08-27-2018 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, August 13, 2018 7:00 o'clock p.m. 14. LMCD — Continued the weeds are clogging everything up. Nettles stated his personal and reasonable enjoyment is being affected. Crosby stated he would rather see the LMCD spend more time skimming the surface rather than harvesting. Walsh commented a lot of things have changed in 40 years and that it might be a good time to re-evaluate how things are done given the new technology that has been developed. Richie Anderson stated Eric Evenson has previously worked with the Minnehaha Watershed District and currently is working with the Lake Minnetonka Association, which represents a lot of lakeshore owners. Eric Evenson stated he would encourage the City Council to continue on with the discussions and that some of the frustrations being voiced tonight are being echoed by others throughout the state. As it relates to the weed issues, Evenson stated he has been hearing all across Lake Minnetonka about weeds washing up on the shore, and that he was just at a house on the upper lake who had to spend $1,500 each time to clean up her shore, which has to be done a number of times. Evenson stated they currently are treating five bays on the lake and that they have seen pretty successful control of curly leaf and milfoil in those bays. North Arm was treated this year and that he has heard reports that it is better. Evenson stated as it relates to biomass, blue-green algae is a problem in areas this time of year because the water is warm. The real problem with the blue-green algae comes from the zebra mussels eating up the other algae, which leaves a void. The LMCD and Orono are spending a lot of money on water quality and a lot of the questions being asked are good. The important question to ask is whether the money being spent is appropriate and whether it is time to re-evaluate the technology. Evenson stated if you are running a private business, you would have re-evaluated it several times by now. Richie Anderson, 3205 Crystal Bay Road, stated he owns three marinas and last year there was a massive amount of weeds on his dock. This year they did not have a weed problem until the harvester came through. Anderson stated because of that he sent out a letter to every LMCD board member and Vickie Schleunig got back to him. Council Member Seals picked up the ball and ran with it. Anderson stated in his view this discussion is way overdue. Anderson noted he only heard from one LMCD board member and never heard from Orono's LMCD representative. In addition, two emails were returned due to incorrect email addresses listed on the LMCD website. A video was played showing the area by Mr. Anderson's dock. Anderson noted the area has no weeds but the harvester is going by with no weeds being harvested. A video was played showing a harvester cutting by Big Island near the cable that was previously cut and near the 8000 -volt line. Dankey commented that seems to be a natural area and that people typically do not boat in that area. Anderson stated it is a make work program and that they are driving around the lake to spend money. Page 10 of 14