Crockery Lake Association
Board Meeting
September 18, 2024
Chester Township Hall
1. Call to Order: 7:00pm
2. Roll Call: Present – Dan Atwood, Greg Slater, Paula Humphrey, Jason Bueschel, Blake Williams &
Bill Marks
Absent: Betsy Ludwick, Tyler Heitzman & Bob Blauwkamp
Audience: 8 lake residents in attendance & Sarah Bowman, Ottawa County Watershed District
See attached sign-in form.
3. Approval of Agenda: Bill Marks moved to approve the agenda as submitted. Jason Bueschel
supported that motion. The motion passed by unanimous vote of the members present.
4. Call to the Audience: Nothing
5. Septic Webinar Report: Karen Elliott attended this event and gave us a breakdown of what she
learned. She supplied a copy of her presentation to the board. Document attached.
6. Sarah Bowman, Ottawa County Watershed & Conservation District Specialist. She encouraged us
to attend a free event sponsored by the Ottawa County Environmental Health Department: “Septic
Savvy Workshop: Managing Pollutants and Septic System Failure”,
that will be held on October 16, 2024, 6-7:30pm at the Grand Ravines Lodge, 9920 42nd Ave.,
Georgetown Twp. To register: ottawacd.org/events/septic-workshop/. Sarah provided handouts
for us to post. At this workshop, information regarding grants for septic systems and loan
programs such as 319 will be included.
*Since this is the date of our next regularly scheduled CLA Board meeting, Bill Marks suggested we
send a representative to this event.
7. Committee Reports:
A. President: Read by Dan Atwood
1) On August 28, there was a zoom meeting with Ben Jordan about participation from the Conservation
District from the Monsanto money. It sounds like a lot of that is already allocated and he is waiting to
see what is left. He said it’s not a hard “No” but he’s still waiting to see what is left. Basically it sounds
like they are purchasing equipment for the water testing and will be hiring people to be trained to use
the equipment. I suggested that using the testing from Dr. Jones and RLS would make their work easier
and he agreed it would be more in depth testing than what they will do. But he doesn't think that EGLE
will allow an outside contractors reports. So it would be an overlap.
2) Jon Anderson, acting Ottawa County Administrator, invited me to attend the OC Finance Committee
Meeting on September 3. They had invited Dr. Jennifer Jones from RLS to give an summary of what she
has done for Crockery Lake already and what she will be tentatively proposing for remediation and how
much it is likely to cost. ~Greg Slater and I both attended the meeting and also made a few comments.
Dr. Jones gave a very good presentation and the committee asked many questions and she was able to
answer them very well. ~Joe Bush was also there and added his support and answered questions abouthow the Drain Commission is possibly going to be involved. After this meeting Joe Bush, Allison
Miedema, and one of the commissioners came to talk to us (Dr. Jones, Greg, and I) at length about the
lake, asking questions and giving their thoughts. ~An employee from the GIS department heard we were
there talking about the lake and he came in and was asking several questions. All of this is noteworthy
because of the attention they are paying to our lake.
*Greg commented that he was later interviewed by TV 8, and we received a spot on their broadcast
regarding the health of our lake.
3) Last week Dr. Jones was asked by the OC Finance Committee chairperson Gretchen Cosby and Joe
Moss to give a tentative proposal before the next finance committee meeting (see attachment). That
was Tuesday morning. So now we will wait to hear what the Finance Committee has to say.
B. Secretary’s Report: Paula Humphrey
The minutes from the August meeting were emailed out to the board members for revisions
prior to tonight’s meeting. Any recommended changes have been made. Once the minutes
are approved, they will be posted on the CLA website. Motion to approve minutes as
submitted was made by Greg Slater and supported by Bill Marks. Motion carried by
unanimous vote of the members present.
C. Treasurer’s Report: Greg Slater
1. Membership Report: since the end of August we have added an additional member
bringing our total to 65 for 2024.
2. Financial Report was reviewed. The general fund has a current balance as of 8/31/24 is
$4,799.78. Beginning Fireworks Fund 2025 is $6,398.81. Fireworks Expense of $7500 is
needed by December 31, 2024. Other funds balance of $7966.35 for a total of $19,164.94
in our account.
3. Gator T-Shirt Report: To date, 234 shirts have been ordered. Some shirts have yet to be
delivered. Final expenses still need to be paid out before we know how much was raised
for the Lake Clean-Up Fund.
The motion to accept the treasurer’s report as submitted was made by Paula Humphrey and
support was made by Bill Marks, this motion carried by unanimous vote of the members
present.
D. Fireworks: Bill Marks
We are on track for a show in 2025. The initial deposit doesn’t need to be made until the end of
2024. Bill mentioned that the company likes working with us, they are happy with the launch
location and look forward to our show in 2025.
1. Jason Bueschel suggested we start a “Sponsorship Drive” to raise more money for our
show. Discussion followed re: promotion of the sponsorship, what the contribution
amount might be set at, how to recognize those who gave that amount. Some research will
be done on how we could implement this drive to be presented at a future board meeting.
Since we are a 501c3, this would be a tax-deductible contribution.
E. Lake Quality
1) The CLMP Spring Phosphorus Results for 2024 was emailed to Betsy by Chuck Lane. She
forwarded the report to the board. The results indicate that Crockery Lake rates 6th highest
in MI, for the lakes that participated in this program. Results will be posted on the website.2) In October, we will have the proposal for lake remediation from Dr. Jennifer Jones.
F. General Lake Cleanup: September is the end of the season. Boats, docks & rafts are coming
off the water. Reminder: per Township Ordinance #2019-02-01 Section 5C, nothing can be left
in the lake over the winter.
8. Around the Table
A. Bill Marks, nothing.
B. Paula Humphrey, nothing.
C. Greg Slater, personally thanked Karen Elliott, Sarah Bowman and previous speakers like
SludgeHammer for bringing us information on maintaining the health of our septic systems.
D. Jason Bueschel, nothing.
E. Blake Williams nothing.
F. Dan Atwood, nothing additional to add.
9. Adjournment: Greg Slater motioned that the meeting be adjourned, 7:42pm. All in favor! Shortest
meeting ever!!
Next Meeting: October 16, 2024
7:00 pm, Chester Township Hall
Guest Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Jermalowicz-Jones, Restorative Lake Sciences
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