Marina Committee Meeting

Minutes of the October 15th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee – Approved 1 MARINA COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Wednesday October 15th, 2025 3 (Approved) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. The October 15th, 2025 meeting of the Marina Committee was called to 6 order by White at 4:00 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 11 12 Others: Nick Dokolas, Thor Johnson 13 14 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of the Agenda 15 16 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Duffy that the Agenda for the October 15th, 2025 meeting of 17 the Marina Committee be approved as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 18 19 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of the Minutes – September 17th, 2025 20 21 A motion was made by Duffy, seconded by Grant that the minutes of the September 17th, 2025 meeting of 22 the Marina Committee be amended and approved by the committee. Motion carried – All ayes. 23 24 Agenda Item No. 4. Approval of the Minutes – October 10th, 2025 25 26 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Kodanko that the minutes of the October 10th, 2025 special 27 meeting of the Marina Committee be amended and approved by the committee. Motion carried – All ayes. 28 29 Agenda Item No. 5. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 30 31 No correspondence was received for this meeting. White asked if anyone would like to make a 32 public comment, and no one responded. 33 34 Agenda Item No. 6. Discussion/Action Items 35 36 a.) Boathouse Project Update 37 38 Lienau noted that the Sister Bay Historical Society is currently reviewing the lease and 39 operational agreements before signing them. 40 41 b.) New Marina Building – Schematic Layout 42 43 White recommended that the Marina Committee approve the schematic layout so that phase 2 44 of the new building development can begin. Lienau added that even after approving the 45 schematic design today, amendments can still be made during the next phase. Grant requested 46 that the building have larger windows with a more floor-to-ceiling design to increase access to 47 sunlight and the staff’s visibility of the harbor. White voiced assent and confirmed that the 48 architects are already factoring these comments into the next building design. Grant further  Minutes of the October 15th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 added that it may be worth looking into bird-repellant glass in the windows, to which White 2 and Lienau agreed. 3 4 A motion was made by Kodanko, seconded by Grant to approve the new marina building’s schematic 5 design as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 6 7 c.) New Marina Building – Phase 2 Contract 8 9 Lienau explained that Phase 2 will involve creating more specific architectural designs both in 10 the interior and exterior that can be used for actual construction in the future. Lienau added that 11 Phase 2 will require further surveys and evaluations on the current marina property. 12 13 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Kodanko to approve moving into Phase 2 of the new marina 14 building’s design contract. Motion carried – All ayes. 15 16 d.) Boardwalk Project Review 17 18 Lienau summarized that the received bids to construct a concrete boardwalk were all rejected as 19 they were too far over the marina’s budget for the project, primarily due to the cost of concrete, 20 of sheet steel, and of mobilizing large machinery. Lienau followed that management is speaking 21 with marine engineer, Mike Kahr, to find alternative ways to replace the current boardwalk. 22 Mike Kahr as well as other marina managers who Lienau has spoken with recommend Ipe 23 wood as an alternative material to rebuild the boardwalk with. Lienau explained that Ipe is an 24 extremely dense walnut wood from South America that is known to last up to 75 to 80 years, 25 even submerged in water. Lienau added that Ipe wood is significantly more expensive than the 26 wood currently used in the boardwalk’s structure, has an extremely high fire rating comparable 27 to concrete or steel, naturally turns grey over time to match the rest of the wood in the marina, 28 but does require specific tools and expertise to build with. Lienau noted that Kahr estimated the 29 cost of the Ipe wood and its delivery to the marina alone would be around $107,000, with its 30 installation not included. Lienau suggested another species of walnut wood from South 31 America called Cumaru, which is not quite as dense as Ipe, but is competitive in its 40-to-45- 32 year lifespan. Grant and White noted that the expense of the wood concerns them as being cost 33 prohibitive, but Lienau noted that the added expense may be worth it given that the lifetime of 34 the boardwalk would increase so drastically. Lienau reminded the committee that a previous 35 proposal to replace the entire boardwalk, with pressure treated wood like its current material, 36 was about $159,000. 37 38 e.) Marina Winterization and Fall Dredging 39 40 Lienau noted that since all three boardwalk and dredging project bids were rejected, there are 41 now no set plans to have the marina dredged to accommodate the continually lowering water 42 levels. Lienau is aiming to conduct a separate, smaller emergency dredging project akin to what 43 the marina did in the Spring of 2025, to address the extremely shallow areas and protruding 44 rocks throughout the marina. Lienau noted that due to the limited time frame to dredge set by 45 the DNR in the dredge permit, this may be the necessary alternative as there is not enough time 46 to rebid the larger dredging project that was originally paired in the bid package with the 47 boardwalk project.  Minutes of the October 15th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 2 f.) Commercial Vendor Contracts – Renewals, Extensions & Pricing 3 4 Lienau summarized the status of the commercial vendors and their contracts within the marina, 5 noting that the contracts were signed in 2023 with the stipulation that the committee can renew 6 the contracts for an additional two years once three marina seasons have passed. Now that the 7 contracts are due for two-year renewals, amendments to the contracts can be made with the 8 committee’s approval. Lienau asked the committee to reconsider the current pricing model of 9 Sister Bay Scenic Boat Tours and its vessel named the Norra Dorr, before approving the 10 vendor’s contract. Lienau explained that the commercial slip-holders are charged per foot of 11 slip, but the Norra Dorr is using a notably larger amount of length than the slips it is in. 12 Currently the total amount of slip the vessel is being charged for is 94ft, but it is using 126ft of 13 actual space. This 32ft of overuse violates the overhang limitations set in the marina guidelines 14 for other types of slip-holders. Lienau noted that the vendor has requested to move slips to 15 amend the overhang issue, but there are no available spots in the marina that would 16 accommodate the Norra Dorr and the foot-traffic it generates. The committee deliberated 17 whether the rate should be increased or maintained at the current model of paying only per foot 18 of assigned slip. Duffy gave historical context as to how the current layout of the Sister Bay 19 Scenic Boat Tours’ and Sister Bay Boat Rentals’ slips was designed to accommodate the flow of 20 traffic for both businesses’ boats. 21 22 Duffy recommended that the committee increase the price by half of what the additional cost 23 would be if the vendor was charged per foot of boat rather than per foot of slip, given that the 24 length of boat is 32ft larger than the length of its assigned slips. Lienau confirmed that Duffy’s 25 recommendation would increase the annual cost to the vendor by about $4,000. Most committee 26 members voiced assent for the proposal, with Kodanko noting that it will be important for the 27 committee to inform the vendor of any plans for future price changes after the two-year renewal 28 period ends. 29 30 A motion was made by Duffy, seconded by Kodanko to approve the two-year extension of the commercial 31 vendor contracts as written, with the exception of the Sister Bay Scenic Boat Tours contract which will 32 increase in its rate by fifty-percent of the cost of the difference in footage between the commercial vessel 33 and its assigned slips, which equals $3,985.60 for the year of 2026. Motion carried – All ayes. 34 35 g.) Review of Monthly Financials 36 37 Lienau noted that the total YTD revenue for the marina per the monthly financials is $920,000, 38 but the marina’s total revenue is actually at $948,000 as of the most up-to-date report. Lienau 39 estimates that the marina will likely surpass a million dollars in revenue by the end of the year. 40 41 Agenda Item No. 7. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, 42 official, or employee 43 44 It was the consensus of the committee that that following items be included on a future committee 45 meeting agenda: 46 - New marina building design & phase 2 contract to the Board of Trustees 47 - Commercial vendor contracts to the Board of Trustees  Minutes of the October 15th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 2 The next meeting of the Marina Committee is tentatively scheduled for December 17th, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. 3 via virtual Zoom meeting only. 4 5 Adjournment: A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Duffy to adjourn the October 15th, 2025 6 meeting of the Marina Committee at 5:15P.M. Motion carried – All ayes. 7 8 Respectfully submitted, 9 10 Samuel Jordan 11 Assistant Marina Manager