Lake Santeetlah – A baseline has been established for a new water quality testing program, and the results look good.
At its meeting on May 13, the Town of Lake Santeetlah’s council heard an update on the program from Councilman Roger Carlton, who is spearheading it.
“We’re clean,” Carlton said. “We have only one area with construction going on where there was turbidity and that was very slight.”
The board voted earlier in the year to allocate $2,000 for water-quality testing. Following the baseline, water quality tests are scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend, July 4 and Labor Day weekend – all times when the lake receives heavy use.
Carlton volunteered his personal boat to go collect the samples, keeping costs down.
He emphasized that if nothing concerning was found after the first four tests, the council did not necessarily have to continue the testing program.
“If there are no issues, then maybe we don’t want to continue it,” Carlton said. “If there are, then maybe we do. That’s why we only budgeted it for one year.”
The board also continued discussing the possibility of returning to traditional council meetings, or at least giving council members the option of meeting together, with some still attending virtually.
“The only thing we would need is a webcam, and that’s very inexpensive,” noted Mayor Jim Hager.
However, Carlton expressed concerns regarding the space in the town hall and the equipment needed to successfully conduct meetings with board members attending both in-person and virtually.
“I think we should go back, or we don’t,” Carlton said.
The council will consider going back in-person at its July meeting.
Budget discussed
In addition to its regular meeting, the council also held a continued budget hearing on Saturday.
Some Santeetlah residents and homeowners expressed concerns about the town’s planned upcoming budget and a possible millage increase in the town.
“We are where we’re at because – in my opinion – of council action, so the buck stops there and we need to get down to a bare-bones budget,” said Lake Santeetlah resident Jack Gross, who has been an outspoken critic of the proposed budget.