Marina Committee

Minutes of the July 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee – Approved 1 MARINA COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Wednesday July 16th, 2025 3 (Approved) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. The July 16th, 2025 meeting of the Marina Committee was called to order 6 by White at 4:03 P.M. 7 8 Present: Brigid White, Pat Duffy, Kevin Grant, Patrice Champeau, Chad Kodanko 9 10 Staff: Marina Manager - Dave Lienau, Assistant Manager - Sam Jordan, Village Administrator - 11 Julie Schmelzer 12 13 Others: Merih Bayerli, Marley Inksetter, Nick Dokolas, John Blossom, Eric Lundquist, Thor 14 Johnson, Laurie Zelnio, Terry Wolf 15 16 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of the Agenda 17 18 A motion was made by Duffy, seconded by Grant that the Agenda for the July 16th, 2025 meeting of the 19 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 Kodanko, seconded by Grant that the minutes of the June 18th, 2025 meeting of the 24 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/PILOT 34 35 Schmelzer summarized the status of the boathouse project following last month’s committee 36 discussion of the boathouse lease and the operational agreement with the Historical Society. 37 Schmelzer noted that since then, the Finance Committee has approved the proposed financing 38 of the Boathouse’s yearly rent by freezing the marina’s annual payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) 39 to cover the lost revenue from leasing the boathouse to the Historical Society for free. Schmelzer 40 explained to the committee that with the Village freezing the PILOT rate at $50,000 for the 41 marina, the marina will avoid paying the difference between the marina’s yearly PILOT based 42 on its annual valuation and the current rate of $50,000. Schmelzer noted that as the yearly value 43 of the marina increases with all its upcoming projects, the marina’s cost avoidance from not 44 paying an updated PILOT rate will likely increase each year. Schmelzer added that although the 45 committee initially agreed to charge an annual rate to the Historical Society of $10,000 dollars, 46 the marina would still have to pay continually higher PILOT rates. Freezing the PILOT is more 47 optimal for the marina’s cost avoidance in this project than charging the Historical Society 48 $10,000 a year. Schmelzer clarified that this freeze could be for the duration of the lease, which  Minutes of the July 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 is currently set at 20 years, with opportunity for 10 year-long renewals. The committee agreed 2 that the longer the PILOT is frozen at its current rate, the better this is for the marina to recover 3 its losses from this project. 4 5 Schmelzer summarized some of the rules and regulations in the operational agreement 6 regarding maintenance responsibilities, utility costs, restroom use and hours, landscaping 7 responsibilities, waste disposal, second-floor usage, staffing, marketing and advertisement, 8 signage, permitting, insurance requirements and legal details. 9 10 The committee came to consensus to approve the operational agreement with the amendment that the 11 marina will forgo charging any rent for the boathouse if the Village freezes the marina’s PILOT at the 12 current rate of about $50,000 for the next 30 years or for the duration of time that the boathouse is 13 operating as a museum, whichever of the two scenarios is longer. 14 15 b) Water Levels & Dock Changes 16 17 Lienau reported that the marina has finally lowered all its static piers to accommodate the 18 lowering water levels. The process required marina management to constantly move around 19 boats to accommodate the marine construction company barges to enter the slips and lower 20 them. Lienau noted that if the marina wasn’t open and slips weren’t being used, the 21 construction could’ve been completed in less than a week, but because the marina was hosting 22 customers, this process took several weeks. 23 24 c) Parking Lot Update 25 26 Lienau reminded the committee of the changes that the marina made to its short-term parking 27 lot as well as the Village’s removal of the long-term parking area by the sports complex. Lienau 28 noted that marina staff are facing daily confrontations with individuals who are seeking 29 parking in the marina-owned lot but are not users of the marina. Many of them think that 30 purchasing a launch pass is a work-around they can use for free parking, but the marina is not 31 allowed to sell launch passes as parking passes. Lienau also added that the fifteen automobile 32 parking stalls that the marina left unmarked for public use are being filled by un-permitted boat 33 trailers. Therefore, the marina will now have to stencil those stalls as “Autos Only” to prevent 34 this incorrect usage of car stalls for unrestricted trailer parking. Lienau ended noting that 35 seasonal boaters are now depending on the marina parking lot for overnight parking since 36 Highway 42 has signs that disallow overnight parking. 37 38 d) Robomower Update 39 40 Lienau noted that the Robomower is no longer being used at the marina, but the Village Parks 41 Department is likely to start using the product in other areas of the village that need mowing. 42 43 e) Pump Upgrade 44 45 Lienau updated the committee that marina management is still working with Crane 46 Engineering to increase the strength of the current pump at the marina so that pump-out 47 services are available on D Dock. Lienau noted that it may involve trading in the current pump  Minutes of the July 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 and replacing it with a larger volume pump. The marina is doing its best to work with 2 commercial vessels on D Dock to schedule pump-outs at other locations within the marina 3 where the pump has adequate vacuum. 4 5 f) Marina Building Architectural Services 6 7 Lienau summarized what happened with the previous designs for a new marina building that 8 were devised in 2023, noting that the plans were ultimately not passed by the board due to 9 disagreement primarily over whether the building should have a second story and what its 10 function should be. Now that marina management has met with a new architectural firm to 11 start designing plans for a new building, the architects need some questions answered by the 12 committee before they draw up a design. Lienau asked the committee if the new building 13 should expand upon the existing framework or if the current building’s foundation should be 14 scraped away and the contractors build an entirely new one. Lienau also inquired if the 15 committee would like the new building to be one or two stories and requested the committee 16 decide what the use of the second story will be for. Lienau added that constructing the new 17 marina building will include the opportunity to renovate the attached public restrooms which 18 will be funded by the village, but the Village will need to decide their plan for those restrooms 19 before the marina can finalize a design for construction. Schmelzer also informed the committee 20 that the Village’s Plan Commission will have to revise zoning codes to allow this project to 21 proceed. Grant and White voiced assent for focusing the design on offering better boater 22 amenities and agreed that a second story boater’s lounge would be an effective way to do this. 23 Committee members voiced concern over the necessity for an elevator and the costs associated 24 with it. Committee members noted that building a second story will help decrease the footprint 25 of the new building and therefore lower the building’s intrusion on the marina parking lot and 26 launch ramp staging area. Lienau confirmed to the committee that there will likely be future 27 increases in slip rates to assist in financing the new building. Lienau also requested that the 28 committee consider whether the building will be heated in the winter, to which members 29 responded with assent for. 30 31 The committee came to consensus that the new building design should involve an entirely new 32 foundation and include two stories. 33 34 The committee then discussed different options for bathroom styles in the new building. The 35 committee requested that the architects draw up individual stalls that are complete with all 36 fixtures as well as versions with shared sinks and toilets but with the showers kept separate. 37 White noted that there may be a disadvantage to the complete-use single stalls, in that users 38 may occupy an unused toilet and shower because they are only using the complete stall for its 39 access to the sink and mirror. 40 41 g) Marina Winterization & Fall Dredging 42 43 Lienau noted that due to the continuing decrease in water levels, the marina will need to do at 44 least a week of dredging in the fall. The current maintenance dredging permit held by the 45 marina is valid until May of 2026, but dredging cannot occur past November 1st of 2025 due to 46 the fish spawning season regulated by the DNR. Lienau noted that it will be ideal if the 47 dredging can occur during the same time frame as the reconstruction of the boardwalk so that  Minutes of the July 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 the marina can save on mobilization fees. 2 3 h) Boardwalk Project Timeline/Permitting 4 5 Lienau noted that Mike Kahr has requested a permit from the DNR for the driving of sheet steel 6 into the lakebed as a part of the boardwalk reconstruction project. Lienau and Kahr estimate 7 that the DNR will approve the permit by late August or September. Lienau noted that driving 8 of the sheet wall could occur within 3-4 days and ideally around the same time as the fall 9 dredging. Kahr will also assemble a request for proposals from contractors in the area. 10 11 i) Delayed Departure Fees 12 13 Lienau summarized some of the difficulties marina staff have with enforcing check-out times 14 for transient boaters. Jordan noted that the marina fee schedule includes late check out fees for 15 seasonal boaters that run at a daily rate and requested that the committee allow the marina to 16 enforce a transient boater-specific late checkout fee that runs at an hourly rate. The committee 17 deliberated what the hourly rate should be. 18 19 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Kodanko that a $50 an hour late checkout fee be added to the 20 marina fee schedule and approved by the Village Board. Motion carried – All ayes. 21 22 j) Review of Financials 23 24 Lienau noted that the marina is budgeted to make about $919,000 in revenue for 2025 and is 25 currently at around $889,000. Lienau feels confident that the marina will hit the budgeted 26 number with the incoming revenue from July and August. 27 28 k) 2026 Budget Review 29 30 Lienau noted that the marina’s operational expenses shouldn’t increase in any significant way, 31 maybe 1% to 2% maximum, and this has stayed consistent throughout the past couple years. 32 Schmelzer inquired if the marina still intends to budget and advertise the maintenance position, 33 to which Lienau confirmed that management is still looking to fill this position. White asked if 34 the budgeted amount for the new marina building is still around 1.2 million dollars and Lienau 35 estimated that in the CIP for 2026 the amount was raised to 1.5 million. White further inquired 36 as to how much is currently in the marina fund, to which Lienau responded that the marina 37 fund sits around 2.6 to 2.7 million dollars, with around $980,000 unrestricted. Lienau explained 38 that to finance the building, the marina committee discussed taking out a 1-million-dollar bond 39 and then financing the remaining bill using dollars from the marina fund. 40 41 Lienau requested the committee decide if and how much the committee wants to increase 42 seasonal and transient fee rates. Lienau noted that previous projections provided by the 43 village’s former finance director recommended rate increases every other year for seasonal and 44 transient rates. The last increases happened in 2024 where the seasonal rates increased by 5% 45 and the transient rates by 10%. Jordan noted that whatever change is made to the seasonal rate 46 will directly change the commercial rate, as the commercial rate is always set at 150% of the 47 seasonal rate. The committee agreed that a 5% seasonal rate increase and a 10% transient rate  Minutes of the July 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 increase should happen at minimum. Grant and White agreed that the transient rate should 2 increase beyond 10%, with White specifying a 15% increase due to the added expenses of the 3 new building. Jordan and Lienau added that the current transient rates are competitive with 4 surrounding marinas and that there are few complaints from transient customers about the 5 marina’s current rates. 6 7 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Duffy that the marina increase its seasonal slip rates by 5% 8 and its transient slip rates by 15% for 2026. Motion carried – All ayes. 9 10 Agenda Item No. 6. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, 11 official, or employee 12 13 It was the consensus of the committee that that following items be included on a future marina committee 14 meeting agenda: 15 - Fee schedule changes 16 - Plan Commission to address zoning ordinance for marina 17 18 The next meeting of the Marina Committee is scheduled for August 13th, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. at the Sister 19 Bay Fire Station & via zoom. 20 21 Adjournment: A motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by Grant to adjourn the July 16th, 2025 22 meeting of the Marina Committee at 6:06P.M. Motion carried – All ayes. 23 24 Respectfully submitted, 25 26 Samuel Jordan 27 Assistant Marina Manager