Lake Zoar Authority Determined to Engage Its Towns

At the Lake Zoar Authority's (LZA) September meeting, the committee decided the best way to solve their long-standing funding issues was to petition local government and residents.  The hard reality of the four towns and LZA working together was the topic of the longest debate at their October meeting, Tuesday — the last before the lake closes on Oct. 15.

The LZA's funding issues emanate from an aggressive infestation of lake algae which can interfere with boat engines.  The authority cannot afford more effective methods of disposing of the plant, and hopes publicity and discussions will get governments more involved in the body of water.

To get the public more active in the lake and discuss solutions, the authority voted to arrange a special meeting on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Stevenson Firehouse in Monroe.  Their original plan was to hold special meetings in each town, but decided to start with just one in order to gauge turnout and interest.

The group faced barriers in discussing the lake's problems with the government directly.

A Sept. 30 meeting between the first selectmen of the towns bordering the lake — Southbury, Oxford, Newtown and Monroe — resulted in cancellations from each party except Oxford First Selectman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers, LZA Chairman Bob Barnes and Commissioner Bernie Lintzner.

The meeting was rescheduled to Oct. 19, but Barnes noted the poor turnout as an example of the difficulty they faced.  According to Barnes, communication between the four towns is unpracticed enough that Drayton-Rogers needed to ask him for the contact information of her fellow first selectmen.  Barnes said that Drayton-Rogers was frustrated by the situation as well.

Barnes also criticized the LZA, saying that commissioners needed to become more actively involved between meetings, especially in the labor of researching and attracting grant money.

"Four or five of us can't do the work for the whole committee," said Barnes.

Heading into budget season, the LZA also expressed a desire for legislation that would enable more regular payments from the four towns, which are sometimes problematically slow to be transferred to the commission.

Commissioners also worried that the current laws were too loosely worded, and only strictly oblige the towns to pay equal amounts to the authority, and not necessarily the full $25,000 they are budgeted by each government.

The authority briefly discussed a system suggested by former Monroe Selectman Tom Buzi, where pay is proportional to the shore length each town owns, but it was largely criticized, since the entire lake is accessible to any town resident regardless of shore size, and such a system might prove too expensive for Southbury and Newtown to remain in the Authority.

The LZA also took stock of necessary repairs to their equipment to create a more accurate budget for the spring, but no significant fixes were needed.

The resignation of Glenn Ganz as treasurer left a vacancy in that position that Bob Mouchantat took up, forcing him to abandon his role as Vice Chairman.

Bernie Lintzner agreed to become the new Vice Chairman.  Ironically, Lintzner had left the authority earlier in the year after 23 years of serving on it, and returned with the intention of only holding a temporary post.

"Talk about getting suckered," said Lintnzer, laughing.