The Stansbury Park Service Agency board reviewed options for removing lake weeds cut by mowers during its meeting Wednesday evening.
Stansbury Park Service Agency manager Randall Jones proposed using a conveyor system to remove cut vegetation from the agency’s lake mower and into a trailer on land. Jones said the current method the agency uses — pulling a trailer into the lake and filling it directly from the boat — is causing significant damage to the trailer and creating a safety hazard.
The lake water is causing significant corrosive damage to the trailers used by the service agency to remove the weeds from being parked in the water, Jones said. The boat ramp, where the trailer is lowered into the water, creates a slick situation for employees working to remove the weeds, he said.
The damage to the trailer is so bad that you could push your finger through the metal, according to Jones.
“We don’t have a trailer,” he said. “Our trailer literally fell apart.”
Service agency board chairman Neil Smart said he wants to see plans for the conveyer system, to know what the equipment, and landscaping around it, will look like. Smart said residents near the boat ramp where the lake mower launches would likely want to know exactly what the conveyer would look like.
Board member Mike Johnson echoed Smart’s request for a more detailed idea of what the service agency would be using to remove the cut weeds from the lake.
“We’re not opposed to the conveyer but we need to look at something to make sure we’re comfortable with what it looks like,” Johnson said.
Board member Jamie Lindsay asked if Jones had considered using barges to transport the cut weeds. Jones said the problem with barges is the capacity was little different than the boat and it would take several hours to place, fill and remove the barges. The barges would also have to be emptied by hand, he said.
Smart proposed using a temporary, portable conveyer to test out the effectiveness of the system. Jones said he would return to the board with more information on the appearance of the conveyer system and the projected costs of the system.
“If we start cutting when we should, we can probably keep ahead of the weeds throughout the year,” Jones said.
The service agency board approved $50,000 for a lake weed conveyer system in its 2016-17 budget. The lake struggles with maintenance on weeds in the lake each year and had to replace the engine in its lake mower last year.