March 15, 2008 Meeting minutes of the Board of Selectmen, and the Lake Wyola Advisory Committee (LWAC) Board of Selectmen present: Chairman Rebecca Torres and Ralph Armstrong. Absent: Debra Pichanick LWAC Members present: Chairman Bob Thompson, Ralph Armstrong, John Gory, Mark Rivers, Leo Riendeau and Lauretta Gass who serves as Charlotte Rahaim’s alternate, recording for the LWAC. Also Present: Emergency Management Director Walter Tibbetts and Leslie Bracebridge, recording for Board of Selectmen. Meeting Opened at 9:10 A.M. Minutes of the February 16, 2008 meeting were approved as written. Old Business 1. Residential Drawdown Status: In a March 6, 2008 letter, Janice Stone alerted the Board of Selectmen that because the town owns most of the property under the water out to the original pond, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will consider any additional alteration done by others on that town owned land under the lake to be linked to the dam repair project. By policy DEP considers it all to be a “single and complete” project in terms of impact on the resource areas and rare species. The dam repair itself will alter 1917 square feet of wetland. The threshold for the next and prohibitively expensive levels of DEP and Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) permitting is 5,000 sq. ft. Town Counsel will speak with Selectmen on Tuesday, March 17 about this. LWAC Chairman Thompson plans to be present. 2. Funding Picture: The budget is still in Ways and Means. Bob has called both Stephen Kulik and Peter Kocot’s local offices. Peter is considered to be a key person due to his history of involvement in other like-minded efforts. A group of not more than 6 people (Bob, Leo, Skip, Becky, Ralph, and John have all volunteered, and Mark offered to serve as an alternate) will visit the State House, on Thursday April 10 (tentative.) Someone with technical knowledgeable of the repairs would be an important contingent. They will key in on leaders influential with environmental funding, about ˝ Representatives (including Bosley) and ˝ Senators (including Rosenberg) for 10 minute visits to stress the importance of this as a municipal dam repair project that provides a recreation area to the region (versus a project for private property owners.) John offered to contact a friend who was once an aide to Bosley and noted that Gov. Patrick actually came to the area to endorse Lake Wyola property owner Fran Merrigan for the Governor’s Counsel. Bob offered to contact Fran. 3. Postcards for Advocacy: Bob has spoken with the President of the Friends of the Historical Commission and has looked over the postcards available through that organization. Additionally, David Dann has Bill Elliott’s collection of aerial photos and it is possible that a shot from Bill’s files could be instantly turned into a postcard. Leo sent postcards to all Representatives in the Springfield area. Postcards will be sent to Senators in April. The Lake Wyola Association (LWA) plans to send postcards to all LWA members to mail. Due to space constraints on a postcard, people will be asked to pick from the many ideas listed as to what is most important for their individual postcards. That the town has already provided almost ˝ of the $150,000 being sought is another significant fact to mention. 4. Dam repair and permitting status will be reviewed on Monday, March 17 at the Dam Management meeting. Members should have received the technical specifications by email. New Business 1. Water Quality Testing-transition year for Bill Elliott. A new Shutesbury resident who is a water quality expert and a Mt. Holyoke Professor Al Werner has spoken with Bill about working with his students on water quality testing. Al uses the same equipment Bill uses and is very interested in the Lake Water Quality program. Bill has also talked with Dam Management Committee member Paul Lyons and suggests Al and Paul would make a “dynamite team.” (Bill was not certain that either of them have the background appropriate for a Lake Manager position. Bill will provide Paul and Al with the fundamental guide “Quality Assurance Project Plan (AQPP)” that thoroughly describes what to do and how to do it. Testing starts in April. Bill will continue doing the Acid Rain Monitoring Program. The Lake is considered a “priority site” so more testing (including metal analysis) is done for free. We have years of data. 2. Bob announced that the Waste Water Treatment Program (WWTP) is “off the agenda” for today. Bob will bring it up later in the summer, but there are too many other details to attend to right now. 3. Project 319 ideas were not discussed. 4. Leadership Change of the Lake Wyola Association (from the last agenda) is currently Norene Pease. The annual LWA elections are held in August. Other New Business 1. A decision has not been made on the Ames culvert STRAP grant. If not approved application will be made for the Locks Pond Road culvert. 2. There will be an All Boards meeting on April 12 at 10 AM at the fire station. The first hour will be general discussion. At 11 AM the discussion will be specific to recreational needs of the town. 3. The Planning Board will bring proposed zoning revisions to the Annual Town Meeting. (Available at www.shutesbury.org for review.) Careful consideration should be given to them. The Planning Board is accepting written input through Wednesday March 19. 4. Reminder of Dam Management Committee meeting on Monday, March 17, 2008 at 7 PM. The next LWAC meeting at Town Hall was scheduled for Saturday April 5, 2008 at 9:00 AM. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 AM. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge, Administrative Secretary 080315 1 Select Board with LWAC