Council Chambers February 2, 2012 6:00pm
The Devils Lake Water Improvement District Board meeting will be held on Thursday February 2nd at 6:00pm. Please note that these meetings have moved to City Hall Council Chambers, which are located on the third floor of City Hall.
Septic Ordinance
On November 7th, DLWID board members and staff attended a City Council workshop to discuss the possibility of a septic inspection ordinance and options to accelerate sewer extension around the lake. City Council has directed staff to prepare a septic ordinance, which is anticipated sometime in February. The District has indicated that they feel that inspections performed by the County the government body assigned to this task are inadequate to meet the goals of the program and they intend to take the lead on developing the new inspection criteria. This month’s meeting may be the best opportunity to provide comment prior to their meeting with DEQ, Lincoln County, the City, and local private inspectors. In addition to DLWID’s inspection criterion homeowners will also need to comply with proposed rules drafted by DEQ to comply with the Coast Zone Management Act. This new program will require another inspection to be performed at the time of property transfer as well as reporting of pumping events. As it currently stands homeowners may need to comply with three different standards; the DLWID/City standard, the County standard, and DEQ’s standard.
Vegetation Management
The District hired Max Depth Aquatics to act as a consultant in their efforts to appeal the ODFW rejection of their application to stock additional grass carp in Devils Lake. District data has been compiled and sent to the contractor. District staff is expected to provide an update about this project at the meeting.
Erosion Study
Tetra Tech presented the erosion study in the December board meeting. The report concluded that waves generated by boats or wind, the nature of the soils around the lake, the presence or absence of sufficient bank stabilization, and the slope of the lake bottom are likely more influential on shoreline conditions than relatively small changes in lake levels. The District was highly critical of the report; specifically that it did not address the impact of inundation, reservoir hydrology, vegetation recruitment, impact of grass carp and the role of saturated soils. The District requested modifications to the report and the goal was to have received a copy of the changes by January 23rd. A delay in this project has occurred within Tetra Tech. An update will be provided at the meeting.
Cyano-Watch Program
The program has been renamed to the HABs or Harmful Algal Bloom Surveillance program. This is the name the State of Oregon uses to describe cyanobacteria monitoring. New postings have been developed to reflect the change. The postings include changes in the language from “Cyanobacteria (aka Blue-Green Algae)” to “Blue-Green Algae* and/or their toxins” followed later in the posting with “*Scientifically known as Cyanobacteria”. Examples of the new postings as well as the originals can be found in the Staff Report.
Public Records Request Policy
The District has drafted a public records request policy to review; adoption is on the agenda. Currently, the District has a form for such requests. The stated purpose of having a policy is to ensure that all requests for public records are handled in a manner that is consistent with and complies with the public records law. The proposed policy does allow the District to charge for costs associated with providing records and/or access to records. The policy also provides for up to 15 minutes of free service and some free photocopies. The full text of the policy is available at DLWID Public Records Request Policy.
Can’t Make The Meeting?
If you cannot attend this month’s meeting; it will appear on Channel 4 for all Charter customers. You can check the Channel 4 Schedule for airing times. The best way to stay informed is for all lake front homeowners and interested parties to attend these important meetings.
There are several topics of importance to lake residents on this month’s agenda. Read more about it and follow the links to additional information.
