Wandawega Lake District 2025 Annual Meeting Announcement & More.

Wandawega Lake District (WLD) 2025 Annual Meeting, June 14, 2025 at the Sugar Creek Town Hall, N6641 County Rd H, Elkhorn, WI 53121 between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 pm. This is a public meeting open to all lake district members (electors) and interested public. 

The next meeting is set for June 14, 2025 at the Sugar Creek Town Hall, N6641 County Rd H, Elkhorn, WI 53121 between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 pm.  This will be our official 2025 annual meeting. This is a public meeting open to all lake district members (electors) and interested public. There will be an election for one board commissioner.  The term for Bill Kostock, who replaced Brittney Reeves after she resigned this winter is expiring. Bill is running for re-election.  You may submit nominations to the Chairperson, Willie Vannerson, at willie@wandawegalakedistrict.org, or in person at the meeting.

Who may vote: District Voting Procedures Voting Eligibility

Commissioner elections and other key lake district business that requires a vote occur at the annual meeting. Only riparian owners within the district, known as electors, are eligible to vote. Below explains who may vote.

• According to Wisconsin State Law, every resident of the District who is registered or eligible to vote in general elections shall be an eligible elector of the District. Non-resident property owners are also eligible to vote

• Those whose names appear on the current District assessment roll prepared for purposes of real property taxation, or those who have provided proof of title to real property in the District and who are U.S. citizens 18 years of age or older, are eligible electors in the District and may vote.

• A non-resident spouse of a property owner may also vote as an owner of property under Wisconsin’s Community Marital Property Laws.

• Any trust, foundation, corporation, partnership, or association that owns real property in the District may authorize an official representative, officer, or employee to vote. Please bring evidence of your authorization to the meeting to receive ballots. You may also send evidence of authorization in advance to willie@wandawegalakedistrict.org.

• Casting Ballots – One Person, One Vote Under Wisconsin law, every elector may only cast one vote on any question called to a vote. Even those who own multiple parcels are only entitled to one vote per owner, not one vote per parcel.

• All residents and interested parties are encouraged to attend but only eligible member of the district may vote. For further information, please contact willie@wandawegalakedistrict.org.

Weed Harvesting To Start!

We have picked up the harvester next week and will be getting it on the water to clear the navigation lanes and pier access as quickly as possible in order to keep ahead of the plant growth. See below for more details on the harvester acquisition and related DNR grant application.

Winter 2025 Meeting

The Wandawega Lake District (WLD) held an open Board of Directors meeting on March 28, 2025 at the Sugar Creek Town Hall. There were a number of important updates and actions taken that I want to share with you as we approach another season at the lake.

Annual Meeting Calendar Set

We have set dates for all four open meetings for the next year. We will be adopting this format going forward for improved constancy and participation.

Q1. Last Saturday in March each year (March 31, 2026).

Q2. Annual Meeting 2nd Sat in June to coincide with WCC. (June 14, 2025)

Q3. Second Sat in Sept to coincide with WCC. (Sept 13, 2025)

Q4. First Sat in Nov to wrap up the year and any unfinished business.  (Nov 1 2025).

New Commissioner Elected

Brittany Reeves submitted her resignation prior to the meeting citing personal family issues out east preventing her from performing her duties on the board. Myself and all of the board want to thank Brittany for all her effort in support of the district. In fact, she was instrumental with coordinating and collecting signatures for the formation petition to the county, as well as setting the initial board in motion as we begun this journey. We hope to see her at the lake in the future 
 
As per the state statues, it is the chairperson’s responsibility to identify a replacement who is then voted upon by the board to confirm. The chairman selected Bill Kostock. Bill ran for the board at our first annual meeting and has dedicated many hours of service harvesting with the Hockney cutter in previous years, and the rented harvester at the end of last summer along with John Consolino. The board unanimously approved Bill’s selection. Bill will continue on the board as Commissioner 3 until that term expires at the 2025 annual meeting. Welcome aboard, Bill!

Aquatic Plant Management Grant

Last fall we reported that WLD submitted a grant application for financial assistance to update and submit our Aquatic Plant Management (APM) report. The APM is submitted to the DNR every five years and it is based on that report from which the DNR grants and issues permits for harvesting and treatment. Our current APM expired last year but our most recent permit is valid until this December. We therefore are able to harvest this season under that permit. But would need a new APM for next season.
 
We received word that our application was approved and that we will receive a grant for 70% of the cost up to $7,035. We have contracted with Lake & Pond Solutions (L&PS), the vendor who works with Lake Wandawega Improvement Association for the past three APMs.  The process is twofold, first they will conduct a plant survey this summer according to the DNR guidelines and requirements. Then in the early winter they will compile a revised APM draft to submit to the DNR incorporating the new results into the historical data. The APM also includes recommendations for the DNR on harvesting strategies, which they take into consideration when issuing permits. Note that the DNR requires us to have a current APM in order to receive a permit. So this is a critical operation for the district.
 
The total cost of the APM project is $11,050, so the entire $7,035 grant will be applied towards the cost. That leaves $4015 to come from our budget. The DNR has an option to advance grantees an advance to assist with initial costs. We requested and received that advance of $5,276. That will cover the first payment to L&PS this summer for the plant survey, which is $3,350, leaving $1,926 to carry over into next year. This will allow us to proceed with the APM this year without expending funds from our current budget, which will be helpful as we apply funds to purchase our harvester.

Harvester Purchase

The board has decided to move forward with the purchase of the used harvester we rented at the end of last season. The vendor has refurbished it, including a complete rebuild of the engine. The purchase will include the harvester, it’s trailer and a shore conveyor (to transfer the vegetation off the harvester into an onshore trailer for hauling and disposal. The projected costs for these three items is $80K. 
 
We applied for a $40.000 DNR grant last year that was not awarded. However, the grant manager who worked on that application has left the DNR and a new interim manager has approached us about submitting our application this summer. The initial review happens in June with a live presentation to the committee in August. The final decision on the award will happen in the fall. So there are three points at which we could receive a negative answer. Complicating the process is that grant money can only be applied to purchases after the official awarding at the end of the year. So we could not apply awarded grant money to the cost if we purchase the harvester before then. Therefore our strategy is to rent the harvester initially and purchase only after we are denied at any of the three key points, or we are awarded the grant. The vendor has agreed to apply a part of the rental expense against the purchase price. They have not yet proposed what percentage would be applied. 
 
So WLD has pickied up the harvester and will begin harvesting ASAP as the plants have begun to emerge. And we will continue to cut throughout the summer to keep the navigation lanes and cut areas clear. We are all very excited to see this huge change in lake management from the district.

Chemical Treatment

WLD is not able to take an active roll in the chemical treatment this year, primarily because of financial restrictions of being a government entity we cannot act as a pass-through for funds from owners to a third party vendor, Lake & Pond Solutions (L&PS) in this case. All funds we receive from being a lake district must be received from the fee process r a special assessment and authorization on how those funds are to be spent must be approved in advance at an annual meeting. Owners that wish to contract with L&PS direct to schedule treatment should contact Jeff Stelzer at jeff@lakeandpondsolutions.com .

Systems

There are several activities occurring regarding our support systems. First, we are assigning the elected commissioners WLD specific email accounts to make it easier to reach out and communicate. We have the Google space set up and it comes with two free accounts, one of which is the chairman’s address, willie@wandawegalakedistrict.org. The other is for LihMin,  lihmin@wandawegalakedistgrict.og.  LihMin is managing the creation of our systems infrastructure. The paid accounts for the other three commissioners have been waiting on the issuance of a credit card for the district that we can then use for payment and annual renewal. That is happening very soon. We will share them once every board member has a district email.
 
Second, our website up and running with initial content. Once it’s completely built out we will have important district content; events, useful resources and a public district document archive. The content will be released in phases so check back occasionally to see what’s new. we can get information out to you as it is available. 
 
Third, we are still using the LWIA’s MailChimp account.  This will be converted over to WLD account as soon as the paid email accounts are set up.  This allows us to use a permanent district email account to create the account, and manage and send notices going forward. We will migrate the LWIA list, including the Do Not Send, list to the new WLD account. 

Willie Vannerson
Chairperson
willie@wandawegalakedistrict.org

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