from committee members so there's really not much we can do right now um I really feel confident that we'll we'll have we'll be at the uh uh the next the select board the May select board meeting and we'll have their their decision hopefully before our next meeting okay thank you um thank you Jennifer we hopefully things will go it's help you to consider this is like who should the committee members here um is you know who should be on this committee you know what departments in the town um you know you we're going have to come up with a me if it's part of this subcommittee we have to come up with the membership and so you know who who wants would like to be involved and so just something back of your mind is should pondering this over the next month okay next item is an update on the notice of intent um uh we all know that GZA which is an Nan company out Springfield is working on on getting the notice of intent for the draw down and for the uh maintenance of the dam um this month they have been in contact with natural heritage and endangered species uh to identify what the endangered species is it turns out it's the bridal Shiner that's back again uh yeah R Sher was uh was the endangered species you know 2016 174 right I think on this last project they said that there wasn't we have to worry about it now we have to in 2018 when I did know some intent for the l k down there was no endangered species in the way right and now there is uh so um uh and so GCA is going back is meeing the natural heritage to understand the issue here and um and to understand um uh and get their opinion on you know will this will lowering the lake by two feet affect the V sh so that's where it comes out if it if it doesn't affect it in their opinion then in in natural heritage opinion then it doesn't you know it change es the P the pering process and makes it much more more efficient or quicker I think um uh now someone had told me and I said I I a note off to GC there um the reason why it was taken off the list to begin with was because uh the state stocks trout in the lake and trout are natural predators to brid to shiners they e shiners and so it was s of an inconsistent policy where you one is is putting predators in the lake and and another agency trying to protect the food source and so I'm not sure if that's true I had heard that and so I've asked uh GC to U um raise that issue with natural heritage and and you know try to get you know try to understand what's going on with that um we have excuse me a second Miriam is joining the committee the meeting here um so um uh and so uh that's where that sits the other the other issue is the uh GCA noted in the last notice of intent that we had said that the the draw down had been happening for many years and they were looking for objective proof of that and so um you they're trying to do everything right by the book and so um Howard is is is we're getting Howard's records uh from one of dam keeper records uh he hasn't going back 10 years and then uh his old book his old old book was put in the archives yeah supp yeah it was given to it was put into the town archiv someplace and so they're looking for those records probably go back home years well those will go way back but uh mine goes back to 2014 okay and the other one I don't get my paper with me was 19 I'm going to say 1997 or something like that because there the book prior to that is missing yeah it was never at in fact that could that was in the 80s too because uh somebody either wanted it worse than we did or needed to start a fire in the winter time or something I don't know it's long on so but we have record but hopefully that we have records going back we definitely have records going back to to4 probably at least 20 years I and um any comments or questions on those two on those two items I have a question just a um did you say that someone suggested stocking the lake with trout because their predators of shiners could be inconsistent with protecting the shiners as a food source did the lake were draw down drawn down to feet no it's upper legs are drawn down or if the L gets lower two feet unrelated can you explain again what you the issue as was told to me and this is not official and I'm probably not even put in the minutes because I heard that too yeah said someone had told me that uh that the bridal Shiner was removed from the endangered spe it was removed from the list of endangered species around Lake wilda because the state has stocks trout but it's now back on the list that's right it's now yeah it was off in 2018 for sure and I don't exactly know when it came back on the list okay read might e George just so you know this happens on Saturday mornings because there's a some kind of a reboot of equipment so they'll be back can you guys all hear me you can hear me do you think that's it's funny I mean it's funny in a sad way if it if it's true that so here's an endangered creature and it's taken off the list not jennif just interrupt we're not really allowed to talk about anything because of open meeting l oh okay sorry just a little e back that hello everybody it looks like uh can you guys hear me okay I had shaking of your head there so it looks like someone fixed the generator so it starts back up right of but the goes on it so [Music] I um okay give you a wave your hand if you can hear me good excellent all right so um think it was about right so you explained what it was you me and then are you able or willing to tell us who told that nope R so it's not official it's not absolutely not official at all but the good thing is that we have the engineering company and been working with natural heritage to really you know give an explanation of what what's really going on and even if it even if is unrelated the bridal Shiner may have the draw down may have no effect on Bridal Shiner population probably doesn't it's a fish it swims around and it probably has no effect on it at all but they would that's that's natural heritage you call to to okay um and any okay so any other questions or comments on the those intense you have an idea when they'll have that ready the uh the no of intent itself yeah no zero idea uh the reason why is because uh there's a lot of agencies that got get have to be involved right now and it's not as simple as was 2018 2018 it was really just uh DP uh and then I worked at D back then and you they help me write notes of 10 and so and so but now there's a bunch of number of agencies are involved and so it's a and the actual path depends upon some of these decisions um and two of them one of them is is the endangered species and the other one is the historical practical practices um if historically they lower the lake U two feet um then that makes the permittee process quite a bit simpler and so that's why that's why we're looking for the records that confirmed that's been it's been consistently well uh Trace you have your hand rais yeah I'm just not quite clear about what the significances of the endangered species with um National Heritage and what what it what is this just about Lake draw down because I thought you were telling Tom that it wasn't what what is it about what's the significance of either having or not having um this Critter on the endangered species list and what's what effect does that have on the lake or anything you know U I guess also like dredging and all that um if um okay this has nothing to do with tring tr and stay focused here it's on this is on the dam um so um yeah U so Lake white all is listed as having an endangered species and that engaged species is considered to be the bridal Shiner now if a draw down if natural heritage determines that the lowering of the lake would have a a an effect on the bridal shine of population they can they can impose specific conditions or regular specific conditions um and or or they can say yep you have a brial Shiner is an dangerous species but lowering the lake will have no effect on so it's their call and it and if then they can say you know they can basically say you're good to go from our perspective the natural heritage perspective or they can say you canel lower it or they can say you can lower it under these specific conditions so you know they're just they're a group that is trying to protect the BR shine and making sure that what we do around the lake doesn't affect doesn't hurt hurt the population good um any more questions or comments hey I'll give you an update next year next next and we'll see where things going um all right um an update on DM maintenance repairs our next agenda item uh we're we're basically w're able to get into the capital budgetting for this year uh so we're going to requested I think it's going to be the 2026 budget next this fall we'll try to get into into the town budget the $80,000 to to uh uh to do the work the maintenance work on it you but some of that and talking with Becky also she GS GZA is looking at addressing some of those issues in their terms right now too so it was It was kind of questionable exactly what they were looking at doing what they were going to look for funding for and then what was needed funding so that was another reason she well was too late to start the process anyways but that was something that just mentioned that we need to further discuss with them what they look have to in the last Dam uh in the last Dam inspection uh the the engineer remember his name Forest a list of iMed maintenance items on the D you um plugging the Le that's around the and bushes and there's like 10 um and so GCA is supposed to help scope out that so that we can get uh um uh you know get a contractor then to do the work and moris got gave it etim of $80,000 GDA will refind that estimate once they start taking a look at it but really now most of their time is focused on focused on Noti crimin um that makes sense there y good um they're also talk about the the trash rack and the displacement of the Rocks I don't look at that also so basically Dam maintenance is really kind of un Co right now and there's nothing that's um there's nothing damage in yeah there's nothing it's not going to fall down it's in good shape it's just routine maintenance uh the only downside here of the delay is that uh like maintenance on your house or maintenance on your car if you defer it too long it makes it gets be more expensive right right so uh but it's it is what it is okay um next item on the agenda is a furog an update on the furog Watershed basement plan um this is uh still there's no update there's nothing's happened in past month we're they're still waiting from Mass D to give their blessings to plan or or finish whatever you do uh and so hopefully next month we'll get some some information from that and you know that's a little bit of overlap in terms of what the uh the proposed task force uh because they're you know they're looking at erosions and around the whole lake the whole the whole Watershed and so there's there's some other La here but it's good that you know we have multiple groups looking at this problem um any comments all right U well the last item review the scope uh Tracy requested that we move that to the next meeting and we can do that so we're on item 11 uh there any items that uh you know we didn't reason didn't include the minutes I'm G to turn over to Mary so I noticed that um cars are now parking at the dam again and fishing off the dam um and parking might be they're parking in that cul there so I would request that the committee send something to notify the police chief if that's occurring and could we add more patrols just so they know and two to the highway department because they haven't on that side of the road put up any put back the no parking signs there um on both sides they haven't they haven't put them back up again so um whether that'll help or enough but they put them right there by the covert they wouldn't be able to drive into the covert to park so um was that just basically an email to yes just an email Becky and Becky the chief the police chief and the highway department and so we're just reminding them that they need to put back no parking signs inre PS Al be easier for the signs there yeah okay good right uh let's see Jennifer has her hand raised Jennifer I think my community yeah I'm just saying Tracy had her hand up before me but my think's pretty simple I just would say that I have a um a sheet where I wrote up my thinking about what this task force is and what it might do and how it's different from something that you know we've done before um I don't know if that's of interest to elwak uh but if it is and if you think so I could forward that to you in some way and and you would have that in a more concrete way than just how it's been talked about so far so I just wanted to offer that if you all were thought that would be good sure and what I also appreciate is I think you're already planed to do this is to attend a select board for you to attend a select board meeting and and speak up and uh and like I I can't believe it they're not going to approve this but U but yeah definitely we can you use as a talking point so how so how does that get circulated to all the members of elwak um I guess the question is is it appropriate to circulate until at this point I it's information things to think about making a list of what we think should have for people on it might encourage other people to think of things too it's not meant to be anything final it's just like okay these are my thoughts and El gets to do what they want to do with it you know okay so J you said that to me I can s like that to the community members okay thank you very much you're welcome um yes oh ju just a quick comment on that part is that you the select word meeting you can't just speak up they only have the public comment section at the beginning unless they're going to have an open Forum on this um and my uh question is for George are you still there George yes George um you spoke earli about the membership on the roads committee um back when I was on the roads committee and um on the board we were the plan was to get a list of all committee members for to get you know around all lwa members um has that ever been done because I've never I've never seen anything like that come to me and I also you know was wondering um about getting that especially for the roads committee so that people who you know roads committee members who live here year round um clearly would be the better people to contact when we've got a situation here because they're here so can you get can you get us uh at least that the committee members and their contact information I mean what has happened over the years in talking to the people is that they're more comfortable with everything being directed towards me and then and then me getting a hold of them so um we haven't really published their their contact information or anything else like that um and had me be the go-to um we can talk about it and see if they want if that we want to change that or not but I mean what we've been doing is has seemed to have gotten the information out I I would disagree with that okay and I would disagree that people are wanting it to be at least at least lwa membership over here at the lake wanting it to be just through you because I don't know of anybody on the roads committee who lives here year round and it's that's odd that I wouldn't know that I think and so I think it's important that we we do um okay we can definitely we can talk about it and we can and I can see how they how it wants to get handled at our next um quum but for sure okay great thank you okay um thank thank you Tracy thank you George um any other last minute items yeah I guess we uh motion to uh second and everyone in favor so looks like it's about 9 9:45 y okay thank you all for Jo for attending and have a good weekend all right you too thank you thank you George