Several acres of the invasive plant, phragmites, have been found along the Lake Mitchell shoreline.

These plants will be chemically treated.

 The August weed survey found  125 acres of Eurasian watermilfoil in several locations in Lake Mitchell.

These were in different sections than were treated in June. A treatment on August 23 addressed these infested areas.  

LAKE MITCHELL IMPROVEMENT BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2024

Saturday - April 20

Monday - June 10, 10 AM

Friday -  August 16, 7 PM (Public Hearing)

Monday - October 14, 10AM

LAKE MITCHELL IMPROVEMENT BOARD MEETING MINUTES -- APRIL 20, 2024 -- Click here...

CLARIFICATION OF LMIB PROPERTY ASSESSMENT SITUATION

As you may or may not know, over the last six months I have been involved with evaluating a couple issues and providing financial advice to the LMIB Board. To help shed additional light on the annual assessment increase, the assessment for 2024 was raised from $100 to $250 for a lakefront lot. Back lots are one half of that, and commercial lots are charged twice that amount.  The increase in assessment is due to the extra expense for weed treatment last year.  This assessment will be the largest amount charged over the last number of years.  A few years ago, LMIB was calculating the assessment based strictly on the annual budget and completely ignored the actual expenses which led to a large reserve.  Concern was expressed at that time about the continual buildup of cash is LMIB's bank account. This led to establishing a reserve level and assessments were based on both anticipated expenses and the existing reserve.  This approach helped reduce the assessment amount for a few years.  Unfortunately, the amount of the annual assessment needs to be submitted to the Equalization Department prior to the first survey and treatment so that assessment is a very rough estimate. This coupled with the amount of the late summer treatment cost for 2023 is causing a need for the assessment to be raised to $250 for 2024.  Future assessments will hopefully be based on accurate numbers utilizing the approved reserve amount and annual budget in determining the assessment amount.

 The LMIB is also required by law to periodically hold public hearings regarding the ongoing need to have a Lake Improvement Board and maximum allowable assessment without having another hearing.  The last hearing was 5 years ago, and the time period approved at that time was 5 years.  The Board discussed the upcoming public hearing which they are setting for August 16th and voted to set a maximum assessment amount for the next five years at $450.  The time frame until the next required public hearing was discussed as many lake improvement boards establish a longer time between public hearings due to the cost of holding the hearings. The $450 is the maximum assessment amount approved for the time period without holding another hearing and reflects the amount of inflation incurred since five years ago and anticipated inflation and increased treatment costs that may occur over the next five years. 

David Kuyers 

LAKE MITCHELL WATER QUALITY - DRAIN COMMISIONER'S REPORT -- Click here...

WHAT IS LMIB AND WHAT IS LMPOA? -- Click here...

LAKE MITCHELL ANNUAL REPORT 2023 -- Click here... 

2024 FISHING REPORT - MASTER ANGLER  -- Click here...

HOW CLIMATE CHANGE MIGHT AFFECT LAKE MITCHELL -- Click here...

WAKE BOARDS ON LAKE MITCHELL -- Click here...

LAKE MITCHELL HISTORY -- Click here...

ROADSIDE PICKUP AND COMPOSTING       

The Lake Mitchell Improvement Board will again provide roadside pickup of weeds. The first pickup will occur on May 1 and then first and third weeks of May and then weekly from Memorial Day through Labor Day with additional pickups the second and fourth weeks of September. 

Aquatic weeds need to be removed from the lakeshore by property owners and put on the roadside. Do not leave sticks, brush, yard waste or sand.. Only aquatic vegetation will be picked up.   

The weeds picked up along the shore of Lake Mitchell are deposited and composted at Ron Klimp's residence on the south side of Lake Mitchell. (7288 S. 33 ½ Mile Road). You can pick up the compost at no cost, or for a small fee, Ron will load your truck or trailer. The weeds that were once a nuisance in the lake can now be helping enrich your lawn or garden. Contact Ron at 616-295-8686.

If you received the print edition of the newsletter, please consider saving the board the $2 it costs to print and mail this newsletter by reading it online at www.lakemitchell.org.  All the contents of the newsletter are available online plus photos, minutes of our meetings, and features about Lake Mitchell not found in our annual newsletter. Email us at lakemitchellboard@gmail.com and we will add your email to our list which has over 350 addresses.

Benefits of being on the email list: notifications when the lake will be treated, reminders of upcoming meetings. If weather events such as floods, ice storms, or heavy snows, which could possible damage property, occur emails may be sent. These are especially appreciated by Association members who are not lakeside residents. The email list will not be sold or offered to anyone and will only be used for Lake Mitchell Improvement Board and Association business.

Read the Lakesider online or download a copy. Click Here...

Information ONLY available on our website: 

• Photos of native and invasive vegetation
• Photos of Lake Mitchell activities and weather events in 2015-2023. 
• Years of archive photos (Your home might be a star.)
• Lake Mitchell Annual Progress Report (entire report)
• Lake Mitchell By-Laws
• Minutes of Improvement Board meetings.
• Maps showing location of invasive vegetation.
• PDF editions of The Lakesider (just as it appeared in print). 
• Daily weather updates for fishing. 

LAKE MITCHELL IMPROVEMENT BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2024

2024 LMIB Meeting Dates

• Saturday - April 20

• Monday - June 10, 10 AM

• Friday -  August 16, 7 PM (Public Hearing)

• Monday - October 14, 10AM

 All meetings begin at 10 AM at the Cherry Grove Township Hall on M55  and the public is encouraged to attend. 

Contact Lake Mitchell Improvement Board at lakemitchellboard@gmail.com.

LMIB Board Members

• Mike Solomon - Chairperson, Wexford County Drain Commissioner
  
• Shari Spoelman -- Vice Chair, City of Cadillac Repesentative
• Dave Foley - Secretary, Newsletter editor, Selma Township Representative
• Marty Williams - Cherry Grove  Representative
• Ron Klimp -- Riparian Representative, Treasurer
• Kathy Adams - Wexford County Commission Representative

LAKE MITCHELL PROPERTY OWNERS INCORPORATED MEETING FOR 2023

Saturday, June 17 at 10AM. Cherry Grove Township Firehall on M-55. 

Email contact: lakemitchellpropertyowners@gmail.com

Website: www.LakeMitchellPO.com

LAKE MITCHELL WEBSITE NAVIGATION

The Lake Mitchell website has versions optimized for computers, smart phones, and tablets. Both the standard view and the mobile view have the same address: www.lakemitchell.org. For navigation, when viewing the site on a computer, all the links are in a menu on the left column of the page. Some of the page links have sub-pages, so clicking on a main page will reveal more pages under that category. (For example, clicking on Weed Control reveals seven more pages.) To return back to the main menu, just click the Home page at the top. When scrolling a page, you can also click the little arrow at the bottom left of the page to return to the top. A listing of all the pages on the site can be accessed via the Sitemap link on the bottom of each page. For navigation on phones and tablets, notice the three horizontal lines at the top left corner of the site. Touch that and the list of pages appears. Touch the plus sign (+) to see all the additional pages.