08-04-1983 Workshop Meeting - CITY OF CLERMONT - MINUTES WORKSHOP MEETING August 4, 1983 A Worskhop Meeting of the City Council of the City of Clermont was held Thursday, August 4, 1983 at Center Lake. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Beals with the following Council Members in attendance: Mayor Pro Tern Pool, Council Member Turville, and Council Member Dupee. Other Officials present were: City Manager George Forbes, James Modica from the Saint Johns Water Management District, and Eric Coppenmeier from Lake County Aquatic Weed Control. CENTER LAKE Mayor Beals explained that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss different solutions to aesthetically improve Center Lake in Clermont. City Manager Forbes explained various alternatives for solving the weed problem at Center Lake which have been discussed in the past. These are: 1. Draw down the lake to expose the muck. When thoroughly dry, a bulldozer would scrape the lake bottom, and the muck would be hauled to another site. This alternative has been rejected because there is no convenient place to send the water being drained from the lake, and in addition, this operation would be very expensive. 2. Aeration has been discussed because it improves the circulation of air throughout the lake and helps to breakdown organic materials. It is particularly good for breaking down organic materials, but is not of much use for inorganic materials. In addition, since the lake is relatively shallow, it does not appear to have any aeration problems; and aeration has been ruled out as a solution. 3. Grass Carp have been considered, however, the representative from the Lake County Aquatic Weed Control stated that the City could no longer obtain permits for the fish. It was believed that some Grass Carp in the lake would help by eating the floating vegetation. 4. It was explained that many years ago a dragline had been used on the lake and it had proven to be very beneficial for cleaning the shoreline. However, a dragline would totally destroy all vegetation along the shoreline. Jim Modica of the Saint Johns Water Management District explained the benefits of shoreline vegetation to the Council. The vegetation is actually good for the lake, and even the cattails reduce nutrients and assist greatly with water quality. He stated that he believed the water quality of the lake was fairly good, largely because of the vegetation. He discussed that mowing the vegeta- tion instead of pulling it out by the roots would also be beneficial for good water quality. 5. The use of chemicals to control floating vegetation was discussed in detail. The Council believed this was an expensive alterna- tive if contracted out, since a one year program of control costs about $2,000. Eric Coppenmeier discussed the problem, and stated a chemical that the City already has on hand (Sonar) could be approved for this use. Upon further discussion, it was decided not to consider this alternative because the use of chemicals is short term and would have to be repeated yearly, and at times the lake is pumped into other water bodies. -- CITY OF CLERMONT - MINUTES 6. The use of an aquatic mowing machine on the lake was discussed in detail. This machine seems to overcome most of the objections to the alternatives listed above because it would simply be harvesting the weeds along the shoreline. It was the consensus of the Council that the mowing of the cattails would be a sound idea, but that the City should also do something about removing some of the ducks from the lake. Each duck adds a tremendous amount of pollutants to the water, equivalent to three times as much as one person. In other words, one duck excretes coliform bacteria equal to three human beings. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. It was the consensus of the Council to have the City Manager obtain bids for the use of an aquatic mowing machine to clear weeds from Center Lake, and present the information at a future Council Meeting. /);~<-iL ;3.13h.i, Ch~B. Beals, Mayor - Attest: ~~~~ Wayn Saunders, City Clerk