Lake Nipmuc Assoc Meeting Minutes Dec 2007.doc (Microsoft Word, 30KB)

Lake Nipmuc Association Meeting

December 6^th, 2007

Mendon Town Hall

·         Meeting called to order at 7:05pm.

·         Motion made to accept November 1, 2007 meeting minutes. Motion seconded. Minutes accepted.

·         Status of membership – 23 members in total includes 8 individuals, 14 families, and 1 patron. A total of $610 collected to date.

·         Status of Financials – Ileen Matthews opened a bank account on behalf of the Association with The Milford National Bank.  Expenses included new checks, opening a post office Box, and miscellaneous mailing supplies.

·         Michelle Walsh looked into filing with the State. In summary, starting a non-profit organization includes drafting bylaws, incorporating as a non-profit corporation, obtaining tax-exempt status from the IRS, and completing additional documents regarding state compliance, annual reporting, and good record keeping practices. Incorporating is a simple procedure but costs money. The most time consuming part of the process is to become tax-exempt. After this process, legal counsel is advised to make sure the organization is set up correctly.  Discussion tabled until a later date.

·         Stormwater Update – Shirley Smith

Pipe discharge is running into the Lake from six storm drains around the Route 16 area. Mass Highway has the authority to maintain the drains, but they don’t. The Town cannot do anything because of Mass Highway’s authority.  Shirley went out with Alan Tetreault of the Mendon Highway Department and took some telltale photos of a couple of the runoff areas. One had sediment build up stretching far into the Lake. Other pipes are blocked with all types of debris and some oil slicks. The problem has to be handled on a State level and Shirley has been reaching out to several key people to get advice and help with the situation. One person pursuing a lawsuit against Mass Highway is Margaret Van Deusen Chief Legal Counsel with the Charles River Watershed Association. Margaret asked Shirley to send photos and information regarding the situation at Lake Nipmuc. Alicante Restaurant has discharge pipes coming from the parking lot. We may be able to work with this on a local level with the conservation commission.

·         Lake Monitoring – Nothing to report at this time. Shirley is looking into possible testing kits. Bob Klein explained a little about the ecology of the Lake system.

·         Goose committee – Joan Caldarella has donated two swan decoys that she purchased from the Internet. For a pair it is $69 plus shipping (total $90). Geese are afraid of swans because they tend to steal their eggs. This can be a great deterrent. Joan noted that you have to keep an eye on the decoys b/c they may tip over and you need to tether them. She also mentioned educating the general public about feeding the geese and putting a blurb on the website. Damon Tinio uses a flare gun to scare them off. He found that repeating this on a few occasions kept the geese away. There is a pair of live swans that occasionally stop by near the town beach.

·         Public Education committee – nothing to report at this time.

·         Website committee – Ted King maintains the website www.lakenipmuc.com. Ted updated the website and added the Association’s information. He will continue to modify as new information comes in.

·         Invasive Plant Life – Several invasives on the lake include Purple Loosestrife, Lilies, and Yellow Floating Heart. There is an interest in getting a group of volunteers together in April or May to pull weeds by hand.

·         Public Use and Access – Kevin Flaherty looked into viable locations for public access. The only one seems to be a strip of land by the Town beach. No-one knows who owns this land.  Jean at the Town Assessor’s office may be able to help.

·         Joan C submitted two logos from her grandson. She’ll have him update them and send them to Ted.

·         Next meeting to be held on Thursday, January 3, 2007 at Mendon Town Hall.

·         Meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.

This page was last updated on 01/03/09.