Little Lake Butte Des Morts Lake Association

Annual Meeting

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

6:30 PM

Neenah Public Library – Shattuck Room �

WELCOME

Agenda

• Call to Order
• Message from the President
• General Update
• Approve the Budget
• Approve Bylaw Amendments
• Projects and Programs
• Educational Presentation
• Organize Committees
• Adjournment

A Message from the Board President

Welcome and Thank You for your involvement in the Little Lake.

Tonight, you will receive some updates and be asked to vote on:

• Our operating budget for the balance of the fiscal year.
• A by-law change that we believe better aligns our annual meeting to the fiscal year
• A by-law change to clean-up some language and provide more clarity between “membership”, “board” and “committee” meetings.

I regret that I can’t be there in person, however I’m always willing to hear your concerns and suggestions regarding the lake.

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Thank you! Board President Bill Frawley

General Update

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• ~114 Paid members – (target is 200 by year-end!)
• Held Board meetings & elected officers
• Completed significant administration/setup actions
• Filed federal and state 501(c)3 applications
• Established bank accounts, PO Box, Insurance
• Raised $18,500 in municipal contributions (+$13,500 more than interim budget)
• Tallied membership surveys
• Initiated several projects and programs (that need your volunteer help!)
• Extended the “Interim Budget” approved in November thru the balance of 2026 (pending approval tonight)
• Reviewed Bylaws (pending approval tonight)

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Board of Directors

Bill Frawley - President

Cliff Halley - VP

Dani Rand - Secretary

Deb Swiertz - Treasurer

Zach Visser

Lyle Hanson

James Wolf

Jay Schroeder

John Cullen

Approve the Budget

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Budget presented by

Deb Swiertz

Treasurer

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Revenues are considerably higher than our initial budget!

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Expenses are considerably lower than our initial budget!

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Approve Bylaw Amendments

Potentially 4 Amendments to Consider

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1. To move the Annual Meeting from April to October
2. To “clean-up” bylaws to better differentiate between “membership”, board”, and “annual” meetings.
3. To specify that the “Founding Meeting” serves as our “Annual Meeting” in our inaugural year for purposes of budget approval, elections, and bylaw adoption.
4. (only if Amendment 1 fails) To change the Fiscal year to July 1 – June 30^th.

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The Board recommends approval of Amendments 1-3.

Bylaw Amendment 1

Change Annual Meeting Date

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Proposed Amendment #1 – Motion to amend By-Laws Article V, Section 1 Annual Meeting, from the 3^rd Tuesday of April to the 3^rd Tuesday in October. (Tuesday, October 20, 2026)

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The BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS this amendment to:

• Better align with a January through December fiscal calendar
• More timely capture membership input and feedback immediately after the lake boating season.
• Provide more time to plan and adjust for the next lake boating season.
• Adopting this motion will cause several board members terms to expire in October and trigger new elections for 4 board positions.

Bylaw Amendment 2

“Clean-Up” bylaw language regarding meetings

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Proposed Amendment #2 – Motion to better differentiate membership and board meetings across all the By-Laws through the addition of either “membership” or “board” or “all” in front of “meetings” referenced where it is not today (Several sections as noted in Attachment 1 and posted on LLBDM.org).

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The BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS this amendment to:

• Apply more consistent usage and clarity of what type of meeting is being referenced. This is important as each category of meetings have different quorum, notification, and other requirements and could lead to confusion and misunderstanding.
• Includes 3 insertions of “board” meetings
• Includes 18 insertions of “membership” meetings
• Includes 1 insertion of “all” meetings (will use Robert’s Rules of order).

See details in Attachment 1

Bylaw Amendment 3

Specify that the “Founding Meeting” was our “Annual Meeting” in Year 1

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Proposed Amendment #3 – Motion to specify that the November “founding meeting” serve in place of our annual meeting in year 1 to support board elections, by-law adoption, and budget approval.

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The BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS this amendment to:

• Codify and legitimize what we actually did.
• Serve as a better template for other lake associations that

want to use our by-laws.

• If not approved, we should be re-voting board members today.

By-Laws affected by this motion:

• Article VI Section 4 – insert at the end of the body “In our inaugural

year, board member elections will occur during the Founding Meeting to serve thru 2026”.

• Article VII Section 1 – insert at the end of the body “In our inaugural year, officers are to be elected at the first board meeting following the Founding Meeting to serve thru 2026”.
• Article X, Section 2 – insert at the end of the body “In our inaugural year, an “Interim Budget” will be prepared and voted on at the Founding Meeting covering the period prior to the regular annual membership meeting in April 2026”

Bylaw Amendment 4

Change the Fiscal Year to July 1 – June 30^th.

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Proposed Amendment #4 – Motion to amend By-Laws Article X, Section 1 Fiscal Year from January 1 through December 31 to July 1 through June 30.

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The BOARD OF DIRECTORS ONLY RECOMMENDS this amendment in the event that Amendment 1 fails:

• Aligns the annual meeting better with our fiscal year.

Priorities Survey

Shoreline erosion (4)

Homeowner riparian rights (4)

Shoreline development (2)

Wastewater and industrial discharge (2)

Unsafe watercraft practices (2)

Updated lake maps (1)

Vegetative invasive species – phragmites (1)

Algae blooms (18 votes)

Excessive aquatic plant growth (14)

Poor water quality (14)

Water level fluctuations (11)

Polluted runoff farms, roads, residential (7)

Aquatic invasive species (6)

Fish habitat (5)

Top issues that the members want the lake association to focus on:

From 19 paper surveys returned at November meeting – we’ve not yet been able to access the on-line surveys

Board Activities To Date �against these priorities

• Met with FRNSA (aka Fox Locks) regarding the Menasha lock, public landings thru the system, need for more destinations, improved channel and hazard markings
• Met with USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers) regarding water levels and the need for more “upstream” flood water retention.
• Contacted Outagamie and Winnebago sheriffs’ offices regarding “flood declarations” and “no wake” communications, signs, etc. and how the lake association might help.
• Contacted Wild Ones and Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance regarding invasive “phragmites” on Stroebe Island and water testing on the lake.

Menasha Lock

• FRNSA expects the lock to re-open in consultation with the DNR when:
• Round Goby are “established” in Lake Winnebago
• Round Goby are “widespread” in the lake (so far only seen in Oshkosh)
• Round Goby are confirmed to be “reproducing” and “sustainable” in the lake (several generations, multiple sizes).
• FRNSA will try to establish specific measures for these criteria with the DNR.
• FRNSA continues to fund testing $25,000/yr thru UWGB to look for gobies in appropriate habitat. UWGB will coordinate with the DNR to increase angling efforts (vs trapping) consistent with how most in Oshkosh were caught.
• The DNR did a pilot study in Oshkosh during sturgeon season and found no gobies in their stomachs.
• The DNR will continue their annual trawls and surveys looking for gobies, and they are prepared for “blitzes” if/when goby are identified and reported.

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Reporting any goby found in Lake Winnebago thru the DNR’s on-line reporting tool remains the best way for the public to assist!

Little Lake High Water Levels

Lake Winnebago (LLBDM, Lower Fox River) Watershed

Lake Winnebago is ~1 ft OVER it’s 10-yr avg height and all dam gates are open since April 1.

Fox River water volume flow in Appleton is 2.5X what it was 30 days ago, so downstream gates are wide open as well.

Monitor info at US ACE site - https://www.lrc-wc.usace.army.mil

Educational Presentation

Scott Heinritz 

Professor of Natural Resources

at Fox Valley Tech

Organize Committees

• Finance Committee
• Membership & Recruitment Committee
• Communications Committee
• Environmental Programs & Grants Committee
• Fundraising and Gov’t Relations Committee
• Recreation, Events, & Education Committee

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Tentative Committee Members

Environmental Programs & Grants Committee

Steve Bach (chair?)

John Cullen (BOD)

Steve Erb

Abby Casper-Curtis

Tim Britzke

Wayne Sessions

Tom Ryerson

Sherrie Rezner

Tammy Huza

______________________

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Recreation, Events & Education Committee

Zack Visser (BOD)

Cliff Halley (BOD)

Jaedon Botker

Petra Sessions

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Finance Committee

Deb Swiertz (BOD)

Lyle Hanson (BOD)

Jay Schroeder (BOD)

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Membership & Recruitment Committee

Jennifer Rivas (chair)

Dani Rand (BOD)

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Communications Committee

Shelley Stone (chair?)

James Wolff (BOD)

Greg Berven

Dan Botker

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Fundraising and Government Relations

Bill Frawley (BOD)

Jim McDermott

Dennis Rezner

Dennis Hultgren

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Unassigned Volunteers (no preference indicated)

Trevor Rezner

Dennis Wepfer

Tom Duffy

Bernie Laird

Rich Fischer

Jay Knowles

Melissa Sandry

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Tentative Committee assignments were based on paper sign-ups from November, on-line forms have not been accessible. All volunteers are welcome and feel free to indicate a different committee preference.

Adjournment�

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