Annual Meeting Minutes

Annual Meeting – July 11, 2026

The annual meeting of the Jenness Pond Shore Owners Association was held at the home of Marla Angermeier, Jenness Pond Road, Northwood, NH. The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. by Association President PJ Maratos.

PJ thanked Marla for hosting and everyone for attending, noting the change in time. The new members to the Association stood to be recognized and welcomed. PJ said the reason they are all here this morning is for the future of the lake. The Association is an opportunity to collaborate and share ideas for protecting the lake. If an invasive species is found in the water, the State doesn’t come in and save the day. The Association members are the only ones to protect their investment, because of the volunteers and the funds that the Association has put together over the past several years. PJ said the Association is for everyone; the Board isn’t trying to control the show, but to make everyone a part of it.

PJ highlighted some of the activities which have occurred over the past year –

Dave Ostrander has created a beautiful website, which is a spotlight for information about the Pond.
The Facebook page has been very active, especially with the creation of the Jenness Pond calendar. Tony and Rana Klug-Leeds have generously donated the calendars, which are available for sale. There are also raffle tickets available for a stained-glass loon hanging which Erin Farleigh has donated.
Bill Coffill and Dave Copeland recently took water samples to provide to the State for testing, and those results will be added to the website and the Facebook page.
Lake Health sponsorship circles are available, which will be posted on the shack in recognition of the donation.
The sad news is that of the two loon eggs, one egg wasn’t viable, and the chick that did hatch didn’t survive.

Finances – Association Treasurer Rana Klug-Leeds echoed PJ’s comments that the Association is here to protect the lake. The Association has done well increasing it’s funds over the years, but a milfoil occurrence is expensive to clean up, which this year’s guest speaker will attest to. The fiscal year runs from July 1^st to June 30^th. The account’s ending balance as of June 15^th is $132,088.66; up $15,562.53 from last year at this time. During that time, there were $1,598.47 in expenses; membership in New Hampshire Lakes Association, water testing from the State, beaver trapping, post office box rental and costs for the Association lunch. The total deposits for last year were $12,661, which includes dues, ice out raffle and $4,500 from the Northwood warrant article, for an ending balance of $17,161.00. She said there were also donations totaling $1,800 through NH Lakes, which went directly to Jenness Pond. The grant money from the Town and the donations to NH Lakes specifically for Jenness Pond are used to fund the Lake Host Program. Anything beyond that comes out of the Association’s checkbook. Rana presented Dave Copeland a prize for his winning guess of Ice Out happening on April 4th, as called by Michael Moore.

Guest Speaker – PJ introduced Norm Royce, a member of the Northwood Conservation Commission and Board member of New Hampshire Lakes Association, who spoke to lake health and septic issues. Norm said NH Lakes puts together a grant to the State for about $200,000 every year to help support the 120 Lake Host Programs across the State. They work with the town’s budget committee and provide funding for prevention and treatment of invasive species, such as milfoil, which has occurred in Northwood Lake. He said the Northwood Lake Watershed Association spends $40,000 to $50,000 a year to harvest the milfoil in the lake; not to prevent it, but to gather it and remove it. The process consists of a pontoon boat with two divers hand-harvesting the root of the plant. It’s $2,000 a day for the boat and the divers to manage the milfoil every year. The group recently met with DES to try to come up with another plan, hiring Solitude Lake Management, which uses a liquid herbicide, and treated 30 acres of Northwood Lake for $35,000 to $40,000. Instead of hiring the boat, two divers were hired to do the harvesting on the same day, at a cost of a couple of thousand dollars, which was a big improvement. It’s not completely done, but the Lake Hosts are not seeing milfoil on the boats coming out of the water.

Norm said another issue in the state is cyanobacteria. There have been many blooms, warnings and alerts across the State in the past four years. Treatment for this is done differently, at a cost of $400,000 to $500,000 when Kanasatka Lake was affected. If it needed to be done here, it would probably be $250,000 to treat it. The treatment bonds with the cyanobacteria and drags it down to the bottom. Cyanobacteria has been around forever. It gets into lakes from water runoff and failed septic systems. Norm said the way to help lakes with this is issue is prevention. Northwood now has a septic system ordinance based on a grant from DES, where a water shed analysis was conducted around Northwood and Harvey Lakes, with a questionnaire of people living around those lakes. The Strafford County Planning Commission then partnered with town building inspectors and conservation commissions to come up with a watershed management plan. The Commission has good mapping tools to show the risk each property presented to the lake in terms of septic leaching into the watershed. A risk assessment was done from that, which was the start of the septic system ordinance. It is now for properties within 250’ of a shoreline, but the plan is to bring it forward for the whole town, as a watershed can affect thousands of acres beyond it’s shores. The Ordinance requires septic systems to be pumped every 3 years and inspections by NHDES. He said the DES website has a section called “One Stop”, which will give you information on your land after entering your property address. Erin Farleigh said she will add the One Stop link to the Association’s website, noting that the septic ordinance is already posted there.

Patty Dowst asked what a homeowner’s legal responsibility is at this point. Norm said how the program will be managed has not yet been worked out. Rana asked if there is a penalty if an inspection hasn’t been done. Norm said there is a process for that, as well as a waiver provision which can be applied for with the Town. PJ thanked Norm for his presentation.

Lake Host and Weed Watcher Programs – Patty Dowst said these volunteer groups have expanded over the past several years. Weed Watchers go out once a month looking for different types of invasive species along the shore. The Lake Host Program is supported by paid staff on Saturdays and Sundays, with volunteers for the rest of the time, working whatever hours fit their schedule. This Program receives funds from New Hampshire Lakes, with the amount received being determined by the size of their lake. Jenness Pond gets the max amount allotted because of the number of volunteers participating. Volunteers are credited $35 for every hour worked, which goes towards their dues. Patty acknowledged each volunteer of these programs by name, with thanks.

Patty said last year, 719 boats were inspected at the launch, and when comparing that to the numbers at Northwood and Pleasant Lakes, that number is way over what those bigger lakes inspect. In addition, there were 393 volunteer hours put in from May to October, and 450 hours for paid lake hosts. She said it was found that the number of inspections done on Fridays don’t warrant staffing during the day, just the morning and late afternoon, so instead of 12 hours, 6 hours are now paid, with volunteers covering the rest. For the entire summer, it is close to $12,000 to pay the lake hosts, which is why it’s important to support NH Lakes through their website, with funds going specifically to Jenness Pond. Patty noted that there have been isolated occurrences of cyanobacteria in small parts of the lake, unlike the Kanasatka Lake blooms referenced by Norm, which were consistent across that lake. The Lake Hosts have been asked to check for spiny water fleas, an invasive species, which has been found in deep, cold water lakes in the State. She said if anyone would like to volunteer for either of these groups, to let her know.

Board Elections – PJ said dues paying members were given voting cards when they signed in this morning, which will be used for the positions of Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Treasurer and a Director, which are expiring.

PJ nominated Erin Farleigh as Corresponding Secretary, seconded by Tony Leeds, which was unanimously approved.

PJ nominated Anne Barton as Recording Secretary, seconded by Tony Leeds, which was unanimously approved.

PJ nominated Rana Klug-Leeds as Treasurer, seconded by John Dowst, which was unanimously approved.

Patty Dowst nominated Bob Lowe as Director, which was duly seconded and unanimously approved.

PJ noted that his role as President is also up, but at the last Board meeting, he was asked to maintain the role for another year. Rana Klug-Leeds moved PJ Maratos as President for another year, seconded by Tony Leeds, which was unanimously approved.

Old/New Business – Dave Copeland spoke representing Dave Turner. He said the meetings used to start at 11:00 a.m. years ago, then moved to 10:30, and the Board has changed the meeting to start at 9:00 a.m. this year. Dave moved to change the time of the annual meeting from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., which was duly seconded. The motion failed by a show of hands vote.

Dave Copeland said the wording of the newsletter stated that in order to make a motion at the annual meeting, it first needs to come before the Board in May for discussion. In the past, all motions came from what was happening during the annual meeting. Dave moved to strike the wording to have a wait time to bring forward a motion, and as a courtesy, that the Board be informed of any motions so they can plan the flow of the meeting, which was duly seconded. Patty noted that the thinking behind asking people to submit any motions ahead of time was for the Board to be able to discuss it and gather any additional data; not to prevent people from bringing forward a motion. Marty Grenhart noted that a motion to change the time of the meeting wouldn’t require any research, but other issues might require thought and discussion. Erin said the reason for the wording in the newsletter was so members would be aware of any issues to be discussed prior to coming to the meeting. The motion failed by a show of hands vote.

Sally Seltzer asked that a list of the motions made and their outcomes be put together and added to the website.

Dave Copeland noted that when someone volunteers as a Lake Host, they are given a $35 credit to be used towards their dues, but the $35 is not a real number. Patty said NH Lakes gives Jenness Pond a credit of $35 for each hour of work. It is then put into a formula and broken down based on the size of their lake. Patty acknowledged that they don’t get the full $35 from NH Lakes; they will usually get $2,100 to $2,300. Dave said the Association pays Lake Hosts $17 an hour, and he felt the volunteer match should be equal to that of the paid Lake Host. Patty said that in order to encourage Lake Host volunteers, the Board agreed to apply volunteer hours towards paying their dues. When that was done, the Board decided to give the same rate that the Lake Host Program gives for every volunteer hour worked. She said Dave is saying that because Jenness Pond doesn’t get every one of those $35, to bring it down to the lower hourly paid wage of $17. Dave moved that the hourly rate for volunteer Lake Hosts be the same as the paid Lake Host, which was duly seconded.

Tony said the $35 credit is going toward the volunteer’s yearly dues. The volunteers are credited at the $35 rate used by NH Lakes, but how much Jenness Pond actually gets is tied to how big their lake is, so it’s a mathematical equation. He noted that if the vote is changed to the volunteer rate of $17, it doesn’t change the NH Lakes rate of $35. Hal Kreider agreed that the $35 is a fictitious number that the State uses in it’s calculations. If there was no Lake Host Program, but someone was needed to man the ramp, that person would be paid $17 an hour, with taxes and such figured in. He thought that was the number which should be used. It was noted that voting “yes” would have the hourly volunteer credit be the same as the paid Lake Host rate, and voting “no” would keep the volunteer rate at $35. A show of hands vote was taken with 16 in favor and 11 against. Motion passes.

John Dowst noted the recent recurrence of float planes landing on the lake, and the concern of this potentially bringing in invasive species. Patty said she has approached NH Lakes about this, wondering if there are any regulations regarding float planes. Norm said he will follow up on this.

David D’Allesandro said he has been having problems hearing what has been said throughout the meeting. He said he has a PA system that he could modify to improve this for next year, if that was agreeable to those present, which it was.

Adjournment – John Dowst moved to adjourn at 11:05 a.m., seconded by Tony Leeds, which was unanimously approved.