6 May, 2015
A big turnout was on hand Day 1 of the Annual Town Meeting to speak about how Weed control is handled on Lake Maspenock. $60,000 was part of Article 2: FY 2015 Supplemental Appropriations but motioned to be part of Article 8: Fiscal 2016 Operating Budget.
In the early goings of the operating budget discussion, former Selectmen Ron Clark questioned budget increases over the past 2 years; "the big budget buster is general government, up 43% in 2 fiscal years, if you sort of drill down into the background here, you have the town managers position going up by 28% over 2 years, finance-director, accountant up 18% over 2 years, treasure collector up 96% over 2 years, legal up 20%, human resources up 95%, information technology up 90%, including a 72% jump this year." Clark wanted the selectmen to answer why the big jump over the 2 years and the need for an assistant town manager. Clark later stated; "I would hope they come back next year at level funding..43% over 2 years compared to the general government going up 7% over 2 years, that's quite a big increase. I would hope next year that they come in at a level budget, same increase or less." Selectmen Todd Cestari stated that in situations such as the technology budget that funds from other areas were used; "due to numbers shifting from one bucket to another, it looks as though there's a greater increase but then there's a deduction from another bucket."
The discussion over how Lake Maspenock should be treated got underway shortly after and lasted over 2 hours. Throughout the 2 hours plus of discussion most were for the treatment of the lake without the herbicide Diquat. A few speakers stated that too many elements and nutrients were being added to the lake such as fertilizer from lawns, a Hopkinton student doing a research paper on Diquat said the herbicide has negative affects: "The herbicide in question has affects of cataracts in the eyes, has affects of liver and kidney disease and we're going to be sending our children for swimming lessons in the lake only 24 hours after the herbicides are put in the lake, I don't understand how this could be safe." One speaker who owns a veterinary hospital spoke of the affects herbicides could have on dogs; "46% of dogs are getting cancer...I never saw that 30 years ago."
A few were in favor of the use of herbicides to treat weeds on the lake, one lake resident with 2 children who after seeing the problem the weeds are causing joined a weed management committee. She was for the use of herbicides to treat the lake after seeing her 3 year old be entangled with weeds when trying to swim in the lake; "we did a lot of research and we went around too a lot of lake associations who have done this in the past... the herbicides we are using have been around for decades, we've done a lot of research on them..when people look at the side affects, you're looking at a label on the actual bottle.. I think it's time we use this to regain control of our lake." Representatives from the Lake Maspenock Preservation Committee also spoke support of using herbicides. They stated that much research was done on dozens of surrounding lakes and diquat has been used since the 1960's and proven safe by organizations including; United States Environmental Protection Agency and MassDEP.
In the end amendments giving the Board of selectmen control over weed treatment and $60,000 going towards lake treatment WITHOUT the use of pesticides won the majority. Treating the lake without pesticides won a standing vote 150-90.
The overall Article 8: Fiscal 2016 Operating Budget Discussion continued into a good portion of Town Meeting, Day 2 and passed after $60,000 towards an assistant town manager was cut out.
To see highlights of the discussion of Weed Treatment on Lake Maspenock, watch the video below.
