May, 2025 CLA Board Minutes

Crockery Lake Association Annual Meeting

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2025 – Chester Township Hall

1. CLA Membership – opportunity to become a member.  

2. Meeting called to order at 7:00pm

3. Roll Call:  Betsy Ludwick, Greg Slater, Paula Humphrey, Bob Blauwkamp, Dan Atwood, & Bill Marks

Absent:  Blake Williams & Jason Beuschel

Audience: 18 people in attendance; sign in sheet on file. ZOOM was available, so no indication of how many people were viewing it from that source.

4. Introduction of Dr. Jennifer Jermalowicz-Jones from Restorative Lake Sciences.  She indicated that RLS was on Crockery Lake yesterday, May 20th.  The visit was to identify what weeds were growing, they were wanting to see native species.  And they were here to determine a course for weed treatment.

Dr. Jones announced that Ottawa County is still fighting the funding for lake testing and restoration.  She intends to move ahead with our project using part of our current SAD. Objectives, her recommendations stand, using Best Management Practices, Bio-Char, and obtaining the necessary permitting from EGLE for aeration vs. chemical treatments of Alum or other options.  She still anticipates using the Pro2 System.  This system would introduce more oxygen into the water column.

Betsy opened up for Q & A from the officers and audience.

1. A question was asked about Bio-Char – Dr. Jones explained the process. There is evidence of great results in several lakes in MI.

2. Greg Slater commented that Crockery Lake and surrounding land could be contaminating our ground water and thus the Crockery Creek Watershed.  Crockery Creek Watershed is the largest watershed into the Grand River. 

3. Lake Survey: Yesterday’s lake survey will determine weed treatment recommendations. The LFA sampling will happen next week.

5. Approval of Agenda:  Dan Atwood moved to approve the agenda as presented.  Motion supported by Tyler Heitzman.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.

6. Call to the Audience:  

7.  John Otterbein:  Asked if there was an update on our position with Ottawa County.  Betsy said that would be covered in her President’s Report.

8. Kevin See praised the lake’s “Neighborhood Watch”.  Their load of rocks has been left untouched.  

7. President’s Report – Betsy Ludwick

8. MLSA Conference Report: We had good representation from Crockery Lake at this conference.  

9. She attended a session on Wake Boats and their impact on lakes.  She is planning to post a link to a video that was presented at the conference on our CLA website. 

10. Another session she attended was on Best Management Practices.  She highly recommended that any riparian could and should attend this conference.

11. Greg added that he too liked the conference overall.  Lots of details and resources are available. Ottawa County needs a template for lake clean-up, and we could be their test subject.  We need solutions, we have collected a lot of data. 

12. Chuck Lane also mentioned that he attended a session on drone technology and sonar weed mapping that was very interesting.

13. CLMP and Secchi Disc training was also available at the conference.

14. Update on contract between Ottawa County and Chester Township with Restorative Lake Sciences

Betsy spoke with Troy today, May 21st.  There is a court date of June 6th, “Declaratory judgement on validity of contract”. 

8. Secretary Report-Paula Humphrey

9.  A motion was made by Dan Atwood to waive the reading of the minutes from Annual Meeting, May 24, 2024, meeting since they have already been approved and posted on the website.  Bill Marks supported that motion.  This motion was passed by unanimous vote of the Board members present.

10. Minutes from the April 23, 2025, meeting was presented:  Greg Slater motioned to approve the minutes as presented.  This motion was supported by Dan Atwood.  No discussion.  The motion carried by unanimous vote of the board representatives present.

11. Greg Slater mentioned that as of Monday, May 19, his grandson Parker Slater’s Eagle Scout project only needed $885 toward his goal to underwrite the expenses to purchase and install an Atom Spinner at Grose Park.  This piece of playground equipment will be handicap accessible.  It was delivered and has been inventoried prior to installation.  

9. Treasurer’s Report – Greg Slater

We currently have 16 paid members.

1. The 2024 Year-End report:  General Fund               $3,093.48

   Other Funds       5,296.62

   Fireworks Fund       4,128.81

Total Bank Balance      $12,518.91

2. January-May Budget 2025 and Current Financial report was distributed. 

  General Fund     $2,866.94 

                 Other Funds       $5,296.62

               Fireworks Fund  $4,538.81 ($838.81 to go toward 2026 show)

  Total Bank Balance    $12,702.37

Motion made by Tyler Heitzman to approve the treasurer’s report as presented. 2nd by Bob Blauwkamp.  Motion carried by unanimous vote of the representatives present.

10. July 3, 2025

11.  Our 2025 show was well funded. The township permit was approved, and all events scheduled will happen on July 3rd. 

12. Boat Parade:  Dan Atwood recommended that the entire lake be able to submit their votes for boat entries.  Betsy said she would consider the recommendation. 

11. Lake Remediation

12. CLMP Report:  Cooperative Lakes Management Program – No report. 

13. Lake Quality Report – this report is also available on the CLA website.  PLM reported that we have quite a lot of Coontail already this year. Consensus was to move ahead with a weed treatment only at this time.  That treatment happened already today, May 21st.

14. Contract with RLS and Dr. Jones – Our contract was extended.

12. Residents Contact:  Board members were reminded to begin canvassing there sections for the Annual Membership Drive.

13. Election of CLA Board Members:  Ballot presented, nominations from the floor:  Greg Slater nominated Bob Blauwkamp to fill Jason Beuschel’s term.  

Nominations for the next 3-year term include Paula Humphrey, Greg Slater, Robert Blauwkamp.  Motion for the ballot to be accepted as presented was made by Greg Slater and supported by Dan Attwood.  This motion carried by unanimous vote of the Board present.  Betsy closed the nominations.  

Paper ballots were distributed.  Greg Slater called for a “No Vote”, since the positions are uncontested.  Tyler Heitzman supported this call, and the Board approved by unanimous vote of the members present.

Betsy thanked board rep Jason Beuschel for his service on the Board.

14. Around the Table:  

15. Bill Marks suggested we make a change to the By-Laws:  to include electronic banking such as Venmo or PayPal.

16.  Dan Atwood wanted it noted that he remained quiet.

17. Tyler Heitzman announced his son was scheduled to arrive on July 26th.  Congratulations were expressed.

18. Greg Slater thanked Betsy for all of the hard work she does on the newsletter and all she gives to Crockery Lake.

19. Betsy Ludwick expressed her love for the lake and her neighbors. She also announced that she had stickers for anyone who became a member this evening. 

20. Paula Humphrey had nothing to add.

21. Bob Blauwkamp said he had nothing to add.

15. Adjournment:  Motion to adjourn was made by Dan Atwood, supported by Greg Slater.  Motion carried by unanimous vote of the Board present.  Adjournment at 8:10 pm.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Paula Humphrey     

Next meeting:  June 18, 2025 @ 7:00pm

Location: Chester Township Community Room

Restructuring/Post Annual Meeting

1. Meeting called to order at 8:20 pm

2.  Election of Officers for 2025-2026

Bill Marks made the motion that all current Board Members Committees and Officer positions be filled by the current Board members.

This motion was supported by Greg Slater.  This motion passed by unanimous vote of the Board members present. 

3. Route Assignment:  It was agreed that the Board members would keep the same routes. Jason’s route will be covered by Betsy Ludwick, since Bob already has a section. 

Dan Atwood - Representing: 2833 - 2871 Crockery Shores, Kaycee Lane, Crockery Woods 

Greg Slater - Representing: 2221 Van Dyke - 2391 Van Dyke 

Paula Humphrey - Representing: 2700 Van Dyke St - 2835 Van Dyke

Bob Blauwkamp - Representing: 2332 - 2550 Crockery Shores, 24th Ave, Hoover 

Betsy Ludwick - Representing: 2392 Van Dyke - 2516 Van Dyke 

Blake Williams - Representing: 2081 Van Dyke - 2211 Van Dyke 

Bill Marks - Representing: 2563 Crockery Shores Road - 2798 Crockery Shores Road

Tyler Heitzman - Representing: 2519 Van Dyke - 2681 Van Dyke

4. Adjournment:  Motion to adjourn was made by Greg Slater, 2nd from Bill Marks.  Motion carried.

Adjourned at 8:30 pm

Minutes respectfully submitted by Paula Humphrey   

CLA Secretary  

5.21.25 CLA Minutes.docx.pdf

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