Lake District: Meyer, Shearer retain seats; dam improvement borrowing plans amended

By Kim McDarison

The Rock-Koshkonong Lake District (RKLD) Board of Commissioners recently held its annual meeting of electors. 

During the meeting, which was held at Race Track Park, Edgerton, late last month, some 70 electors cast ballots to reelect two incumbents. They are Mark Meyer, who has served on the board since 2019, and Susan Shearer, who was appointed in 2020, after the resignation of then-commissioner Jim Jelinek, who also was elected in 2019. 

Jelinek tendered his resignation in October of 2020, citing as reason the sale of his property within the district, negating his district residency, which is a requirement to serve on the board.  

Board of commissioner seats carry three-year terms. 

Meyer and Jelenek replaced then-incumbent commissioners Joan Huedephl and Ray Lunder, both of whom were longtime board members, serving as board secretary and treasurer, respectively. 

Meyer and Shearer both ran unopposed during the 2022 annual meeting, with each winning by a nearly unanimous majority. With 73 ballots cast, Meyer received 71 votes and Shearer received 68. 

Some board history 

During the 2018 RKLD annual meeting of electors, longtime commissioner and then-board chairman Brian Christianson lost his bid for reelection. His seat was won by then-newcomer Mike Shumaker by a vote of 153-82. Schumaker was reelected in 2021. His seat will come due for reelection in 2023.

Christianson was elected to the board in 2003. His tenure as board chairman began in 2004.

During the board’s monthly meeting, which immediately followed the 2018 annual meeting, then-board secretary Steve Proud was elected by the district’s commissioners as board chairman. 

In 2019, during the monthly meeting that followed the annual meeting, then-RKLD commissioner and Rock County Board Supervisor Alan Sweeney was elected by RKLD commissioners as chairman of the RKLD board. Sweeney serves on the RKLD board as an appointed representative of the Rock County Board of Supervisors. The county and the town of Fulton each have appointed representation on the RKLD board because large populations of electors from within the county and the town live within the lake district. Sweeney has served on the Rock County Board of Supervisors since 2006 and was appointed to the RKLD board as the county’s representative in 2016.  

Town of Fulton Board Supervisor Kerry Hull serves as the town board’s appointed representative to the RKLD board. 

Hull was not in attendance during this year’s annual meeting. 

All other officials serving on the board are elected by the residents living within the lake district. 

In 2022, along with Meyer and Shearer, they are Bill Burlingame and Mike Hart, both of whom, along with Shumaker, have terms coming due for reelection in 2023. 

Amended borrowing plan

Among resolutions passed by the electorate during the annual meeting was a proposed change to the previously approved resolution authorizing the lake district to fund — through several mechanisms — improvements at the Indianford dam. The improvements are also referenced by RKLD commissioners as the “water control project.”  

The full project is anticipated to cost $2.275 million. Work began at the dam late this summer to replace two submerged wicket gate carousels with six above-water slide gates. Sweeney told those in attendance that the contractor is anticipating that the work will be completed by the end of this year. 

An earlier story about the water control project is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/wicket-gate-replacement-underway-at-indianford-dam/. 

A funding resolution approved in association with the project in 2020 stipulated that the board would seek to borrow up to $1.5 million through a 10-year loan, with an interest rate of 3.25%. In anticipation of the loan, electors approved setting aside an anticipated loan payment of $190,000 annually. Additionally, the resolution gave the board permission to apply the balance in the district’s Dam Fund, reported in 2021 at $711,318, to pay for improvements to the dam. The 2020 resolution further stipulated that an anticipated DNR grant award of $400,000 would be used to replenish the Dam Fund, rather than using those monies to pay for the project. 

During the 2022 annual meeting, electors approved changes to the 2020 resolution that would allow the board to apply dollars, which, upon completion of the water control project will be awarded to the district through the DNR-facilitated grant program, to the district’s water control project. The funds will be applied to the project in two payments: a $200,000 payment made prior to completion of the project, and $200,000 applied after the project is completed.

Further, the approved changes stipulate that the board will seek a loan of up to $1.1 million with an 8-year term and interest rate of 3.9%. The new terms will include a fee of $1,500. The loan will be procured through National Exchange Bank. 

Meyer stated within documentation provided in advance of the meeting on the district’s website that the new terms will reduce overall interest costs to the district associated with the loan by 60%. 

To replenish the Dam Fund, and as stipulated within the 2020 resolution, the district was making annual payments of $30,000 to the Dam Fund, transferring those dollars from the district’s general fund. As part of the changes approved at the 2022 annual meeting, once the loan supporting the water control project is paid, the district will make annual transfers from the general fund to the Dam Fund of $60,000. 

According to Meyer, the change will allow the district to return the Dam Fund to its pre-project balance of $710,000 by the year 2035. 

Annual operating budget, segregated fund

Additionally, electors approved an operating budget for the district of $322,000. The budget listed $73,250 as “total cost of operation,” $30,000 allocated as “Dam Fund savings,” $23,950 for “new initiatives,” $4,800 listed as “dam modifications,” 58,750 under “total lake management” and $190,000 listed as “total water control (loan)” 

Monies reported in the district’s funds included, as of June 1, 2022, $220,909 in the general fund, $758,393 set aside for the district’s water control project, $107,311 in the district’s Lake Improvement Fund, and $71,717 in the district’s segregated Dam Fund. 

A link to the district’s website and budget documents is here: https://rkld.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/RKLD-Annual-Meeting-Packet.pdf. 

With a show of cards, the measure was approved by a nearly unanimous majority. 

Wetlands study 

During the meeting, Sweeney noted that the district is still waiting to see the results of the wetlands study which was begun by the DNR in the spring of 2021. 

He said he has seen some “species reports,” which reported counts of certain species within Lake Koshkonong, but not a report summary. 

Rock River Coalition presentation

Stream Monitoring and Aquatic Invasive Species Program Coordinator Addie Schlussel of the Rock River Coalition presented electors with information about invasive species in the river and Lake Koshkonong. 

Schlussel told those in attendance that while Lake Koshkonong has some invasive species that are indicative of water bodies in the area — like curly-leaf pondweed, flowering rush and zebra mussels — she said, “we are not seeing as many in Lake Koshkonong as in other lakes in the area. That’s a victory so far.” 

She asked those in attendance to continue taking precautions to keep the lake free from invasive species such as cleaning their boats as they use them between water bodies, and keeping an eye out for plant and animal life that might look unusual on the lake and report those sightings to the DNR. 

She cited Lake Koshkonong as among area water bodies that have too much phosphorus, further noting that the coalition will continue to work with farmers “to keep their soil on their land where it is most helpful to them.” 

Questions, comments from electors

During the meeting, an elector asked the board to explain a line item expense on the annual budget titled: “public information.” 

Meyer said the item, listed on the budget under a heading of “total cost of operations” at $3,000, included monies used to pay for the district’s newsletter and postcards. 

Former RKLD chairman Steve Proud asked where he could find a list of expenses associated with the Indianford dam project. 

Meyer said the items would be discussed within the body of the annual meeting. Expenses associated with the project are also discussed at monthly meetings, he said. 

“You have to detail all of your expenses on your budget,” Proud said. 

District resident Len Mueller suggested that, in the future, the board could create a pre-meeting to be held in advance of the annual meeting. He suggested the pre-meeting would give electors an opportunity to help develop the items to be placed on the annual meeting agenda. 

Sweeney said the board had been discussing that issue with plans to create a pre-meeting in advance of the 2023 annual meeting. 

Several electors addressed the board, citing a lack of meeting minutes available on the district’s website. 

In addition, Proud said that the board was “out of compliance” with state statutes within Chapter 33, alleging that the board had not reported a full six months of budgetary financials, which, he claimed, the statute required. As stated on the budget, which was provided in hardcopy in advance of the meeting, monies within the district’s four funds were reported from Jan. 1 to June 1, which, Proud noted, was five months. 

After the meeting, Meyer told Fort Atkinson Online that time allotted between the district’s annual audit and the annual meeting, which, he said, is scheduled at such time to allow seasonal electors an opportunity to participate, left a short window for an all-volunteer commission to include information through June 30, adding that he would place Proud’s comments under consideration.  

Officers chosen

During the monthly meeting which followed directly after the annual meeting, commissioners unanimously elected Sweeney to serve as the body’s chairman, Meyer to serve as the body’s treasurer, and Shearer to serve as the secretary.