April 23, 2025 CLA Board Minutes
- Crockery Lake Association
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Crockery Lake Association Meeting
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Chester Township Community Room
April 23, 2025
Meeting called to order at 7:03pm
Roll Call: Betsy Ludwick, Greg Slater, Paula Humphrey, Dan Atwood, Tyler Heitzman and Jason Beuschel
Absent: Bill Marks, Bob Blauwkamp & Blake Williams
Audience: Jody Hyde, Chuck & Linda Lane, Pat Wolters, Carl Elliott, Kevin & Cathy Cees, Ellen Slater, Pat Wolters, Keri Beuschel, Kyle & Janice Stahl
Approval of Agenda: Greg moved to accept the agenda as presented, Jason 2nd that motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote of the members present.
Call to the Audience:
Parker Slater, a Boy Scout from the community presented his Eagle Scout Rank presentation. It is a piece of playground equipment intended for Gross Park. It will accommodate children of all abilities. Of the $8300 needed for this project, he has $1700 left to raise. He has been working closely with the Ottawa County Parks Department and a sight has been selected. Contributions to this project can be made through the UPC code and that is posted on our website.
Greg read a letter from lake resident Karen Elliott: that letter is on file with the Secretary of CLA.
She noted several suggestions for spring lake cleanup and also voiced a plea to not use the lake SAD for further testing. The lake cleanup suggestions are posted each spring in the CLA Newsletter, to be released soon. She also included an article from MLive.com by Joel Bissell regarding nuisance geese and a program for roundup beginning in MI in 2025. Betsy followed the reading of this letter with a comment that she had contacted DNR and was told we would need over 100 on the lake for any action to be taken.
President’s Report – Betsy Ludwick
Betsy had been contacted by “Homes.Com” while in FL and conducted an interview with Lauri Follett, https://www.homes.com/local-guide/ravenna-mi/chester-township-neighborhood/. She answered questions about lake resident neighbors.
Betsy, Greg, the Lanes, Susan McClure and son Andy all plan to attend the MLSA Conference April 25 & 26, in Muskegon.
Secretary Report-Paula Humphrey
Minutes from the March meeting was emailed out to the board members prior to this evening’s meeting.
Paula asked for any needed changes or corrections as presented. Greg made several suggested changes and corrections. Those were noted and will be corrected. Dan motioned to approve the minutes as amended, this was supported by Jason. Motion carried by unanimous vote of the members present.
Corrected minutes will be posted on the website.
Treasurer’s Report – Greg Slater
January – March of 2025: Ending General Fund $3,166.94
Other Funds 5,296.62
Fireworks Fund 4,128.81
Total Funds Bank Balance $13,002.37
Greg noted that we currently have 2 members.
Motion made by Dan to approve the treasurer’s report and 2025 Budget as presented. 2nd by Tyler. Motion carried by unanimous vote of the representatives present.
May CLA Meeting: first order of business was to select a speaker for the meeting. Dan suggested we ask Dr. Jennifer Jermalowicz-Jones of RLS (Restorative Lake Sciences) for an update on what is being proposed for CL for 2025.
Betsy said that those attending the conference would be on the lookout for tentative speakers.
Committee Reports:
Nominations: Both Greg and Paula’s terms will be ending. Both have agreed to run for another term. There were no additional nominations from the floor. Ballots will be prepared for the annual meeting and will include room for write-in candidates.
Lake Quality: Betsy Ludwick
Dr. Jones has testing set up for 2025 of the deep well basins.
Troy Goodno also encourages us to continue as planned, until further notice.
PLM is scheduled to do a spring survey
CLMP Report – Chuck Lane; copies of this report were made available. CL has been recording lake health to Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program since 1981. The report shows testing comparison from 1981 to 2024. CL’s health shows a gradual decline in all categories since testing began. The report indicates that in 2024, CL dropped back to eutrophic, but is clearly heading toward hyper-eutrophic. Betsy expressed our appreciation for the Lanes continued time and commitment to taking these readings and paying for the cost of this program. This report is available on the CLMP website: https://www.micorps.net/lake-monitoring/.
Membership – Greg Slater
We currently have 2 memberships. 70 will be needed to meet the 2025 budget.
2 homes have sold over the winter, they will need to be welcomed to CL.
Events:
A carp fishing contest was suggested. Betsy asked Jason if he would be willing to look into the details of holding this event.
Website: an increase in the budget was noted for CLA to have a broader base. We are currently limited to the number of emails that can be sent out on an annual basis.
CLA Newsletter – to be released soon.
July 3, 2025 – Bill Marks, not in attendance
Betsy announced that there would be no changes to the annual event; boat parade, fireworks display, lawn decoration contest & circle of fire will all take place on Thursday, July 3rd.
Around the Table
Greg shared that he received a call from Township Supervisor, Troy Goodno with an update on the contract for funds to be appropriated to Chester Township from Ottawa County. Chester Township has received a letter stating that Ottawa County won’t be paying for CL remediation. Chester Township will be moving ahead with litigation against Ottawa County for those funds. The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners have hired an independent lawyer to represent them and contest the legality of the contract originally written between Ottawa County and Chester Township.
Betsy said, she too had talked with Troy and understood that this contract will have to go before a judge for determination. The Chester Township is confident that the contract is legal and binding.
Greg also expressed his appreciation to those who have donated to the playground equipment. For supporting Parker in receiving his Eagle Scout rank. This is personal to the Slater family and Parker is close to his cousin with special physical needs, which was the reason behind his project in the first place.
Carl Elliott expressed his opposition to further testing. He also shared his reservations of moving ahead with testing unless funds are firmly in place.
Linda Lane expressed her concern for the length of time it may take for the lawsuit to be settled and the needed testing to continue to stay on course with RLS.
Betsy shared that in an article she had read, that more lakes are going for more natural remediation for lakes.
Betsy asked if all CLA meetings should be available by ZOOM? She and Tom have paid for an account, but that it was included in the 2025 budget. There was consensus that the meetings would be made available in this form for 2025.
Public comment during the treasurer report, Kyle Stahl asked about future plans to stock the lake with fish. Betsy’s reply was that the DNR doesn’t intend to stock CL until we get it cleaned up. Fund A Fish is included in the annual budget, under “Other Funds”.
Adjournment: Dan Atwood motioned that we adjourn, this was supported by Tyler Heitzman and carried by unanimous vote. Meeting adjourned at 8:25pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Paula Humphrey
Next meeting: May 21, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Location: Chester Township Community Room
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