April 11, 2017 Meeting Minutes

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April 11, 2017 Meeting Minutes

Watts Bar Ecology and Fishery Council (WBEFC) Minutes: April 11, 2017

Attendees:

Dwain Alexander B. J. Gillum Timothy Joseph Bob Lamb Janice Moody Hugh Willett

Al Ziemak

 Opening Remarks by Tim Joseph:
o Tim said Mark Musolf resigned for personal reasons after the second

meeting. He said he and others have talked and emailed with Mark

several times to ask him not to resign, but Mark has resigned.
o Tim agreed to chair the Council until a new chairman is found.
o He discussed the need for additional individuals to participate in the

Council and working groups.
o He asked Janice to send the Roane County Environmental Review Board

(RCERB) Presentation to all WBEFC members.

  •   Review Minutes of previous meeting, BRIEF discussion on items and those to “table.”
  •   Coordination with County Commissioners Update.

o Tim met with Ron Berry, Roane County Commission Chairman. He said they had a very long discussion regarding the 5-member Roane County Commission special work group. The group is called the Aquatic Weeds Committee. The members of the Aquatic Weeds Committee are shown on the WBEFC Structure.

  • –  Tim said Ron see’s the WBEFC as the “doers”. WBEFC would be doing the technical work, and would be providing the information the Commissioners need to make decisions. Then the Commissioners would go to the State, local, and Federal Agencies to start pushing for support in the funding area.
  • –  Tim said Ron sees WBEFC as their “technical arm” and their advisory group on what needs to be done to address the invasive weed mats on Watts Bar Lake.
  • –  Tim said what WBEFC wants for Watts Bar Lake is a healthy ecology and fishery! He said a healthy ecology of Watts Bar is what makes this lake great.

– Bob Lamb said he thinks the Roane County Commission group should reach out to the other counties.

o Tim said he talked with Ron Berry about reaching out to the other counties. Ron said he was going to reach out to the other counties and invite them in a formal way to participate directly, and hopes that each county would have a representative on his Aquatic Weeds Committee and on the WBEFC.

o Bob said in Meigs County, Ron needs to go to the Meigs County Commission Chairman, Stanley Welch.

o Bob said Jeremy Bivens, Meigs County Chairman of Commerce is going to attend WBEFC meetings.

o Tim said Ron plans to reach out to TVA and TDEC to get them involved.

o Bob said he had a contact with TDEC. Alan Wilkinson, phone: 865.594.6035, email: allenwilkinson@tn.gov

o Janice said she had a contact at University of Tennessee. Dr. Neelam Chandra Poudyal, Assistant Professor University of Tennessee Institute Agriculture, phone: 865.974.7126, email: npoudyal@utk.edu

 Review and discuss draft Council Structure and Work Groups. Seek volunteers to Chair/CoChair Work Groups. Discuss flow of information among and between groups and full council.

o Tim developed the WBEFC structure.
o He described the 7 work groups in the WBEFC structure.
o Tim said Work-Group-3, COMMUNITIES, PROPERTY OWNERS, &

ORGANIZATIONS work group will be very important in getting people involved.

  • –  Bob said he could get more people from Meigs County involved.
  • –  Tim said we need to identify the HOA’s and communities on Watts Bar.
  • –  Tim and Janice said they would develop an email message to send out 
to Janice’s lake homeowner’s distribution list.
o Bob and Janice will work together to develop a list of lake
  • –  Tim said we also need to identify the different sportsman’s 
associations to join WBEFC.
  • –  Bob said if we get grants we need to be a 501C3 or work with an 
organization that is a 501C3.
  • –  Bob said he has had several lake homeowners asking him how they 
can get their property taxes decreased because their property values have been decreased because of the weeds. 
o Work-Group-6:PASTSUCCESS/FAILUREWorkGroup

 

o Tim mentioned that Roger Hinsdale has a lot of knowledge on the successes and failures in other lakes and would be a good person to pull it all together.

o Janice said Roger, Peter Giroux, and Janice have had conference calls with several lakes. Janice said she thinks Lake Gaston is more like Watts Bar Lake.

o Work-Group-5: TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP

  • –  Tim said that he will head up this work group.
  • –  Bob said Tennessee Wesleyan University, 204 E College Street Athens, TN 37303, phone: 1 844 Pick TWU | 423 745 7504, has a lab on Chickamauga Lake. Grant Willhite, phone: 423.746.5236, email: willhite@twcnet.edu is over the lab.
  • –  Tim said he will doing white papers primarily for public education.

o Work Group 4: PUBLIC OUTREACH is on hold. o Work Group 2: COMMUNICATIONS

  • –  Janice will chair this group, and Tim is going to help with this group.
  • –  Whatever is sent out to the public will go through this group.

 Work-Group-2: Communications: Need and timing for informing to the public– Newspapers, etc. Tim said we should write a brief article to introduce the WBEFC and invite meaningful participation/membership?

o Tim thanked Hugh Willett for attending, and look forward to working with Roane Newspaper.

o Tim is going to send Hugh information on WBEFC.
- Hugh said there will be a special edition in May, and Tim said he will

provide WBEFC information to Hugh, and will touch base with him later concerning what information Hugh would like.

  •   Items for Success – Lessons Learned was handed out to everyone.
  •   Discuss WBEFC chairperson Selection. Recommendations, Volunteers, timing.
  •   Path Forward
We need to digest this structure, assess where you wish to be an active participant/chair, and let us know. We’ll update status and hopefully have chairs for the next meeting and maybe some idea as to what activities may be started or anticipated.
  •   Next Meeting: TBD
  •   Meeting Adjourned: 7:45 p.m. 
Attachments: 
Meigs County Resolution

 

WBEFC Structure
Items for Success – Lessons Learned

 

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