Frustration rises from donator of harvester for Rib Lake

EMILY GOJMERAC,

REPORTER

After numerous complaints about the amount of weeds in the lake becoming a problem for local fisherman, Hoffman came to the Rib Lake Inland Lakes District Board meeting on Aug. 10 and asked why the harvester isn’t being used.

“I’ve heard so many excuses as to why the weeds aren’t getting cut, I don’t know what to believe anymore.” This was Dan Hoffman’s response to why the weed harvester that he donated to the Village last year wasn’t being used during the summer as much as he hoped it would.

According to Russ Bullis, said the Fish and Game Association was going to manage the harvester, that includes finding people to operate the machine and keep up with the maintenance on it.

Hoffman stated “That lake is an asset to this town and if I’m going to spend that kind of money on a machine, I want to see it being used, not getting rusty on the shore. I saw it working for 2 weeks at the end of July into the beginning of August, why wasn’t it used earlier in the summer?”

Bill Schreiner said “Last year when they were using the harvester for the first time, it took them 15 minutes to bring in an 8 ton load, this year it took an hour and a half to get that 8 ton load. So the weeds are not as thick as they were last year.”

Hoffman understood that if the weeds aren’t as bad, there isn’t a need to constantly have the harvester out on the water, but he still would like to see it being used. He also added that people haven’t been able to get up to his dock in a fishing boat due to the weeds being so thick there.

Cliff Mann made a motion to have the Inland Lakes District meet at least three times a year. The board agreed to have a meeting in April, June, and September to have a better grasp on what everyone’s tasks are for the upcoming summer and winter months.

Mann said “In April we could invite members of the Fish and Game and ask them who they want to put in charge of running the harvester and who will be responsible for keeping up on taking care of the weeds in the lake. Then in June, we can get a final answer on who’s doing what before the summer starts. In September we can address the issue of the aerator and who would be in charge of keeping up on that before the lake freezes over.”

Members of the board agreed that a meeting more than once a year would help resolve some of these issues.

In other business:

• The Inland Lakes budget will be increased from $6,000 last year to $7,500 for 2023.

• Kristin Lueck will continue her role as the Secretary/ Treasurer for the Inland Lakes for 2023.

• Quotes to replace the tubing and clamps for the aerator system that is 30 years old will be brought to the board’s attention.