Crystal Lake Improvement Association Board Meeting
September 6, 2022 – 7pm

Meeting Minutes
Present: Brian Carlson, Brooke Fox, Bob Johnston, Dave Perron, Paul Hillmer
Cheryl Leitschuh, Mike Robole, Tom Harmening
Absent: Jeannine Currie

• Meeting called to order (Brian) 7:06pm
• Committee Updates & Ongoing Business
o Governance (Brian/Cheryl/Tom/Bob)
▪ Secretary’s review of prior meeting minutes -unanimously approved
▪ Treasurer’s report -Unanimously approved
▪ Neighborhood updates & member feedback – All
▪ New houses up for sale/sold
• 9981 oak shore
• Upcoming Calendar Updates:
o October 1st park cleanup
o Picnic Sunday Sept 18th
o October – fish stocking
• External Relations (Tom)
o As a follow-up to a resident suggestion, Tom contacted the City of Burnsville to
determine feasibility of trimming foliage on Picnic Island to increase visibility and
deter vandalism and undesirable behavior. The City has indicated that they will
evaluate feasibility. Police indicated that crime issues specific to the island have
been sparse, but trimming and improvement of sightlines would add further
mitigation to bad behavior. They are working on a more detailed crime analysis
of activity in the area. In the meantime, Chief Swartz has directed additional
patrol to the area
o Caleb Ashling (City of Burnsville) advised of a minor re-route on sections of the
trail/footpath that lead between the boat launch and the Tyacke Park dock. The
existing informal footpath has gotten very close to the shoreline, trampling
vegetation that helps reduce shoreline erosion. The City will be working with a
youth conservation corp crew over the next two weeks to move a couple
sections of the footpath farther from the shoreline and restore the old section of
trail with seed, planting and erosion blanket. This work is being funded by a
grant that was obtained for the City by the Soil and Water Conservation District.
o Dave met with Daryl Jacobson to discuss a number of follow-up items from
resident suggestions and issues raised at the previous Board meeting:
o The fishing pier appears to be leaning and it was learned there was some
damage from last winter and the city made minor repairs. Remaining repairs
awaiting back ordered float materials
o The City has taken over zebra mussel monitoring and it is no longer being done
by lake resident volunteers. The boat launch pier and new lake outlet have
monitored plates and the city monitors these on a regular basis. No zebra
mussels have been detected to date but history has shown there isn’t a good
chance of eradicating them once they are present.
• Communications (Jeannine/Tom/Paul) -Newsletter items to include picnic reminder,
park cleanup, trail improvement, fish stocking, and membership list.
• Algae, Weeds & Aquatic Invasive Plants (Mike/Dave/Paul)
o Dave reviewed information gathered from a meeting with Caleb Ashling
including the Blue Water Science aquatic plant survey. Eurasian Milfoil has been
detected in increasing geographic areas of the lake for a number of years. Unlike
lakes such as Alimagnet and Keller, Crystal Lake has an abundance of healthy
native plants which seem to be reducing the opportunity for milfoil to spread
even further. It was agreed that CLIA representatives should meet with the City
to review and better understand the Blue Water report and determine whether
milfoil treatment is warranted. Tom will reach out to Daryl Jacobsen to set up a
meeting which would likely include Blue Water Science representatives
o Additional miscellaneous information gathered during the meeting included:
▪ Coontail removal in Mystic Bay required an additional permit by the city
▪ Algae treatment does not kill plant life
▪ Weed harvesting contributes to minor removal of algae that is present in the
plants
▪ Weed harvesting removes some phosphorus from the lake (phosphorus is
bound up in removed plant material)
▪ Algae treatment should be an annual process to lessen the amount of algae
in the lake
o Fish & Aquatic Invasive Animals (Bob/Dave)
▪ Dave contacted Mark Tanner, West Central Bait to complete the fish
stocking permit for the DNR. Stocking is still on track to occur in October

o Social (Brooke/Jeannine)
▪ Directory volunteer follow up
• 6-10/hrs in Feb
▪ Elko Motorsports is interested in purchasing an ad in the updated
directory
▪ Picnic update – Everything is on track for the picnic on Sunday 9/18 4:30-
7:30
• New business & topics for future meetings (Brian) – Additional discussion of Eurasian
Milfoil management
• Motion to adjourn at 8:08 unanimously approved