2010 News

The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Ocean Shores Fresh Waterways Corp. (OSFWC) was called to order September 25, 2010 at 10:00 AM, by president Bob Rhoades at the Lions Club building. Current board members present were Bob Rhodes - president, Carol Rhodes - treasurer/secretary, Ernie Nelson, Don McConnaughey, Grant Shaffer, Tom Kimsey, and Jerry Mergler. Excused members were Mike Valdez and Al Gamble.

Jerry Mergler read the minutes from the Sept 12, 2009 Annual meeting. Minutes were unanimously approved by the Board.

Carol Rhodes, Treasurer, reported that our general account balance is $3,386.64.

Due to other pressing issues requiring their time, Bob Rhodes, President, and Carl Rhodes, Treasurer, stated that they were resigning from the board following the conclusion of this meeting.

Mr. Rhodes, President, made a call to the public asking for members interested in joining the Board. Two Members indicated they would like to serve on the Board, Don McMind and Joe Reason.

Mr. Rhodes indicated the OSFWC has contacted the Mayor and addressed the City Council with a request that the city form a Fresh Waterway Board that would have similar duties as the Parks Board now has . The goal would be to create a board that has direct contact between the city and residents so waterway issues could be addressed quickly. Another benefit would be in avoiding issues of liability for volunteers who work on the waterways.

The president opened the meeting to the public. He announced that we were fortunate to have Doug Dorling from the NW Aquatic ECO Systems. Mr. Dorling was in charge of the waterway weed eradication program in 2007. He gave a excellent overview of the program and the types of chemical spraying performed in various parts of the waterway. Major points of his discussion and answers to questions from the board and members were:

1- The current situation is that Duck lake is in good shape with few aquatic weed problems in the lake and along its shoreline. The canals and Lake Minard are a different story in that a native Elodea is now spreading quickly and some parts of the canals are near impassable. He indicated he has been working with the city to develop a weed control program, but since there are no funds available in the budget no program is in place.

2- When asked what the cost of a yearly maintenance program for the canals would be, he indicated a rough estimate of about $40,000/year, but noted that as the problem gets worse the cost would increase.

3- Members and Board agreed that this is not a large amount and OSFWC should work with the city to secure annual funding for this program and potentially look at other sources for this funding until the city can fund it.

Grant Shaffer provided a status of the Harvester and work boat. Both equipments will need some work. The harvester requires some transmission work and his hope is to find a volunteer with machining experience/equipment to help. Commercial repair would be expensive!

There being no further business to come before the meeting it was adjourned at 11:25 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted, Jerry Mergle,r Board Member

Dear Mayor Bunkers:

The Board of Trustees of the Ocean Shores Fresh Waterways Corporation has asked me to send you this letter as a follow-up to the January 29, 2010 conversation that you had with our vice president, Al Gamble.

Specifically, our corporate board members remain concerned about our ability to continue our volunteerism in service to the Ocean Shores Fresh Waterways without liability insurance coverage, which is beyond our corporation’s financial ability to purchase. We believe the answer to this problem might be the City’s formation of a “Waterways Board” along the lines of the Parks Board that the City has already created. We know that several of our corporate board members would be willing to serve on this City board and we believe that we could get representatives from the Ocean Shores Yacht Club and the Kayak Club to also volunteer for service on this City board.

We think that we could then help implement the “Adopt-a-Buoy” program and the “Adopt-a-Dock” program, clear overhanging branches from the inter-connecting canals, and work on other waterways projects as City board members and at the same time be covered by the City’s liability insurance policy.

We believe that such a step by the City would dramatically increase volunteerism in support of the health of the Ocean Shores fresh waterways.

If you think that this idea has merit, please contact our vice president, Al Gamble, at 289-0586. We would appreciate having a meeting with you to discuss the implementation of this idea.

Sincerely, MICHAEL A. VALDEZ Attorney at Law

(As of August 20, 2010, no response has been received from the City.)

2010 Youth Fishing Derby

Cleaning table

A Winner!