By Gail Peckler-Dziki/Correspondent
Nearly 30 district residents attended the 2013 Twin Lakes Protection and Rehabilitation District annual meeting and budge hearing, held July 27 at the Twin Lakes Village Hall. The Twin Lakes Village Board also serves as the governing board for the Lake District.
The Lake District asked that the steering committee look into hiring scuba divers to pull weeds rather than continue to use chemicals. Lynn Hellman said that other lake districts in Wisconsin use this method with more success and the same cost as chemical treatment. She was concerned about how the chemicals might affect people who swim in the water and believed that information received from the district regarding the use was contradictory and not quite accurate.
Mention was made that the Camp and Center Lake District’s (CCLRD) weed cutting program was costly and really didn’t stop the Eurasian milfoil, which propagates when weeds are cut from the stems and weeds that are not captured, drift to another part of a lake and fall and root, creating new weed patches. CCLRD has recently added some chemical treatment to the plan.
Ed Zyre said that the liquid chemical treatment wasn’t hitting the targeted spots since prevailing winds moved the liquid on top of the water. Village President and Lake District commissioner Howard Skinner commented that was why the district now used pellets.
Bill Hass gave the aquatic plant treatment report for Tony Migon. Twin Lake village board member and lake district commissioner Kevin Fitzgerald has been mapping the lake, using new digital equipment, to ascertain weed beds. Right now there is no differentiation between Eurasian milfoil beds and beds of natural vegetation. Fitzgerald says that will be done visually later.
The group approved 2013-2014 all committee members, those on the list and those who either volunteered or were nominated. Dan Shide volunteered for the aquatic plant, natural and invasive species committee, as did Jack Magnussen. Tim Jung volunteered for the storm water management and non-point pollution mitigation committee and Vicki Skinner nominated Ed Zyre for the water quality, lake habitat, fish and fishing committee.
Expenses for 2014 include $25,000 for the design engineers; landscape designers and other design professionals related to the storm water, shoreline and dam modification programs. The group is still waiting for final approval on the spillway project from McHenry County in Illinois and plans to have the new spillway constructed in 2014.
Other 2014 costs include $4,000 for annual meeting notice; $7,000 for a plant survey; $10,000 for invasive aquatic plant treatment; $5,000 for fish stocking of the lakes; and $5,000 for the Clean Water launch monitoring program. This program received a reimbursement of 75 percent from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in 2013 and an application for a 2014 grant will be submitted.
The 2014 budget also includes $28,100 for shoreline restoration projects on public lands. A possible project is the village-owned property south of the Lake Elizabeth Boat Launch and Marina.
The district also levied $100,00 for storm water management. This was approved at the 2007 annual meeting for 2008. This money funds project to improve the quality and quantity/rate of storm water flowing to the lakes in the village. No new project was installed in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Future projects may include preliminary work on a Bayview Chanel project and installation of a unit similar to a StormTrap in an outlet into Lake Elizabeth on Lucille Avenue in the Hickory Point areas.
The estimated levy for 2014 is $0.19. The cost for a property of $150,000 is $28.60 and a $1.250,000 is $238.36.