Pelican Group of Lakes Improvement District

Minutes of Regular Meeting

Cormorant Town Hall

January 25, 2003

The meeting was called to order by President Lund at 9:05 am.

Directors present were Lund, Meidinger, Horvick, Majkrzak, Manuel, Noah, and Crothers. MacLeod joined the meeting via conference telephone. Poolman was absent from the meeting.

The first order of business was the approval of the agenda. A motion to amend the agenda to remove the phrase “teleconference meeting” from the agenda items and replace it with “regular meeting” was made, seconded, and passed. The agenda was approved as amended.

President Lund then addressed the approval of the minutes of the August 26, 2002, special board meeting. MacLeod commented that there were 376 eligible voters present at the annual meeting. Noah moved to have the minutes exclude Crothers as a director and add that Horne was not present. Noah’s motion died for a lack of a second. MacLeod moved to insert “present” after the phrase eligible voters in the second paragraph to read “that there were 376 eligible voters present”. The motion was seconded and passed on a vote of seven to one with Noah dissenting.

Thereafter the minutes of the regular meeting on August 26, 2002, were presented for approval. MacLeod moved to approve the minutes as presented. Noah moved to move a paragraph from the December 27, 2002, minutes to the August 26, 2002, minutes. The motion failed for a lack of a second. Thereafter the motion to approve the minutes as presented was passed with Noah dissenting.

The minutes of the October 19, 2002, meeting were then presented for approval. Noah moved to approve the minutes as presented. The motion was seconded. Crothers and MacLeod abstained from voting on the approval of these minutes. The motion to approve the minutes as presented was passed.

The minutes of the regular board meeting and the closed meeting of December 27, 2002, were then presented for approval. Noah moved to strike the paragraph of the regular meeting on December 27 which read “Under old business, Noah suggested that we obtain information from the county on voter and property owner definitions”. Noah’s motion was seconded and passed. Thereafter the minutes, as amended, were approved by the board.

The minutes of the January 7, 2003, board meeting were then presented for approval. The minutes of this meeting were approved by the board as presented.

Manuel then presented the financial statements for the calendar year 2002. Manuel reported total receipts for the fiscal year 2002 of $162,597.20 and expenditures of $89,038.48 with a balance on hand at December 31, 2002, of $140,430.56. Manuel presented a comparison to the 2002 budget of $168,000.00, which indicated that actual receipts were $5,402.80 under budget and expenditures were $78,961.62 under budget. Manuel noted that this financial information will be submitted to Otter Tail County as our annual report. The financial report was filed for audit.

Under Old Business Lund asked Noah to comment on voter and property owner definition. Crothers commented that Minnesota state attorneys have defined an eligible voter to be a property owner. Noah moved to ask for additional clarification of who is eligible to serve on the PGOLID board. The motion was seconded. After discussion the motion was amended to include who can vote in a PGOLID election. The motion failed on a vote of 2 to 5 with Noah abstaining.

Lund then presented the annual report of the PGOLID which outlined the activities of the district for 2002. Majkrzak moved to approve the annual report. The motion was seconded and passed with Noah casting the lone dissenting vote.

Under Agenda Item 9a, the amended order of December 27, 2001, was discussed. Paragraph 25(f) of that order states that board members must be owners of property in the district. After discussion, Crothers moved that we adopt a policy which states that the board adopts the definition on Page 3 of the letter dated April 9, 2002, from the Minnesota Attorney General as the definition of who may vote and that only “natural” persons who are property owners are eligible to serve on the PGOLID board. The motion was seconded. Crothers moved to amend the motion to include in the definition of who can serve on the board to include one representative of a “non-natural” property owner who can serve on the board. The amendment was seconded. MacLeod moved to table the motion. The motion to table was passed with Crothers abstaining.

Under Old Business 9c Majkrzak reported that RMB Labs is continuing the test procedures initiated last fall.

Under Old Business 9d, Horvick indicated that there was nothing to report to the board at this time.

Under Old Business 9e, Poolman was not unavailable to report on navigation aids.

Under Old Business 9f, Horvick reported that Requests for Proposals for Mosquito Abatement have been sent out and two proposals have been received to date. The deadline for submission of proposals is mid-February.

Under Old Business 9g, Manuel reported on agricultural best management practices (BMPs). Manuel reported that he met with the MPCA on January 14, 2003, and he presented an email from Lisa Scheirer of the MPCA. Manuel also presented a document form the MPCA entitled Pasture Operations and Feedlot Rules which indicated that any cooperation with pasture and feedlot operators is voluntary on their part. MPCA rules do not require pasture and feedlot owners to deny livestock access to water. Scheirer’s email included a suggested plan of action including a database of information on pasture and feedlot operators. Manuel advised the board that any action on this issue would be voluntary and financed by the PGOLID.

Under Old Business 9h, Absentee Voting and Amending our Order, Crothers reported that he has worked with Noah and the PGOLID attorney John Kolb to amend the existing PGOLID order. After discussion, Crothers moved to amend the existing order of the PGOLID to include absentee ballot procedures as presented to the board. The motion was seconded. After discussion, the motion was defeated with Crothers, Noah and Horvick voting for the motion and Manuel, Meidinger, Majkrzak, and MacLeod voting against the motion. Lund did not vote on the motion as it had been determined previously that the President would only vote in the case of ties. After further discussion, Crothers moved to adopt absentee ballot procedures discussed at this meeting. The motion was seconded and passed by a unanimous vote.

Crothers then moved to include the absentee ballot procedures in the amendment of the amended order of the PGOLID. The motion was seconded and passed with Manuel casting the lone dissenting vote.

Lund then presented the proposal from the Smith Evenson CPA Firm of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to handle the absentee ballots. MacLeod moved to accept the proposal from Smith Evenson as revised. The motion was seconded and passed by unanimous vote.

At this time MacLeod left the meeting.

Under Other Business Lund reported that there was nothing new to report under Items 10a and 10b. Under Item 10c, Horvick reported on the PGOLID website. Horvick reported that he has received several proposals for design and maintenance of the PGOLID website. After discussion Horvick agreed to obtain proposals from additional vendors for presentation at the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Donald S. Meidinger

Secretary