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Toledo Bend Bi-State Alliance
Minutes July 28, 2008
Maurice Patterson called the meeting to order and gave the opening prayer.
Cliff Hunt presented the flag and joined Maurice in leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the June 23, 2008 TBBSA Meeting were accepted as written. However, Bill Huegel wanted to state the amount of water he calculated he used annually was in error, because he failed to divide by 1000.
Janna Lehman gave the Treasurer's Report. There are 22 organization members, 178 associate members, and $8,147.64 total funds available. All the bills are paid. Treasurer's Report was approved as given.
Old Business:
DEERFEST: Discussion about TBBSA participation in Deerfest was postponed until later in the meeting.
New Business:
FERC RE-LICENSING PROGRAM: Maurice asked Larry Kelly to talk about the Re-licensing Program he attended in May. Larry said an outline was given of the procedures the Joint Board of the SRA of Texas and Louisiana will follow in making application for re-licensing with the FERC. An engineer has been hired by the Joint Board to lead this effort. Larry said the best way to keep abreast is to know what is being submitted. He says the thing we have to watch for and hope for is that the Water Sales Committee is head of this. The amount of fresh water going downstream in the summer is not going to be the same after re-licensing. They are hoping to have something committed to water sales before 2013.
Larry recommends members attend the Texas Instream Flow Presentation being presented tomorrow, July 29th , at the Sabine Council on Aging-Toledo Center, LA Hwy 191, at 6 P.M.
This presentation was given in Orange, TX in May, but attendance was not good. This is a public meeting and they want stake-holders to be a part of this. Studies of the Lower Sabine River are a part of this presentation and will be described at this meeting. Discussion followed.
FUTURE OF ALLIANCE: Janna explained about the Questionnaire she sent to the board and key members regarding the future direction of the Bi-State Alliance. She said with no big issues going on, no information is coming in to be put into the newsletter and was wondering about sending the questionnaire out to the membership. Maurice reviewed the status of the various issues we have been addressing, but said we have no big issue that binds us together as before. He asked Jerry Lehman to share the thoughts he had about our future.
Jerry said when everyone was pulling together, inviting neighbors, and working on the Lake Level issue, we needed to meet on a monthly basis. Now, since there are no issues to discuss on a monthly basis, perhaps we could meet every other month or every three months, and put the newsletter out just prior to the next meeting. Jerry said when the re-licensing comes up, or any other pressing issue, we could start meeting again monthly. Larry Kelly said he felt that was a good idea, and would be willing to attend on a quarterly basis. Janna discussed some of the feedback she received on the questionnaires and concluded no one wanted to disband TBBSA, but felt fewer meetings would be better, at least until our help may be needed during the re-licensing procedure. She also suggested we could have a representative from the SRA come to one of our meetings and explain the procedure. Larry said Mel Swabota, the engineer hired by the SRAs, could probably do that for us. More discussion followed. Tom Trussell from the north end of Toledo Bend spoke about the problems he feels needs to be addressed. He said the salvinia and other aquatic plants in the coves need to be sprayed, and the other problem is the high price of gasoline. Others talked about the areas that are packed with salvinia and water hyacinths in the north end of the lake. Larry said the elected officials and the appointed officials need to be contacted, beginning with the local officials. Maurice said we need to plan a Salvinia Campaign. It was suggested we use a letter-writing campaign at the Deerfest. Maurice asked members for pictures of the salvinia problems that can be blown up and posted at Deerfest. More discussion followed about having another seminar about the salvinia where marina owners and fishing guides could be included.
DEERFEST: Motion was made and seconded and passed to attend Deerfest on September 27th as a vendor. Maurice will invite some of the elected and appointed officials. Janna will ask for volunteers to help man the booth. Maurice asked several folks to write letters that will be available for folks to sign at Deerfest, and they will be mailed by us.
TEXAS FOREST COUNTRY BASS CIRCUIT: Motion was made, seconded and passed to again be a sponsor for the Texas Forest Country Bass Circuit at the cost of $150. Our name will appear at all the local tournaments for this price, but we were too late to be published nationally.
TBBSA MEETING TIMES: Motion was made and seconded that TBBSA begin having meetings on a quarterly basis immediately. An amendment to the motion was made and seconded that things requiring action in the interim be handled by the Board of Directors, and reported at the next meeting. Discussion followed about the makeup of the Board of Directors.
The amendment passed as stated. The motion passed as amended. The next meeting will be October 27th, 2008. There will be no meeting in December.
Other Comments:
NEW BANNER: Jerry Lehman volunteered to order another TBBSA Banner that can be used at the fishing tournaments. Purchase of the banner was approved last year at one of the meetings.
BILGE WATER ACT: Jerry also noted the Bilge Water Act that would have affected every boat put into the water, was defeated by Congress.
Next Meeting Date: October 27, 2008 @ 6:30 P.M.
Meeting Adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Betty Griffin, Secretary
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