SPCMA
Minutes of Annual Meeting
July 28, 2024
Sandy Pond Sportsman’s Association


Meeting called to order 10 AM

Roll call of Officers: President __X____Cathy Goodnough
Vice Pres.__X____Tom Crosby
  Secretary ___X__Gwen SchillTreasurer______ Gwen Schill
Board Members __X__Dave Catania
______Harold Golden
____X_Pete Backus
_______Ralph Leber
____X__Deb Kelly
   

Do we have a Quorum? Yes

We would like to share a little history of dredging and past bills due.

Past debt of 2021 SPCMA dredging project on the North side, removing 12,000 cubic yards of material and placing the spoils on private property. BDS Construction started 8/30 after the piping plover had left the barrier beaches and finished up 12/2/2021. The cost of the dredge project was $ 120,000.00.0 
Balance Due $ 120,000.00 
Paid from SPCMA account $ -27,000.00
Paid from NPR funds $ -6,608.00
Paid from Nature conservancy $- 7,000.00
Paid from South sandy pond channel $-10,000.00 Town of S.C.
Paid from 2022 Town of Sandy Creek $ -30,000.00
Paid from Town of Sandy Creek $-9,392.00
Paid from Town of Sandy Creek $ -20,000.00 
Paid from account SPCMA $ -3,500.00
Paid from Town of Ellisburg $ -5,000.00
Balance Due $ 1,500.00


Balance owed $ 1,500.00 8/9/2022 from SPCMA Paid in full

In the spring of 2022 – We had no choice but to dredge the North side again, because our 5 year permit wasn’t approved yet. We removed 13,000 cubic yards of sand and placed it back on the barrier beach –The association dredged on a note due to the contractor, in hopes that the NYS Marine services would bring the buoys back when the channel was over 4’ deep then we could host fundraisers to raise the money needed to pay the contractor. We started dredging 3/11 and ended 4/12/22. Total cost of dredging was $ 130,000.00 and we currently owe $ 85,000.00. We were able to pay 7,050.00 of this invoice in 2/15/2024 leaving a balance due of $ 77,950.00.
We were awarded $ 300,000.00 for dredging in this 5 year plan. We received this money from Oswego County Office of Strategic Initiatives. We are mandated to send out the dredge project to 3 contractors, send copies of the bids to their office – They go with the lowest bid. After we file for the money, it is directly deposited into our account. We then have to file a quarterly form stating we received the money and where it went. 
We have to file these forms every time we request money from the county. We also had to file a CE-200 form, exempt from Worker’s Compensation.
We then dredged again in the fall with funding from Oswego County we removed 11,688 cubic yards of sand and after receiving the $ 100,000.00 we owed $ 16,883.00 for this project. This invoice was paid in full September 29, 2023.
 We received our new dredge permit last spring that allows us to place sand back at Sandy Island State Park beach and all along the barrier beach, to include private land owner’s property’s, it also allows us to remove up to 36,000.00 cubic yards of material a year. Our problem is not where we can put the sand it’s the money needed to dredge. The lowest bid for removal of sand is $ 10.00 a cubic yard of material, if we remove the full 36,000 cubic yards of material the cost yearly would be $ 360,000.00. There are over 45 private land owners that have been written into our dredge permit to allow us to put sand on their property on the north and south side.
We dredged in the spring of 2023 on the south side removing 12,895 cubic yards of material and we received the $ 100,000.00 from the County and owe $ 28,950.00 for this project.
We were able to pay 3,000 in April of 2023, and then we paid the 25,950.00 balance in February of 2024 with money from the Town of Sandy Creek- Paid in full 
We dredged in the spring of 2024 on the south side, there was no entrance before we dredged, the north side is very shallow and really only allows pontoon boats and small boats to get through. As per our permit, sand was placed along the barrier beaches – we had one issue with a private land owner not happy with the sand that was placed on the beach and we removed the sand from their property.
We have utilized the full $300,000.00 from the ARPA funding and have put another request in for $300,000.00 read request, however they haven’t opened up the other ARPA funding to any project so the likelihood of SPCMA getting any more funding if very slim. It was confirmed with Dave Turner there is no more funding available for ARPA.
We dredge in the spring of 2024 and removed 18,456 yard of sand, we currently owe $ 84,560.00 for this dredge project. We dredged the south side of the channel this spring if we had not dredged there would’ve been limited access to the Lake.  
The sand sediment accumulates around 50,000 cubic yards of sand per year, and our permits had only allowed 12,000 cubic yards of material a year and that has been what we were able to afford.
NYS Marine Services removed the buoys in 2021 and we have tried to get the buoys to be placed back into the channel, with no luck. There are temporary red and green buoys on the south side entrance and close to shore on the north side there are temporary pipes painted white on the top marking the deeper water. 
The NYS Marine Services was called in the middle of March when the danger spar buoys were noticed to be gone marking the rock pile. They said they would be here first thing in April to mark the rocks, but unfortunately they didn’t mark it until someone hit their prop and posted on face book. NYS Marine services phone number was posted on our face book page and the office was called, the rock pile was marked the next day.
North Side of Channel marked off for the bird sanctuary this spring as well as the South side, however, there were no piping plovers at the beach this year. They removed the north side fencing and they have put up signs that all dogs must be on a leash.

 
Santuaries.noaa.gov/Lake-Ontario/
1.This sanctuary will encompass from the other side of Oswego up to Sacket’s Harbor, there are over 40 ship wrecks and 2 airplanes out in the Lake. This will bring people into this area – they will need safe passage out into the Lake to find the wrecks. Hopefully the Safe Harbor will come through to this area and then the channel markers can be returned to the channel. We have no updated information on this. 

  Sandy Pond is also not a safe harbor, and Claudia Tenney’s office is looking into what that would in tale, as it takes an act of congress. Mike Yerdon Oswego County Legislator is also checking into a Safe Harbor. If the channel ever became a safe harbor then the Army Corps of Engineers could be responsible for maintaining the channel. As of 6/2024 they are still working on this

Membership Status20032004 20052006 2007
641407 217 43 171

2008 2009 20102011 2012
  152 90 159 82 182

  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
157 69 102 49 89
20182019 2020 2021 2022
 102 91 119 154 133
2023 2024
172 105
Membership in Attendance: 
Deb Kelley, Brian Wallis, Mark Sammut, Ruth Siver, Tom Kingsley, Susannan Kingsley, Wendy Brazm Rich Braz, John Penizotto, Dave Goble, Gwen Schill, Kathleen Bulluck, Michell Brownlow, Wendy Ptaszek, Debbie Ptaszek, Blaine Tiffany, Melita Tiffandym, Nick Majerus, Michelle Majerus, Dennis Schneider, Rich Guarasce, Deb Guarasce, Ron Fisher, David Banack, Tom Crosby, David Catania, Debbie Ptaszek, Don Schneider, Brenda Matian, Craig Matios, Skip Domick, Daniel O’Brien, Rich Young, Sue Youmng, Jean Potts, Ron LaFrance, Jacqueline LaFrance, Sam Cerano, David Murdock, Kathleen Murdock, Michael Cain, Tammy Garpocheste, Bonnie Reid, Gerhardt Brosch, Sara Kees, Laurie LaRusso, Joseph Ohaver, Bruce O’Brien, Sharon Hartman, Margaret Kastler, Myranda Tiffany.
As of 7/15/2022 Rolf Wagoner is not interested in purchasing the dredge back, as he has first right of refusal, so the association can make a decision to sell dredge or keep. We have not used this method of dredging since 2010, because it takes so many volunteers to set up and is extremely time consuming and loud. At the time of purchase this was the only method of dredging that was permitted. Over the years the permits have been changed to incorporate mechanical dredging. We need to get this dredge running again to see if it is even salable. Dave Catania will have a mechanic look at it, in the next 2 weeks. And then we will reassess the pricing of the dredge. 2024- The dredge was looked at by Steve Fayette, oil and filters were ordered, it still needs to be started as of 6/7/2024

We previously had voted to hold on to the IMS 4010 dredge one more year.
In the fall of 2018 Rolf Wagoner borrowed 12 pipe clamps and male coupler’s he offered to buy them, review costs of couplers and clamps. He will return our equipment as soon as we call. We have $ 84,070.00 invested in the piping and dredge. Previously voted to sell the dredge for $70,000.00 or best Offer, the new owners will be responsible for removing the piping at the beach and hauling all equipment away. The association owns 1,600 feet of piping. The pipe is 10” hdpe heavy duty pipe and 40’ long. We have some smaller sections also. On 6/5/2024 Cathy spoke with the owner of the property, he has to move some of the piping away from his camp, Cathy told him that hopefully this is the year all the piping can be removed from his property. It has been there since 2010. 14 years.
 Vote to sell onto dredge and piping? Motion made by Tom Crosby 2nd by Dave Catania, all in favor, yes. Motion passed- 2024 Still not sold until it is running, We cannot move this dredge we hired Mike’s Marina to move it the last time and the Boat stands belong to Reiter’s Marina

 2023 P & L Statement attached – YTD P & L passed around at meeting

Pathfinder is the bank for SPCMA and our checking account requires 2 signatures on a check.

We have received money from the private land owners that had received sand. Their donations were well over $4,000.00 – Thank you as we need to replenish our Barrier beaches to preserve the pond.

Possible places for funding for future dredge projects:

1.Audubon society for the preservation of the piping plover, refreshing the habitat every year would be very beneficial – the piping plover thrive on dredge spoils
2.Sandy Island State Park beach has not looked as good as it does now with the deposition of sand from our spring dredge operation, they may have funding to support more sand placement on their beach. They also have the area large enough to accommodate large amounts of sand. 
3.NOAA grant for Sandy Pond – David Turner Director of Oswego County office of Strategic Initiatives had reached out to Lauren Darcy on funding for a dredge project that would remove the majority of the sand bar on the north side of the island to open up the pond for a more natural flow of water and run off from Lindsey and Skinner creek. We have not heard back from them- Read the Project summary 
4.The Town of Sandy Creek budgets $ 30,000.00 a year after a request is put in to them in the fall
5.The Town of Sandy Creek budgets $ 10,000.00 a year for the South pond channel maintenance association, which if they do not dredge SPCMA has applied for this funding before the end of a fiscal year and has received this funding before.
6.The State of New York- Senator Patty Ritchie was able to get SPCMA a grant of $ 75,000.00 that allowed us to rebuild the barrier beaches on the south side. We could possible request more funding from the State, in previous years there has been no money.

All the records for Spcma are on a quicken program, the membership lists are kept on an excel program. The mail out program is kept on a Microsoft word program.

Bills against the Association:  

BDS Construction $ 77,950.00 from 2022
$ 84,560.00 from 2024

The Association now has $ 15,069.88

Plus $ 275.00 to be deposited 

We have received $ 10,392.00 since our letter to the membership went out

Go Fund me account has received $ 2,000.00 year to date and a total of $ 7,350.00. We needed to add a second person to the Go Fund me account. Cathleen Goodnough was added to the Go fund me account 

Thank you all. 

Thank you to Tom Baxter for continuing to support us and file our taxes annually. The Char 500 report needed to be done on line since NY State changed their regulations. Gwen Schill was able to update our information and the association has paid the 2022 Char 500 fee of $ 25.00 for 2022 and the Char 500 fee for 2023. We will have to do the filing ourselves from now on.

Estimated Expenses for next year:
  
1.Mass Mail out
2.Post Office box renewal
3.Liability Insurance, D & O, Physical Insurance

Fundraisers: 

Frank Salvett & Coca Cola sponsored a corn-hole raffle last summer and the association was awarded $ 866.00. 

Possible Chicken BBQ by Dan and Gwen Schill mentioned at last year’s meeting is being held today right after the meeting.
Check into Can Koozies prices 

Jug donations: Greene Point has a change jug- over the years $ 1,637.61 has been collected in change
 Can pick up at Greene Point Total collected since 2003 $21,876.95- that’s 437,535 CANS. Guiles and Son’s Redemption Center takes care of all the cans. This can drive has really picked up since our letter went out to the Membership. You can drop your cans off there or we have a CAN boat that gets filled up with bags at Greene Point Marina. 
 We talked about getting with the other marinas and campgrounds for collecting cans. We have 4 loads of cans to be added into our total.
Thank you for all your donations. 



Permit Status: 

DEC Permits approved March 24, 2023-March 23, 2028 
5 year dredge permit with a
Minimum of 30 day advanced notice of sand placement that year permit to cross NYS property, with the number of vehicles, and length of time projected
 100’ 6’ deep channel

Corp of Engineers Status: 5 year permit received good through April 23, 2028 this is our final extension of our permit. 

NYS Parks- permit will be filed with location of sand placement

Tom Hart of Hart Environmental compiles a list of placement of sand and the scope of work to be done, which is sent out to dredge contractorsevery spring and fall.
.

This organization is a 501C3 and can only be dissolved by gifting its assets to another 501C3 association. According to the dissolution of a 501C3, our association cannot be dissolved if there is debt involved

We seriously need volunteers to be acting board members and officers in order to keep this association going. It may not feel like we have made any headway in the last 20 plus years, but working with all the agencies involved it has been the only way to do what we have done. 
In the past 21 years this association has overcome many obstacles- mainly the permit,hydraulic Machinery, timing of the year as to when we were allowed to dredge, sand placement, we used to have to pump it back into the lake, which only caused it to fill back in, the piping plover, high waters, low water levels, the hairy tiger beetle, the tree bat, the bog bean buck moth, common tern, fish nesting in the channel, etc. there has not been one year we couldn’t get out to the lake, some years better than others. We formed the year that there was no access from the north or the south side and no help in sight from the Town of Sandy Creek, Oswego County or the State. This has all changed. Read reports of years dredged
 Total since inception with equipment rental from SPCMA 
$ 730,061.70.

Open discussion, we need fresh ideas and to reach out to a younger crowd.

Harold Golden has given his resignation as a board member.

The president’s position is open, are there any persons willing to step up and take over the association? We will be holding interviews for the Presidency.

We will go with a 6 month term of the officers and added 3 new board members and have time to interview for officers positions.
Vote to go with 6 month term and reconvene with a special meeting. 1st: Gwen Schill, 2nd Tom Crosby, all in favor motion passed.

Chris Rexford will become a board member and is willing to go to the local business for fundraisers like collection of cans.  
John Penizotto will research gathering information of tax basis, sales tax, etc and getting together information for the politicians.

Election\ Re-election of Officers: 

President Cathleen Goodnough
Vice Pres: Tom Crosby
Secretary: Deb Kelly
Treasurer: Gwen Schill

Board of Directors: Pete Backus, Dave Catania & Ralph Leber 

Added John Penizotto, David Banack, Chris Rexford

Motion made by Tom Crosby to re-elect/ elect officers and board members as read. 2nd Dave Catania, all in favor, 
Motion passed.

Appoint Sergeant of Arms by President: Tom Crosby is the preceding Sergeant of Arms –President appoints Tom Crosby

Appoint Parliamentarian: Tom Crosby is the preceding Parliamentarian –President appoints Tom Crosby

Thank you all for your interest in our channel. We have a wonderful area to enjoy and share with other visitors –Let’s work to keep our dunes and barrier beach intact and the channel where it is now. Please pass along any information shared today to anyone and everyone. Discussion of how to get the most accurate information passed out to the thousands of boaters who use the channel.

President made motion to adjourn meeting
2nd Tom Crosby, all in favor. Motion passed 
Meeting adjourned at 11:14 AM