5-W Club Annual Meeting
November 3, 1999

The 5-W annual meeting was called to order by President Pete Chalk. Others in attendance were James Miller, Kathleen Miller, Henry Smith, Leslie Edwards, Dr. Cobb, Margaret Johns, Don Kemp, Tom Roberts, and Bryant Banks.

The meeting began with a presentation by Scott Kirk from Southeastern Ponds who talked about lake management. Scott asked if the members wished to focus on bass, bluegill or aesthetics. The general consensus was that we wished a balance between all three. Scott said that the fish we are catching are somewhat small. He can use electric shock to sample the population.

He said that the pond is getting older and is probably overpopulated with bass. The alkalinity is 30ppm and so we do not need to put in lime again this year (it needs to be at least 20ppm.

He said that we should harvest about 35# of bass per acre per year and 150-180# of bluegill per acre per year. Bass eat 3-5" bluegill. One way to help is to feed the bluegill. This helps them grow and he highly recommends this. We should have one feeder per 5-6 acres. These use about 5 to 7 pounds of feed per day. Pellet catfish feed is what is used.

In a balanced pond bass should grow one pound per year. After two years of feeding bream he would expect bass to average 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds and bream to average 6-7".

Shallow water such as at the lower end of the pond is prone to weed growth. When fertilized it helps to block out the sun. He is reluctant to recommend grass carp because they would eat the food from the feeding program. If fertilizer does not control the weeds we could use herbicides. The new herbicides are safe. He recommends fertilizing in a 11-12 application process with the first application on March 1st even if the water is not 65°.

The lake has a lot of water running out of it which impedes the fertilizer working. He recommends using granular fertilizer.

His company will do a survey and send us a report with recommendations for $500. They will send a report with recommendations. Managing a pond is an ongoing process. If the survey shows that we need to remove some of the bass using electric shock, they will do this for $200/hour.

After the discussion with Scott Kirk, the minutes of the last meeting were distributed to the members. Leslie Edwards moved that they be approved, seconded by Margaret Johns, and passed unanimously.

Pete Chalk passed out a letter from Clyde Porter regarding harvesting lumber. It is not advisable to harvest any lumber at this time.

Tom Roberts reported on the work that was done on the spillway. There is still a leak under the spillway but Tom is not sure that it is damaging anything. It was decided not to take any further action at this time. We will need to keep an eye on the spillway to make sure there is no further deterioration.

Dr. Cobb presented the lake report and distributed a report of the fish catch for the last year.

Tom Roberts moved that we spend $500 to have Southeastern Pond do a survey of the lake as soon as possible. The motion was seconded by Jim Miller and passed unanimously.

There was no house report since Andy White was not able to attend the meeting. The general consensus was that the house is in very good shape.

Don Kemp, Treasurer, passed out the income statement. Pete Chalk distributed a copy of last year's budget versus the actual expenses. We did not exceed the budgeted expenses.

There was a discussion of the fact that our expenses are running at a rate of about $20,000 per year while our annual income is about $16,500 per year. This situation means that we either have to have an increase in dues or an increase in the number of members. Another problem that we have is that when we increased the insurance on the clubhouse our insurance increased to the point where we have a cash flow problem with such a large payment being due at one time.

A motion was made by Jim Miller, seconded by Henry Smith that we bill annually rather than quarterly to take care of the cash flow problem. This was passed unanimously.

A motion was made to raise dues to an annual level of $1,000 per member. Then the possibility of paying the insurance on a monthly or quarterly basis was brought up. Pete Chalk will send out a proposal regarding the dues to be voted on by all members and Don Kemp will send the minutes of the meeting, income statement and balance sheet, and copies of budgets with and without dues increases to all members.

There was a motion by Tom Roberts, seconded by Dr. Cobb to table the motion on the purchase of grass carp until we have received the report from Southeastern Ponds.

There was a motion by Jim Miller, seconded by Leslie Edwards that when memberships are sold the price be raised to $6,000 to reflect assessments paid by members over the last two years. The motion passed unanimously.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Don Kemp
Secretary/Treasurer
12/1/99