Crystal Lake Improvement Association Board Meeting
January 3rd 2023 – 7pm

Meeting Minutes

Present: Brian Carlson, Bob Johnston, Cheryl Leitschuh, Jeannine Currie, Dave Perron, Mike Robole,
Paul Hillmer, Tom Harmening

Absent: Brooke Fox

• Meeting called to order (Brian) 7:04pm
• Committee Updates & Ongoing Business
• Governance (Brian/Cheryl/Tom/Bob)
• Secretary’s review of prior meeting minutes- unanimously approved
• Treasurer’s report – unanimously approved
• Neighborhood updates & member feedback – none noted
• New houses up for sale/sold – no new listings noted
• New feedback
o New board member recruiting – Jeanine and Bob each noted having
talked with someone who is potentially interested. Recruitment for
new members should also be included in next newsletter
o Spring Meeting date & location – City Hall was agreed to be the best
location with a tentative date of April 11th at 6:30pm. Tom will confirm
availability of the City Hall meeting room and April 18th will be used as a
second choice if the 11th is not available.
• External Relations (Tom)
o Tom reported that City staff had found at least one vendor who bid on removing
dead trees and buckthorn on Piknik Island. Prior to starting any work on the
removal process the city is planning on reaching out to community members
well in advance. The city’s plan is to send a mailing to a broad swath of
potentially affected residents or groups who reside on the lake or regularly use
the lake for recreation. The city asked if there are other important groups staff
should be sure to include in their education and awareness campaign but none
were noted.
o Tom will contact Daryl Jacobson (Burnsville Natural Resources Manager) and
possibly the city manager to express board concerns about lack of transparency
regarding the change in lake level that occurred when the old outlet was
removed. This is a carry over from the 11/29/22 meeting where it was
discussed that Daryl had informed CLIA that the consultants who designed the
new outlet were aware that lake levels averaged around 3” higher than the
target elevation for at least 10 years prior to the outlet being replaced. At the
11/29 board meeting, it was decided that the CLIA should formally express
concerns about the fact that change in lake level was not communicated to
residents prior to implementation of the project.
• Communications (Jeannine/Tom/Paul)
o Calendar Updates (Jeannine has created a 2023 calendar and will post it in the
google share drive
o Mike raised questions about the level of IT resources needed to develop the
digital directory and establish advertising on the website. Mike and Brian
agreed to meet to improve understanding of the body of work and confirm
resources for development.
• Algae, Weeds & Aquatic Invasive Plants (Mike/Dave/Paul)
o Mike has obtained 2 bids for algae treatment next year with Lake Restoration
quoting the lowest price. A motion was proposed and unanimously approved to
award the contract to Lake Restoration for a minimum of one treatment with a
second treatment to be done only if deemed necessary. Additionally, Mike will
explore whether the County grant program for water quality improvement can
be used for the algae treatment.
• Fish & Aquatic Invasive Animals: Dave contacted West Central bait and determined that
they would hold pricing on walleye fingerlings for 2 years if we commit to continuing to
stock for those years. The plan discussed with the DNR in the spring of 2022 was to
stock walleye for 3 consecutive years and reassess with a gill net survey whether it
should continue to be done in the future. The 3-year stocking is consistent with plans by
a previous board that not fully executed. A motion to commit to 2 more years of
stocking was unanimously approved. Dave will get the proposal with 2-year price lock in
writing from the vendor.
• Social (Brooke/Jeannine)
o As a follow-up to the previous board meeting, Brooke to create dates and a
budget for social calendar
• New business & topics for future meetings (Brian) – none noted
• Meeting adjourned at 8:23pm