By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
What to do with Lake Contrary, a question before the Buchanan County Commission, which is trying to decide whether restoring the lake would be worth the cost and effort.
Presiding Commissioner Scott Nelson says a company has bid $118,000 to kill the weeds covering the 350 acres of what used to be a lake. Spraying would be necessary before dredging could begin.
“To dredge the entire lake, if, again if we were to do that, it’s a three-year project,” Nelson tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “The dredging season runs from April 1st to, I believe, the end of November and it’s going to take three seasons to do that.”
Dredging is the big “if” in the discussion.
Dredging would take time and cost millions. There is no dredging bid before the commission, but Nelson says it would take three seasons and cost up to $9 million. Dredging, though, cannot begin until the overgrowth is tackled. Vegetation, or weeds if you prefer, cover the 350 acres of what once was a lake. A South Carolina company has submitted a bid of $118,000 to kill the weeds, right down to their roots. The commission has 90 days to decide whether it wants to accept the bid. A few days have passed since the company submitted the bid.
Nelson says if the commission accepts the bid, it is committed to seeing the project through.
“You don’t just use that and not dredge,” Nelson says. “You’re not going to use that and not dredge. So, that’s why I say we have an 85-ish day window to determine whether to accept that bid.”
Talk of Lake Contrary always reflects on its glorious past and bemoans years, perhaps decades, of neglect.
Though it never will be what it once was, Lake Contrary could provide something Buchanan County needs, according to Nelson.
“I think it would be important to have a recreational lake. That’s, I think, what’s important,” Nelson says. “A recreational lake, define that as maybe you have an area that you can jet ski, maybe you have an area you can pontoon, maybe you have an area where you can ski; different areas of the lake.”
