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| Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Atkins offers alternative plan for weeds
Published June 13, 2009
The Jackson County Commission received an alternate plan for aquatic weed control at Monday's meeting.
Former commissioner J.D. Atkins addressed the commission telling them he has a plan that would take care of aquatic weed control all over the county and less expensively than the fluridone used by the Roseberry Creek Rescue Group.
Atkins proposed hiring one county and one city employee that would be trained in aquatic weed spraying. He said they would only need to spray for weeds two or three weeks out of the year and could be used for other jobs the rest of the time.
Atkins said he was told by a "credible gentleman" that Roseberry Rescue paid $1,200 per gallon for the fluridone treatment they used. Lowell Bivens, who is a member of the group, confirmed this was accurate.
Atkins said a safe chemical was available for purchase that would kill milfoil down to the roots but only costs $50 per gallon.
Atkins, who lives in the Roseberry Creek area but said the water in front of his property would not be included in the spraying, urged the commission to approve paying to spray Roseberry Creek but said his plan offers the opportunity to take care of all the areas of the county.
Bivens also addressed the commission, again urging them to pay their fourth of the expense for spraying Roseberry Creek with fluridone.
Roseberry Creek Rescue representatives have addressed the commission on several occasions, asking the commission to pay $42,500 to share in the costs of spraying the area with the homeowners association, Scottsboro City Council and the Jackson County Legislative Delegation all paying the same amount. The other three groups agreed to pay their share, but the commission had not voted on the matter.
Bivens reported Roseberry Creek has already received three treatments, and they expect to be finished by July 4.
Bivens said the group did not want to take a chance on a cheaper product that might be harmful to the environment or ineffective, but they did use a generic form of fluridone which reduced the cost by $500 a gallon.
"We never intended to solve the problems of all of the areas of the county," Bivens said. "Roseberry Creek would have been unusable after this year if it had not been treated."
Commissioner Jack Smith made a motion to not fund the project, saying, "I feel we can't give money to just one group."
Bivens said the principle was the same as fixing a road in one area of the county since tax dollars would be used but not everyone would use that road. He said Roseberry Creek is open to everyone in the county if they choose to use it.
The commission voted unanimously to not fund the project.
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