Category Archives: Association News

Posts about Clary Lake Association stuff.

01 July 2013: [UPDATED] Whitefield and Jefferson Parcel Maps for Google Earth

googleearthIf you’re anything like me, you’ve been annoyed that the Maine office of GIS has not updated it’s Google Earth Parcels.kml file to include the recently completed Whitefield parcels map file. Whitefield parcels have been available for a while as a shape file, but that’s no help unless you have Arcinfo or Arcview. If you wanted to view Whitefield parcels in Google Earth, you’ve been out of luck.

No longer! I managed to get my hands on both Whitefield and Jefferson parcel maps. No need to load in every organized town in Maine, you can just load in the town you want. We’ll be making use of these when we get to work on updating the Clary Lake watershed Survey:

These links will open up in Google Maps. To add them to Google Earth, download them to your computer, then open them in Google Earth and save them to “My Places”. I’ll likely put these under the Charts & Data main menu heading at some point for easier downloading.

[UPDATE] I’ve also separated out the KML files for the Clary Lake watershed and the Three Corner Pond watershed (which flows into Clary Lake):

Clary Lake and Three Corner Pond Watershed (kml) file

These too will be useful when we get to updating the Clary Lake Watershed Survey. Like the Parcel files, these will open in Google Maps. Just download them and open them up in Google Earth, save them to “My Places.”

21 June 2013: The Summer 2013 Clary Lake Clarion is going in the mail [UPDATED]

newsletter01The Summer 2013 issue of the Clary Lake Clarion, the newsletter of the Clary Lake Association, is going in the mail tomorrow morning. As usual it’s being mailed to all Clary Lake shore owners as well as a number of other interested parties. I’m a firm believer that every organization, no matter how well represented digitally, really needs to put out something tangible once in a while to stay firmly in touch with their membership. The plan has been to prepare 2 newsletters per year but in for the past few years it’s been all I could do to get one out in time for the Annual Meeting. And so it is again this year.

I’ve uploaded the newsletter to the site and added it to the Newsletters page under the Membership main menu item. Feel free to download the newsletter and share it with your friends.

[UPDATE] The above link was broken. It’s now fixed. When you encounter a broken link on this site, please email me!

Continue reading →

19 June 2013: Edward Grant Jr. has passed away [UPDATED]

Ed Grant Jr.Edward Grant Jr. passed away at 11:17 AM this morning at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana surrounded by his family. There are no more details available at this time.

Edward Grant Jr’s obituary is now online:

It is also linked to a page under the Membership main menu heading called “Past Members No Longer With Us” and there is also a donation page where you can donate money to the Clary Lake Association in his memory, if you are so inclined. There is also a place at the bottom of the page to leave a comment.

14 June 2013: Association Member Update

I received a call from Ed Grant’s daughter Kate Seba last night, she called to let me know that Ed is not doing well and is not expected to live much longer. She’s asked for us to keep him in our thoughts and in our prayers. Ed has been an active and valued member of the Association for a long, long time.

Clary Mill log operation, Whitefield , Maine, c.1950

camera1This video, posted by David Chase on YouTube some years ago, shows logs being unloaded at the Clary Mill mill pond and towards the end of the video, the dam with water coming out of the center weir. Great video, but mostly I just wanted to test the ability to embed YouTube videos in posts 🙂

I’ve also added a new post category “Video Multimedia” to make is easier to find these posts. Looking forward to posting more videos.

Saturday, June 22, 2013: 43rd MAINE LAKES CONFERENCE

pond_lily1The Maine Lakes Conference 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM Saturday June 22, 2012 at the Diamond Building, Colby College, in Waterville. Cost is $15 for members, $25 for non-members. The Clary Lake Association is a member of COLA so if you’re a member of the Association and would like to go you can sign up for the reduced price. Here’s a link on the Maine COLA site where you can find out more about the conference and sign up for it.

43rd Maine Lakes Conference Information and signup

The program looks quite interesting. I’ll be going. If you want to go let me know, perhaps we can car pool. I’ve added this program to the CLA Calendar. You can also visit the COLA page on Facebook.

09 May 2013: Clary Lake Dam Repair Fund Update

smiley-face_0With all the doomy and gloomy petition stuff I’ve been posting of late, it is a real pleasure (that’s me smiling at left) to be able to provide this update on the Clary Lake Association fund raising initiative. Don and Lucy Norman of Jefferson stopped by the other day to talk to me about making a donation to the Clary Lake Dam Repair fund. They hoped that by putting some “seed money” in the fund that it would encourage others to contribute. This afternoon, Lucy called to tell me that she had just dropped a check off with our Treasurer, Linda Gallion.

The check was for $1000.

I’m pretty much blown away by the Norman’s donation and wish to publicly thank them for their generosity. I’ve known this was coming for a few days and have been thinking in the back of my mind how I would acknowledge what they’ve done. Finally, I just decided to write this post.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Beverly D’Urbano for her generous donation of $50 to the fund and for being the first person (besides me) to try out our new online PayPal donation processing system! The dam repair fund, which a few days ago stood at $152 is now sitting pretty at $1202.

Make that $1302, Mary Shaw just donated $100 to the Dam fund!

Make that $1402, Bill Donovan just donated $100 to the Dam fund!

Dam Fund Progress: [progressbar url=”https://clarylake.org/data/dam.txt” rounded=”0″ width=”400px” color=”green”]

And….. we’re off! Remember: No amount is too big, or too small. Give Generously, and Give Often 🙂

05 May 2013: Update on Online Donation System now with Membership Signups and Renewals

dollarIt took a little head scratching but I’ve implemented an online Membership Signup and Renewal system. I know I said I wasn’t going to bother with it till later this summer but it turned out to be simpler than I expected, once I grokked the internals of PayPal transactions.

I’ve also added a simple “progress bar” for tracking our progress towards our various Association goals including memberships, and donations to the Clary Lake Dam Repair fund.

Clary Lake Association Goals:
[progressbar url=”https://clarylake.org/data/total.txt” rounded=”0″ width=”400px” color=”green”]

You’ll find this “progress bar” somewhere on the sidebar to the right (currently at the bottom). It’s updated manually, not automatically so it’s not likely to reflect any given membership signup, renewal, or donation. I’ll update it periodically. No promises.

A note on the the Dam Repair Fund: $5000 is simply a goal and not necessarily an accurate estimate of the cost of repairing the dam. We have not yet received word back from Paul Kelley as to whether he’ll let us obtain an engineering assessment of the dam. The assessment would be used to obtain estimates from local contractors for needed repairs. What are you waiting for Paul?

Likewise, the goal of 100 members is an arbitrary number. Helps to have a goal.

Here is a link where you can renew your Association membership or join if you’re not yet a member:
Signup or Renew Your Membership On Line

Needless to say, the old tried-and-true way of signing up for or renewing your membership (printing the membership renewal form and mailing it in) still works. Or just come to the Annual meeting, and bring your check book.

Here’s a page where you can donate to the Association; the current fund raising initiative is the Clary Lake Dam Repair fund:
Donate to the Association

All the above links can be found under the Membership main menu heading.

03 May 2013: Online Donation System Launched

donatePerhaps you’ve noticed the donate button hanging out over on the sidebar. The Clary Lake Association is now set up to accept donations online via PayPal’s secure and convenient online payment processing system. We’re still setting up launch and landing pages and integrating the system into the site, but it’s basically operational. To make a donation, you’ll need to either log in to your PayPal account if you’ve got one, or create one if you don’t. PayPal accounts are FREE and offer many benefits over simple credit card processing sites including a wide variety of member services, dispute resolution, etc. PayPal accounts offer a convenient and secure way to shop on line- or in this case, to donate to a worth cause. So whether you’re signing up for a PayPal account or logging into your existing account, the donation process is painless, fast, and secure. Try it out!

The Clary Lake Association is a Non-Profit Organization so donations are tax deductible. After making a donation, you’ll receive a receipt by email suitable for tax preparation purposes. I’m not sure how small a donation you can make, but when I was setting up and testing things earlier I made a number of $1 donations so I know that amount works 🙂

Eventually we’ll be setting up an subscription system so you can join the Association or renew your Association membership on line, but I don’t see that happening for a while unless I find myself with a lot of free time this summer. You never know. The Fund Raising committee will also be conducting periodic fund raising campaigns and online promotions this year and will be using the same online donation system for their purposes.

29 April 2013: Clary Lake Association makes offer on the Clary Lake Dam

As anticipated, on behalf of the Clary Lake Association, Ellis Percy has made a formal offer on the Clary Lake dam. Normally such an offer would be kept private between the parties at least initially but Mr. Kelley has taken this whole mess public by his filing of a petition under MRS Title 38, Chapter 5 §901; Mr. Kelley wishes to obtain relief from dam ownership and has asked the State for their help in finding a new owner. This is no longer a private matter, it is a matter of public concern. The towns of Whitefield and Jefferson will be holding public meetings to discuss the matter of dam ownership and it’s price will certainly be discussed in these public forums. Various State agencies will be consulted. Presumably there will be other offers on the dam. Public offers. Here’s ours.

Clary Lake Association Dam Offer

The Association has also sent a letter to Mr. Kelley requesting permission to obtain an engineering assessment of the dam:

Request for permission to conduct study

Our rationale is that regardless of who ends up owning the dam, it will need repairs and a current engineering assessment of it’s condition will be crucial to that end. To my knowledge, there has never been a comprehensive engineering assessment of the dam made so such an initiative is way over due. The Association anticipates hiring Kleinschmidt Associates of Pittsfield Maine who is familiar with the dam, we’ll pay for the assessment, and we will make the results available to whomever requires them. We see no reason why Mr. Kelley will not authorize us to pursue this activity at his earliest opportunity.

27 April 2013: Association Board Meeting Resounding Success

minutesThe Association board meeting held today at the home of Ellis Percy was well attended and quite productive. Members in attendance were Ellis Percy (President), Malcolm Burson (Vice President), Margaret Fergusson (Secretary), Linda Gallion (Treasurer), Jack Holland, Tom Vigue, George Fergusson, David Knight, and Bob Antognoni (Board members, each and every one), and Sue McKeen, visiting Association member. There was lively discussion and a lot of business conducted, including the following items of note (these aren’t the minutes, they’re from my notes):

  • The Annual meeting of the Clary Lake Association will be held at 2 PM on Saturday August 3rd 2013 at the home of Bob Antognoni on Robert E. Dow road, in Jefferson. Bob, his daughter Mary, and Linda Gallion will be taking care of planning the event.
  • A Nominations Committee was formed to be chaired by Trudi Hodgkins. Sue McKeen has also joined that committee. They’re looking for a 3rd member. Terms are for 2 years. The role of the committee is to come up with names of people to be voted on at the annual meeting. I’ll be posting a list of positions to be filled soon.
  • A Fund Raising Committee was formed to be chaired by Margaret Fergusson. Jane Chase will be joining the committee in June and I will be a consulting member. The board also authorized the Fund Raising Committee to work with me to set up an online fund raising and ultimately, a membership subscription system. I’m pretty excited about this!
  • A Membership Committee was formed to be chaired at least initially by Margaret Fergusson (someone had to do it) at least until someone else agrees to take that role. Malcolm Burson and Sue Mckeen have agreed to be members. The Membership committee is still looking for additional members.
  • As expected, a decision was made for Ellis Percy as President to make a formal (and public) written offer on the Clary Lake dam. The terms of the offer were discussed and agreed upon. It will be going in the mail on Monday.
  • The board authorized me to request permission from Pleasant Pond Mill LLC to conduct an engineering assessment of the Clary Lake dam and to contact Kleinschmidt Associates in Pittsfield Maine for an estimate of the cost of such an assessment in time for a vote by the board at their next meeting which will be in about 3 weeks. The thinking is that regardless of the outcome of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC’s petition or the Clary Lake water level petition, and regardless of who ends up owning the dam, a complete and current engineering assessment of the dam will be invaluable in planning repairs to the structure. The Association will fund this endeavor and make the results available to any parties interested (I just got off the phone with Paul and he has asked for a request from the Association in writing signed by the President. And so it shall be).
  • The next board meeting will be 18 May 2013 again at the home of Ellis Percy, at 2 PM. This meeting is not expected to be as well attended as today’s was and the agenda will be much shorter. One more board meeting will likely be scheduled before the annual meeting.
  • The board reviewed and approved a new Clary Lake Association letterhead.

The board also discussed Pleasant Pond Mill LLC’s petition and what the likely outcome of it will be as well as the role the Association and the towns might or might not play in that outcome. We also discussed the current status of the Clary Lake water level petition and what the likely outcome of THAT will be. We agreed to work on developing a contingency plan designed to address each of the handful of potential scenarios that are likely to play out this summer. The plan will consist among other things of steps the Association is prepared to take, and more importantly, is authorized to take. The idea is to be flexible, and be prepared. Wish us luck.

24 April 2013 LCN Article: Whitefield and Jefferson plan meetings to consider dam ownership

The anticipated article by Shlomit Auciello has appeared in today’s in Lincoln County News:

Whitefield and Jefferson plan meetings to consider dam ownership

It contains some rather serious misinformation. For example:

“PPM’s next recourse is to the departments of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Conservation (within the .Departrnent of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry) and Emergency Management. If none of those entities choose to take ownership, the state will order the water level lowered and the dam removed, Merrill said.”

That statement is categorically wrong and I can assure you, Dennis said nothing of the kind. He is well aware of what’s in the law. If he had said anything like that, I would have immediately corrected him. And then this:

“He [Fergusson] said the law requires a sale, even if only the cost of transfer is offered and PPM would have to keep the dam if no buyer appears.”

I said that? I don’t think so. The law does not require a sale and if no buyer appears, the State orders the water released and the dam removed. I wish Ms. Auciello would get her facts straight. The law is readily available. Correct information is readily available. Printing misinformation does everyone a disservice.

I’ve replaced the scanned copy I made with a better PDF from the paper’s site.

20 April 2013: Upcoming Clary Lake Association Board Meeting

bored_meetingThe Board of the Clary Lake Association is holding their regularly scheduled spring board meeting this coming Saturday the 27th of April at 2 PM at the home of Ellis Percy. Agenda items include but are not limited to setting the date/time/place of the Annual meeting, selection of a nominating committee, fund raising ideas, and discussing the preparation of a formal offer on the dam. While the meeting is not open to the general public, Clary Lake Association members are welcome to sit in and watch the sausage being made.

If anyone is interested in taking a more active role in the Association, there are some great opportunities to do so and this is a great time! Never before have we needed an active and engaged membership than we do now. In addition to a Nominating committee (whose role is coming up with a slate of officers to be voted on at the Annual meeting) we will be also be forming a Membership committee and a Fund Raising committee.  Please contact the Clary Lake Association board if you’re interested in getting involved in any of these committees, or if you feel there is another way you can be of service.

13 March 2013: Spring Rain, Canceling Newsletter Plans

The Winter 2013 edition of the Clary Lake Clarion Cancelled

I’ve always been a firm believer in the value of a hard-copy newsletter and 2 issues a year if at all possible, but no surprise, I’m canceling plans for the Winter 2013 edition mainly because it’s already spring and I’ve got more than enough on my plate to keep me busy without trying to crank out a newsletter too. Besides, this web site is doing a pretty good job of keeping people informed and in touch. We’ll send out a newsletter this June with a notice about the annual meeting, a dues notice and membership subscription form, and what have you.

Spring Rains Bring Welcome Lake Level Rise

Yesterday’s 0.78″ of rain combined with snow melt was enough to bring the lake up over 9″ so far (see today’s water level chart) and I expect it will rise a few more inches over the next 24 hours. Colder weather later this week will likely slow down the rate of runoff for a while. As nice as it is to see the lake come up, we should be prepared for exceptionally low water conditions this spring and into summer. This should not come as a surprise to anyone: the dam’s gate is still wide open and there is no significant snow pack left. This situation no doubt suits Kelley who wants to keep the lake from rising to the level of the breach in the dam. For what it’s worth, we’re now at that peculiar lake level where additional runoff causes the lake to mostly spread out over the shallow water areas, increasing the surface area without significantly raising the lake level so the lake is in a position to absorb considerable runoff for a while without rising that much. If you recall last year’s water level chart you’ll remember the large rain events we had in late April and again in very early June which brought the lake up to -19″ below the top of the dam- the highest it got last year. I might add that such water level fluctuation turned out to be disastrous for nesting water fowl, including the loons. I wonder what this season will bring?