Lake Michigamme Property Owners Annual Meeting Minutes July 26, 2025
Michigamme Township Hall Community Building 96 attendees plus 10 board members
Call to order:
The meeting was called to order by Scott Lyman at 10:07 AM. Scott welcomed everyone.
Introduction to Board of Directors:
Scott Lyman, as President, introduced the Board Members present. Included were Amy Racine as Vice President, Pam Borlace as Treasurer, Kathy Kurzhals as Secretary, Jim Gustitis, Al Dausman, Dixon Holmgren, Susan Alexander, Dan Ostola, and special mention to Bob Hill who will not renew his term after serving for many years. Thank you Bob!
Guest Speakers:
a. Township Supervisor Julia Leake spoke for Michigamme Township. Julia is the newly elected Township Supervisor. With help of CPA Scott Kenney, Michigamme Township is beginning it's audit for 23-24 and reviewing for 24-25 . This brings the township up to compliance for bond mandated yearly audits. The newly elected township board has 4 out of 5 new members. The planning commission is working on zoning for wind, solar, storage containers, small animals, and signs. The DDA had a history presentation sponsored by LMPO on July 17. $379 was raised for the museum. New signs in town include directional “paddle” signs and LED announcements sign. There was a spring artisan market and car show. 90% of EGLE Park Grant funds have been received with Julia working on last 10%. The Museum has a new wifi bridge and phone system. The updates to the township park are being well used, including the Pickleball Courts. Section 19 funds will pay for new culverts and some paving. The Community Building millage expires in 2026. Kathy Hanson and community members took on the July 4th celebrations to huge success. Renovations to the community building are wrapping up after 2 seasons of work. 12 empty lots in town, owned by the township, are getting surveyed for sale. Talon mine will have an upcoming informational meeting.
b. Republic Township Supervisor, John Dulek, had a health event that kept him from presenting.
c. Scott Lyman gave a shout out to Nancy Rowe for all her work on the LMPO website and her shared information on the Facebook page.
d. Brad Delongchamp reminded people of the National Night Out coming up at the fire station. There will be food and games and bike raffles for the kids. He also reminded people to slow down while driving!
e. Highline gave a presentation about their installation of high speed internet service via their fiber optic cable across the UP. Aided by government grants, they have a 6 year timeline to achieve providing reliable internet service to rural and remote areas. Acquiring permits, working with utilities, and getting private road easement agreements is required before installation in areas. Locally, they have about 540 homes in Michigamme and 970 in Republic they are trying to connect. 8,000 homes in the UP currently use the service.
f. Jake Whitman and Matt Godlewski spoke about their purchase and ensuing restoration of the Sam Cohodas Lodge. They purchased the property in the summer of 2021. They spent 3 years living in Germany while remotely creating and executing a restoration plan. As their term in Germany wrapped up, the restoration was completed in the Fall of 2024. Lots of planning and heart went in to all the details of restoring the Lodge to her period specific glory. An Open House is promised this Fall to share their completed passion project.
4. Treasurer's report: Pam Borlace a. July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 is the fiscal year. With a starting balance of $15,409.88 there is an ending balance in the checking account of $7,309.27. In addition, there are 2 3-month CD's at $5,000 + interest each. There is a 3 month rotation the Board plans to keep renewing. b. 167 camps have paid their dues this season with 59 using the new on-line payment format. c. Scott Lyman motioned to approve the Treasurer's report. Skip Archibald approved, Karen Johnson seconded, and all approved.
5. Secretary's report: Kathy Kurzhals had no correspondence to share.
6. President's report: Scott Lyman a. Scott Lyman and wife Kathy took lake water samples July 23, 2025 to test for bacterial loads. The south arm, west beach, Brown's Bay, and Van Riper samples all showed loss than 40 cfu's. Negligibly “0”. b. Jim Coughlin contacted Scott Lyman about the dam safety inspection just this morning. A time will be set August 16, 17, or 18 for inspection with probable outcome to de-list. c. Scott thanked Pam Borlace for her continued hard work, including setting up the capability of electronic payments for dues. d. With a sufficient fund balance, there is no need to increase annual dues. e. Lake maps are available for sale at $5.00 each.
7. New Business: a. 2 Board members have expiring terms. Todd Saunders and long serving Bob Hill are leaving. Tina Arsenault and Thad Cooper were presented by the Board as replacements. With no candidates presented from the floor, Skip Archibald motioned to approve , Karen Johnson seconded, and all unanimously agreed. b. Raffle ticket # 646791 was drawn and Christine Comstock won the wood engraved 3-D lake map.
8. Adjourn: Scott Lyman motioned to adjourn the meeting at 11:20 AM. Skip Archibald approved, Karen Johnson seconded, and all approved.