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Morse Waterways Association
June 27, 2005 Meeting Summary
The first general meeting of the newly formed Morse Waterways Association (MWA) was attended by more than 130 people. As people entered the Red Bridge Community Building, they were given an Indiana boating handbook and asked to complete a signup sheet (one per family) with name, address and e-mail information. We received 112 signup sheets, 10 from Arcadia, 75 from Cicero and 27 from Noblesville residents.
In addition, the signup form requested attendees to check their interest on specific issues of interest. Note that people could list more than one issue.
Debris 59
Excessive boat noise 43
Safety 64
Water level 92
Water quality 67
Property owner issues 50
Other 9
The signup sheet also requested people willing to work on committee or donate money to the association. Here are the results:
Work on a committee 48
Donate funds 22
In addition, we had approximately 40 people register on our website that could not attend the meeting, but wanted to receive meeting notes.
John Gano and Steve Hunter were the two officers from the DNR that attended the meeting and agreed to attend future meetings. They informed the group that they attend every meeting of the Geist association as well.
Brian Selwa, Cicero City Councilman, opened the meeting and gave a brief background about the beginning of the issue advocacy organization, the purpose of the organization and introduced the founding members of the organization. The purpose of the organization is the premise of the mission statement: To promote the economic, environment, vitality and safety of Morse Reservoir.
The following speakers spoke briefly about the following topics:
Gary Helgemo – excessive boat noise focusing on high decibel rating and existing Indiana state laws concerning mufflers and exhaust systems. These can be found in the Indiana boating handbook.
Mike Murphy gave an update on the water quality issues. He recently completed a class sponsored by the Indiana Conservation Department titled Hoosier Riverwatch. Mike is requesting volunteers to help him collect water samples for analysis. The Conservation Department will do the analysis and record the results. In addition, the Hamilton County Surveyor has received a grant to conduct and develop a watershed management plan for Little Cicero Creek. Mike Murphy and Ford Hebner attended the first public meeting for this project and will be involved in this study working with all the interested parties in this watershed. In the Q and A session, Roger Goings of Noblesville introduced himself and informed us that Mayor Ditsler had requested last year for him to represent the Noblesville community at the Indianapolis Waterworks citizens’ group meetings. Roger gave a brief update on plans to have electronic monitoring and recording of the dam water flow and reservoir water levels.
John Swanson discussed the need to educate boaters on water safety, promote safety and create public awareness for boating safety. In the Q and A session, John Lingenfelter of Lakeview Marina suggested working with the marina to post rules and regulations at the marina, handing out literature to those launching boats and to work with the local boat dealers to help in the education of boaters.
Ford Hebner discussed the action plan being developed to further expand our organization through the creation of bylaws, appointment of officers and creation of committees. The Monday meeting was the first step to grow our membership and to find out the interest of the property owners. Although MWA is a not-for-profit organization, there is still a need to have an income for operating expenses. A plan needs to be developed for future funding of any projects. Details to follow.
Jim Schneider discussed plans for communicating to the MWA membership. The web site www.morseh2o.org has been developed as a key communicating device for the education and informing of membership. There is an urgent need to find help for expanding the web development and loading of content onto the site. Please contact Jim if you have experience in web development and can offer a few hours a week.
The meeting was closed with a Question and Answer session lasting about 30 minutes. Some of the questions included the following topics: debris, idle zone enforcement, buoys, water quality, and water levels.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 11 at 7 pm in the Red Bridge Community Building. We would like to hold future meetings at South Harbor Community Building, if anyone can assist in gaining access.