Admin update

It's been several weeks since my last post and the CLERC crew has been busy moving things along.  Here's where we stand:

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First off, we had a wonderful level of response from people over Labor Day weekend at the Lake County Fair. The entire CLERC Board was present for most of the 4 day fair event and we had the chance to speak with hundreds of folks about the CLERC vision and what we hope to accomplish.  One thing that was clear by the end of the weekend was that lots of people know a lot about Clear Lake and lots of people have misunderstandings about Clear Lake.  One common question that kept coming up was people asking if we've ever found a brain-eating ameba in the Lake (we haven't found it.....yet). 

Lake County Fair

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Clear Lake Cleanup Day

We held our first big event, the Clear Lake Cleanup Day, on Sept. 20 and the event was a huge success.  We had over 55 people come out to take advantage of the low water levels this year and remove a lot of rubbish that is covered by water during normal, non-drought years.  Overall we removed 90 tires, about 4 dozen bags of trash, and old row boat.  Since the lake is still low, CLERC is organizing another cleanup day on December 6.

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We received our first grant!  CLERC was chosen by the Redbud Healthcare District to receive a grant.  Thanks to the efforts of CLERC Board member, Carolyn Ruttan, CLERC was awarded $625 for the purpose of covering our booth costs at the Lake County Fair.  We had originally asked for $500 to cover the fair booth rental charge, but once Carolyn presented the CLERC vision to the Redbud Board, they decided to provide us $625 in order to cover our insurance costs in addition to the rental fee for the fair booth.  The CLERC Board is absolutely delighted to continue finding more and more members of the community that believe in what we are trying to accomplish and hopefully this grant is a sign of more good things to come.

Funding Received

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Business Plan

The CLERC Board met on November 16 for about 6 hours to start drafting the official business plan.  This plan will be submitted to the IRS along with our tax-exempt status application around the first of the year.  Stay tuned for a draft copy to be available for review around the first of the year.

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Committees

Once we wrap up the business plan we will be focusing on establishing the committees that will drive the CLERC machine.  We already have significant interest from several scientists and researchers wishing to be on the CLERC Scientific Advisory Board.  We also have several folks interested in spearheading the Fundraising, Marketing, & Events Committee.  Our goal is to get these committees up and running and have them report back to the Board of Directors by the end of March with recommendations for moving forward.  If you are interested in any of the following committees please let me know:

• Scientific Advisory Board
• Fundraising, Marketing & Events Committee
• Facilities Committee
• Education Committee
• Administrative Committee

That's it for this installment.  Be on the lookout for another edition of the Admin Update around the first of the year.  Happy Thanksgiving!

-Will