In the summer of 2010, mill po... HOLLY, Michigan – Millpond residents were back in village chambers for the second time this summer, this time disputing information received from Holly’s Department of Public Works regarding logs and notes kept on the millpond dam gate maintenance.
Millpond resident Jim Clark led the discussion during the public comment segment on Aug. 10.
Clark previously attended the July 13 Village Council meeting, telling council members about the overly weedy condition of the millpond, and insisting that prior chemical treatments to the millpond were spoiled by DPW staffers opening the gates too soon after a treatment had occurred.
“Certainly nobody would dispute the fact that it’s been a warm summer,” Clark said on Tuesday. “Nobody would dispute the fact that the millpond is a shallow body of water, and we may, in some circles, dispute how much the millpond gets treated with chemicals to control the weeds, but that’s not something you guys can control unless you go out in the boat with them,” he said.
“The point I tried to make the last time I was here was that the village controls the level of the pond, and that has a major bearing on weed growth,” Clark said. “It also has a major bearing at the time the chemical treatment is done on the effectiveness of those chemicals.”
With a sulfur odor and seagulls dropping dead fish on his dock daily, Clark said it was the second time in his 21 years living on the millpond that a substantial fish kill has occurred.
“A week ago, I asked for under the Freedom of Information Act, copies of logs and notes kept by the DPW staff as they went to the dam and opened and closed the gates,” he said. “I have that information today, and the only comment I’d make is that if the data recorded and given to me was correct, I never would have been here a month ago, and I wouldn’t be here tonight,” he added. “It does not square with the reality that I see from my dining room table, from my reclining chair, or my kitchen – literally every room but one from my house.”
Clark asked council to consider sending the issue to the Public Works Committee or whatever committee council deemed appropriate, so that he could share facts and observations he has made as a riparian of the millpond.
Clarks’ wife, Sherlynn Everly had additional comments to make.
“We did request under the FOIA ‘the logs’ as kept by ‘the staff’ on a day-to-day basis and what we received is an Excel spreadsheet that obviously somebody sat down and filled out in one sitting,” she said. “I’m not saying it’s fabricated because I don’t know that for sure, but I am saying that this document was created to answer this FOIA request, which I don’t believe is legal, and I have a real problem with that.”
Village President Pete Clemens told Everly that it was his understanding that the log she received may have been transcribed from notes.
“But that’s not what we requested,” Everly pressed. “We requested copies of the logs and notes – not a transcription of them.”
“If Marv (Swanson) has different people go out there and they fill out a sheet, they bring it back to him – that is what we created as part of our dam maintenance program,” Village Manager Marsha Powers said.
“Did you do this in one day – is it a composite of every day, or did somebody sit down and fill this out?” Everly asked.
“That happens at the DPW,” Powers replied. “What I’m trying to tell you. . .”
Everly interrupted. “And what I’m telling you is this was all filled out in one day by one person at one time with the same pen, the same writing,” she said. “A daily log that is done on a daily basis does not look like this.”
Powers told Everly that Swanson is responsible for the DPW logs.
“I’m sorry,” Everly said. “I don’t think this would hold up to anybody’s scrutiny,” she said holding up a copy of the log and handing out copies to council members.
Millpond resident Adam Schmieder said he also had a copy of the log, and that he had found several discrepancies with some of the dates the gates were opened and closed.
Schmieder said the log indicated that the dam gate was half-open on May 23 and May 25, but that the first chemical treatment had been done on May 20.
“If you put the chemical in the pond on May 20 and wanted to retain the chemical in the pond to have some sort of effect, why would you open the gates on May 23 to allow the chemical to go down the river instead of trying to hold it in the pond as long as you can?” Schmieder asked. “Because it didn’t expire until May 26.”
Village President Pete Clemens said the chemicals applied to the plants are systemic, killing weeds on contact.
“But (the chemicals) didn’t expire until May 26, so why would you open the gates on May 23 and let the chemicals go if you wanted them to remain in the pond?” Schmieder argued.
Clemens said it was a question to be answered by the DPW, and made a motion to transfer the issue to the Environmental Committee. Clemens promised Clark, Everly and Schmieder would be invited to participate in the meeting.
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Comments
Then - surprise! - we come home yesterday (8/17) and find a posting from LakePro that they had chemically treated the pond again! Who is going to pay for that? Is it the correct and best action? In their presentation to the Council, LakePro previously stated that the only remedy was a weed harvest. What the heck is going on here?
We want a healthy and beautiful pond for all of us and the community to enjoy. The property owners are trying to work cooperatively to achieve that end. Why won't Ms. Powers schedule the meeting as directed by the Village Council?
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