Cutshall told his fellow commissioners that the State had recently tried to stock it with trout and when one of his buddies went down to fish. "He couldn’t even throw a line in it was so bad. Is there anything we can do to remediate the algae?" Cutshall asked.

Commissioner Bill Rittelmeyer used the question to enlighten the large audience that had assembled for the election discussion on what the Town had been doing to address the issue. Rittelmeyer said the Town had received an estimate of from $215,000 to $500,000 for cleaning up the pond. But that estimate was based upon draining the pond and dredging it, a cost that all the commissioners agreed was a non-starter.

The problem, Rittelmeyer said, was that if the Town wanted to fund the cleanup of the pond under a Program Open Space (POS) grant, which is administered by the County, the Town would first need to get an estimate.

Rittelmeyer said he reached out to Solitude, an aquatic resource management company that specializes in the development and execution of customized lake, stormwater pond, and wetland management, in hopes of getting the required estimate.

Rittelmeyer said that before Solitude would give an estimate, they wanted to come in and do a survey to measure how much silt was currently in the pond, an effort for which they would charge the Town $5,000 to $8,000. Based upon the survey results, Solitude would then give the Town a project plan which could then be given to the County. But all that "would have had to be paid out of pocket," Rittelmeyer said.

"If we don’t do something with the pond it will be gone in two to three years." Rittelmeyer said. "There is plant life growing up through the middle of the pond. We have to do something or in a couple of years it’s going to be a swamp, and a couple years after that it will be gone. So even if we don’t get POS money, we may want to look at the Town spending money to rejuvenate the pond."

Rittelmeyer said another company he is looking at could probably get a lot done for $50,000. This company would do hydroraking, which utilizes a floating rake that would rake up all the algae and silt. "The biggest expense is hauling the algae and silt off site, which would require permits," he said, "but the Town could dispose of it in the park which would save money." Even so, Rittelmeyer said, "as bad as the pond is now, it’s going to cost us a fair amount on money." "The good thing is," he said, "we can do part of it this year, and go back to POS next year."

"The Town is in a losing battle with the algae," Rittelmeyer said, making it clear that work on cleaning the pond needs to begin sooner rather than later.