The Mount Vernon City Council discussed a plan on how to control vegetative growth on the surface of Nature Park Quarry on Monday, March 16. This plan was brought forward by city administrator Chris Nosbisch, during discussion items at the meeting. Nosbisch said that he recently went out to the pond to have a conversation with Clean Lake Maintenance Aquatic Control, and it was the first time that he could see the bottom of the pond.

The proposal from Clean Lake Maintenance looks to add a chemical induction to the pond that would help get rid of the excessive growth of vegetation in the pond, including a chemical herbicide.

A question came across on whether chemical induction could hurt the fish. Nosbisch had a clear answer.

“If we do lose any fish, it would be goldfish,” Nosbisch said. “But that’s the reason they do the induction in quarters and not all at once, which is because they want to ensure that the fish have the best opportunity to survive in the chemicals that they put in there.”

This treatment would be a two-stage project that would cost $6,500 at the start. Nosbisch talked about what this project could do for the area.

“This could make this more of a usable space to start putting walking trails in and around the pond and things like that,” Nosbisch said.

Council member Mark Andresen added that it’s important they take care of the whole pond if they are going to keep funding this.

“We have put a large amount of money in and they have to keep throwing money into it without any guarantee that we’re going to take care of the surrounding area and the overgrown plants and things that are around there, too. We’ve got to commit to it all,” Andresen said.

After the chemical induction, there would be an added expense of dye for the pond, another suggestion to help curb the appearance of algae blooms happening in the quarry.

This process of treatment to the quarry would take a bit of time, and is expected to be an annual process that would take a few years to complete.

The $6,500 for this project has not been budgeted, but would come from Local Option Sales and Service Tax monies.

Nosbisch has not received an official contract from the company yet, but wanted to bring this forward to get an idea of how the council felt and look at the pros and cons, as well as get community feedback.

Nosbisch went on to explain how the pond has a lot of rough areas and thinks this project will be a huge positive in the long run.

The council agreed that they look forward to continuing this conversation at the next meeting to see what solution they can come to and how they can get a start on this project.