phoned thereafter.  He listed and thanked the members who have contributed to this long and difficult project.  We now have 130 property members, which consists of a larger but unknown number of people.  We expect continued growth in response to this project and have discussed mailing more solicitations to other areas off the shoreline.  He emphasized we had initially planned for 200 members by the end of our first year.  If we decide to have less mailouts in 2010 our expenses will be less, but we will also have less membership growth.  So all of us must still be dedicated to personally recruiting more members.  We either need to get substantially more members, raise dues next year or  budget less in 2010 and defer some things to 2011.   It is OK to prepay dues for 2010.   (Paying more than $12 is recommended and any excess would be considered a donation or applied to 2011 dues). 

He announced that Walter and Dorothy Plumb have agreed to be the Zone Leaders in Zone 3.

 He also reported  that  LCHOA has been mentioned in Ark Demo Gazette articles, including that our web site is the official publicizing organ for the Lake Conway Watershed Advocacy Group (LCWAG) meetings minutes.  The lake has had two sports fishing write ups recently in that newspaper, both on Gold Creek.

He also referred to the handout which was information from Matt Horton, Lake Manager, on how to build a bream bed. The handout also gave a clarification requested from him on the AGFC lake rules on moving logs or timber in the buffer zone or in the lake by your property. 

 VI.  Buddy Wilcox, Chairman of LCHOA Water Quality Committee, was introduced.  He talked about his efforts in 1999-2001 to stop the drainage of pollutants into the lake via Stoney Dam Creek and Gold Creek, such as sewage and copper, when the AGFC had no interest in it and wouldn’t respond to his notifications.   He personally did water sampling and with the assistance of the State Health Department analyzed and reported this contamination.  There was raw Conway city sewer and industrial wastes being dumped here.    22 resident septic sewer drainage sites were identified using aerial infrared photography he arranged.  These were supposed to have been addressed during a later lake draw down, but there has been no report from any entity showing this occurred. The Conway sewage plant operation has been improved  and subsequent fecal coliform sampling showed improvement. The AGFC maintained such matters were not their responsibility as  lake managers.  (The lake management has recently told the LCHOA Board that they will now investigate such things, but it must be referred to the Health Dept or Ark Dept of Environmental Quality(ADEQ) for action. They also maintained that no report ever showed a significant sewer problem or industrial pollution problem. Also the Conway city sewer drainage, even though improved, is to be totally diverted from Stoney Dam Creek to the Ark River

 VII.  Bill Miller reported on the Oct 29 LCWAG meeting he attended representing LCHOA in place of Hayden.  Lake flooding, new road construction for the cut off Rogers Estate residents,   vegetation control, lake contamination, sanitation, sedimentation and dam operation was discussed   A $400,000 study is planned before any construction on the I 40 east side frontage road extension to connect with Grassy Lake Rd(Faulkner County Rd 663) where it comes close to I 40 where the unofficial access from Grassy Lake Rd has been occurring.   The LCWAG, including county officials, AGFC and Corp of Engineers are adamant that a study must be done before any construction project.  An older study looked at water going out from the dam and the dam’s operation.  The new study is more expensive and said to be needed because it is to look at water coming in from all over the watershed and the effect of sediment build up as well as water flow impediments and flood levels occurring from the dam to the Ark River.  It was noted that the Corp of Engineers owns and controls Palarm Creek in both its upper end and its path from the dam to the Ark River.  So if any dredging or clearing is done in it, this will be entirely through their direction.  It is planned that UCA and Ark Tech will contribute to the study.   An extensive search is being done to find monetary sources for the study and later road/bridge construction.  It is likely that multiple different sources will need to be used including various federal, state and counties’ sources.  This looks promising but the  investigation is incomplete at this time.  

 VIII. President Baldwin next addressed the meeting and asked if the attendees felt the LCHOA November 5 Newsletter was valuable and all agreed that it was.  It was emailed to members and mailed to those without email. He explained that our January Annual Meeting would include bylaw changes, elections, setting dues and approval of a budget.   He stated that we would vote on a proposed bylaw change to create a third category of membership called Friends of the Lake.  These people would be nonvoting and would not need to have property in the flood plain or live or have a commercial business around the lake at all. He asked for people to volunteer now for our unfilled committee positions including our Internal Audit Committee which meets once per year and for our unfilled Zone Leader positions.

 He announced that he would contact the Chairman of the Lake Conway Citizens Advisory Committee and Matt Horton, Lake Manager, about merging or bringing the LCCAC members into LCHOA. They could all become members after the bylaw change described above. (Two are already members of LCHOA).  Regardless of this suggestion, in the future AGFC lake management says we will get the reports more directly that they present to LCCAC meetings so we would be able to ask questions at that time about it.

 Submitted, 

Thomas Eans

Secretary/ 2ndVP