WEEVIL GATE
Would you invest money to start a project if you had absolutely no clue what it will cost to complete it?
Our 1st Selectman is acting like a spoiled brat over the Board of Finance’s recent rejection of his pet project and is challenging the Board of Finance’s decision, but that is standard operating procedure for him. Mr. Hodge was asked at the Public Hearing / Town Meeting, “What is the projected total cost to plant weevils in New Fairfield’s portion of the Candlewood Lake?” and our 1st Selectman said he did not know.
Would you invest money to start building something if you had absolutely no clue what it will cost to complete it?
Also at that meeting was Larry Marsicano, the Executive Director of the Candlewood Lake Authority [CLA]. When asked that same question, Mr. Marsicano also replied that he did not know the answer
Would you put a down payment on a house without knowing the selling price?
There are 5 towns involved with Candlewood Lake and none of the other 4 intends on launching a weevil project of their own or spending any money on this issue since they do not know how much it will cost to finish the job. In addition, this must be a collaborative effort by the 5 towns that surround the lake. But our 1st Selectman always knows better and wants to throw $15K out the window in order to get his way.
Having no plan is a plan for failure!
Not mentioned at the aforementioned meeting: In June 2008 a controlled experiment was launched to study the effect of weevils on dense milfoil areas of the lake. This is a cooperative effort with the CLA teaming up with scientists at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Western Connecticut State University and EnviroScience to “explore a process to combat the aquatic weed’s grip on the lake.
So why is New Fairfield throwing $15,000 into the lake, with the knowledge this scientific study will be completed next summer? Who knows?
“Act in haste, repent at leisure.”
We are aware of three sites that are being studied, one of which is just off Sail Harbour. So what is our CEO up to with wanting to spend $15 large, other than that he wants to do it just because he wants to do it? But that is his egotistical modus operendus.
What’s the rush to throw money at a very complex ecosystem dilemma, knowing there is a controlled scientific study going on that is nearly 50% complete and will be finished next summer?
Also consider these two points: First: Sunfish feed on weevils and anyone who has taken their young child fishing in Candlewood Lake knows it is chock full of sunfish [also known as bluegills, brim and sunnies]. Second: When the milfoil dies after the weevils have done their thing, the dead milfoil sinks to the bottom and, as it decomposes, it provides wonderful compost for growing new milfoil next year. Hmmmm….
Haste makes waste.
The other 4 towns that are involved with the milfoil problem in the lake are waiting for the results of this experiment, as they should. I still do not understand New Fairfield’s rush to throw money at a problem that has no defined total cost.
“Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread.”
Finally, some self-serving individuals who reside on Candlewood Isle have circulated a petition in an attempt to ramrod this ill-advised project through to approval ~ by bonding the $15,000 expenditure!!! The people who signed the petition did so because they are too cheap to pay for mechanical harvesting of the milfoil around their properties. The cost of bonding is way too large to make any business sense for this Don Quixote venture, but bonding it circumvents the state statutes and makes it “legitimate”. Aren’t politics in New Fairfield just lovely?
One alternate to controlling the milfoil is to use sterile grass carp per the ongoing project that has been underway at Ball Pond for quite a few years. These carp feed on aquatic plants such as milfoil and cannot reproduce and upset the ecobalance of the pond in the process. The results have been quite encouraging in Ball Pond. Also, we know what it will cost to plant a sufficient number of carp in Candlewood to control the milfoil, but perhaps not completely eradicate the milfoil bed:
[1] There are about 500 acres of milfoil in the lake right now. [2] For one acre of milfoil, between 9 and 25 carp are recommended. For the sake of argument, let’s split the difference and use 17 carp per acre. [3] That means about 8,500 sterile grassarp would be needed. [4] The cost per carp ranges between $5 to $20, depending on the supplier, the proximity of that supplier, etc. I would expect a large volume purchase over 5,000 would command a low price, but let’s use $12 for this brief analysis. Do the math: 8,500 x $12 = $100,000. There is the total cost estimate for sterile carp. Where is the comparable estimate for the weevils? It does not exist.
This sterile carp alternate should be given serious consideration before diving head-long into the weevils as the solution without knowing what that will cost to complete. In addition, right now there is no guarantee that weevils will do the job in a man-made lake. After the experiment is complete next summer, there should be some data to both quantify the effect of the weevils that were planted and also allow extrapolation to the total cost to do the lake, assuming the current test produces favorable results. At that point, the 5 towns need to sit down together and agree on a strategy and how the total cost will be shared amongst them if the test results are favorable.
So let’s cool the 1st Selectman’s jets and wait one year for the results of the controlled scientific study that is under way.
Please join me at the Town Meeting that was announced yesterday and VOTE NO to this pointless $15K expenditure, since nobody knows [1] will it work on a man made lake that has water pumped into it by the successor company to CL&P since that has never been tried before?, [2] if it does work, what will it cost to do the New Fairfield portion of the lake? and [3] will the weevils migrate to the shorelines of other towns, giving them a “freebie” on the backs of New Fairfield’s taxpayers?
QUOTABLE QUOTES
“The great corrupter of public man is the ego....Looking at the mirror distracts one's attention from the problem.” – Dean Acheson
Doug Thielen
