Marina Committee

Minutes of the May 14, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee – Approved 1 MARINA COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Wednesday May 14th, 2025 3 (Approved) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. The May 14th, 2025 meeting of the Marina Committee was called to order 6 by White at 4:00 P.M. 7 8 Present: Brigid White, Chad Kodanko, Patrice Champeau, and Pat Duffy 9 10 Staff: Marina Manager - Dave Lienau, Assistant Manager - Sam Jordan, Village Administrator - 11 Julie Schmelzer 12 13 Others: Terry Wolf, John Lijewski, Nicholas Dokolas, Marley Inksetter, Thor Johnson, Merih 14 Bayirli, Steve Bacsi, Laurie Zelnio 15 16 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of the Agenda 17 18 A motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by Duffy that the Agenda for the May 14th, 2025 meeting of 19 the Marina Committee be approved as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 20 21 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of the Minutes 22 23 A motion was made by Duffy seconded by Champeau that the minutes of the April 16th, 2025 meeting of 24 the Marina Committee be amended and approved by the committee. Motion carried – All ayes. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 4. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 27 28 No correspondence was received for this meeting. White asked if anyone would like to make a 29 public comment, and no one responded. 30 31 Agenda Item No. 5. Discussion/Action Items 32 33 a) Boathouse Project 34 35 Blossom summarized the status of the boathouse project. Schmelzer provided further context of 36 the project’s status noting that a state plans examiner has yet to determine if an elevator is 37 required to be included as a part of the current project plans. Alternatively, rather than 38 installing an elevator, the proposed plans can be changed accordingly so that an elevator is not 39 required. Blossom voiced confidence that based upon the architect’s analysis of the project and 40 state code, an elevator will not be needed with the current plans. Duffy inquired what annual 41 rent that committee and historical society can agree upon for the group’s use of the boathouse, 42 which was previously a revenue-producing asset of the marina. Blossom responded that the 43 group hopes that the over $300,000 investment they are putting into the boathouse, a marina 44 asset, will allow the committee to forget the $18,000 yearly revenue from the boathouse as a 45 rental business. Duffy responded that although the proposed project benefits the village, the 46 marina is an enterprise fund that needs to produce its own revenue to pay its expenses. Duffy 47 added that the committee previously discussed interest in receiving some sort of compensation 48 for providing this asset to the group and the village, even if it is only $10,000 to $12,000 a year.  Minutes of the May 14th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 Blossom noted that the group may need to reconsider the project if the committee requires a 2 monthly payment that is too high for their budget. Champeau voiced assent for the project and 3 dissent to requiring the group to pay rent, given that the marina already must spend funds from 4 its own budget to make the boathouse rentable again. Kodanko voiced assent for the marina 5 finding a way to recoup the loss of rental revenue given it is fiscally separate from the village as 6 an enterprise fund. Duffy followed that since the revenue of the marina comes from the marina 7 customers, the priority of the marina is to use its funds and assets to benefit them, but the 8 proposed boathouse project primarily benefits the village rather than marina customers 9 specifically. Duffy added that the marina and the customers who generate its revenue have 10 already allocated $50,000 for the boathouse project when the three slips were constructed in 11 front of the boathouse for the historical society to use to display a historic wooden boat. Duffy 12 proposed a rent of $10,000 dollars a year, 50% of the typical annual rental revenue. White 13 inquired what the lease length would be. Blossom hopes the lease would be at least 20 years 14 long, but voiced concern at the proposed monthly rate proposed by Duffy. White voiced assent 15 for the project but agrees that the marina must recoup the revenue lost, especially given that the 16 potential rental revenue could be as great as $35,000. Duffy proposed that the marina pay 17 $25,000 to benefit the project and then charge $10,000 in annual rent. Champeau said that the 18 rate should be lower than Duffy’s proposal and that the marina will still have to spend a large 19 amount of money to allow the boathouse to be rentable at a rate of $35,000 a year. Schmelzer 20 added that it would likely be a 20-year lease. Blossom and Champeau both noted that renting 21 the boathouse benefits only the renter and the marina as opposed to the boathouse project 22 benefiting both the marina and the entire village by generating more traffic along the 23 waterfront. Schmelzer explained the process of how the marina committee can move forward 24 with approving the project now and working out the details of monthly rent when the lease 25 agreement is made and provided to the committee at a later meeting. 26 27 A motion was made by White, seconded by Champeau to approve the contract for the boathouse project 28 pending an agreement reached between the marina committee and the historical society on what its 29 financial contribution to the marina will be. Motion carried – all ayes. 30 31 The committee discussed a specific monthly rent to require the historical society to pay. 32 Blossom voiced concern that the group has not created a revenue stream to fulfill these 33 payments but noted that they will find a way to pay it. 34 35 A motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by White to move forward with a $10,000 annual rent lease. 36 Motion carried, all ayes. 37 38 b) Water Level & Dredging 39 40 Lienau noted that due to low water levels, the marina will need to continue dredging in the fall 41 under the current maintenance dredging permit. Lienau continued that since the water levels 42 will continue to decrease in the next couple years, some slips throughout the marina will 43 become smaller in length and decrease in their revenue output, as dredging can’t be done in 44 various areas given how close the lakebed is to bedrock. 45 46 c) Construction Projects 47  Minutes of the May 14th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 Lienau noted that the several dock redecking and pier rehabilitation projects are now complete, 2 including C Dock redecking, D Dock redecking, and B dock finger pier rehabilitation. 3 4 d) Parking Space Stenciling 5 6 Lienau stated that the permit-required stenciling in the short-term marina parking lot is now 7 complete and new signage to compliment this will be posted in the next week. 8 9 e) Sail Door County Dock Repair 10 11 Lienau noted that the sail door county dock was damaged severely over winter due to the 12 movement of ice in the marina, but it is now repaired and floating thanks to Pier and 13 Waterfront Solutions. Lienau added that some of the finger-piers on J Dock are also in the 14 process of being lowered by Pier and Waterfront Solutions to accommodate the low water 15 levels. 16 17 f) Current State of Marina for Spring Opening 18 19 Lienau noted that the marina is roughly two to three weeks behind on its opening repairs. Staff 20 is currently working to address about 20 separate water leaks across the marina, which can take 21 as long as 2 to 3 hours to fix depending on the severity of the leak. Lienau added that the static 22 piers on A Dock also have yet to be lowered to accommodate the low water levels. This will be 23 completed by Pier and Waterfront Solutions as well. Lienau affirmed that there are no major 24 concerns to the marina opening on time. 25 26 g) Robomow Test Trial 27 28 Lienau explained how the marina is working with the parks department to demo an automated 29 lawn mower for no cost to either entity, given that this offers an opportunity for the brand to 30 advertise its product in Door County. Lienau noted that the parks department will still have to 31 trim and edge, but the automated lawn mower will handle most of the mowing in marina park. 32 33 h) Review of Financials 34 35 Dave noted that the marina’s year-to-date revenue in the meeting packet is approximately 36 $747,000, but the marina’s actual revenue is currently at $780,000. Lienau added that this is 37 about $45,000 ahead of last year’s year-to-date revenue on the same date. 38 39 Agenda Item No.6. Executive Session 40 41 a. Consider a motion to convene into Executive Session pursuant to Wisconsin State Statutes 42 19.85(1)(e) Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of 43 public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or 44 bargaining reasons require a closed session, more particularly marina vendor contracts. 45 46 5:20 P.M., a motion was made by White, seconded by Duffy to convene into Executive Session 2 47 pursuant to Wisconsin State Statutes 19.85(1)(e) Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public 48 properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever  Minutes of the May 14th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session, more particularly marina vendor contracts. 2 3 A roll call vote was taken on the motion, and the members voted in the following fashion: 4 5 White – aye; Kodanko – aye; Champeau -aye; Duffy -aye 6 Motion carried. 7 8 b. Consider a Motion to Reconvene into Open Session 9 10 At 5:30 P.M. a motion was made by White, seconded by Kodanko to reconvene into an open session. 11 A roll call vote was taken and the members voted in the following fashion: 12 13 White – aye; Kodanko – aye; Champeau -aye; Duffy -aye 14 Motion carried. 15 16 c. Motion for Action, if Appropriate 17 18 No motion was made. 19 20 Agenda Item No. 7. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, 21 official, or employee 22 23 It was the consensus of the committee that that following items be included on a future marina committee 24 meeting agenda: 25 - Boathouse Project Contract to Board 26 - Boathouse Project Marina Financing 27 28 The next meeting of the Marina Committee is scheduled for June 18th, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. at the Sister Bay 29 Fire Station & via zoom. 30 31 Adjournment: A motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by Champeau to adjourn the May 14th, 2025 32 meeting of the Marina Committee at 5:35 P.M. Motion carried – All ayes. 33 34 Respectfully submitted, 35 36 Samuel Jordan 37 Assistant Marina Manager