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Lake Leota referendum approved

EVANSVILLE — Despite the struggling economy, Evansville voters decided by more than a 2-to-1 margin to spend up to $2 million to dredge Lake Leota.

Seventy percent of voters—1,742—wanted the lake restored in the advisory referendum.

“It’s pretty clear that regardless of the economy … the people in Evansville aren’t worried about this expenditure,” City Council President Mason Braunschweig said.

The results are better than David Roang, vice chairman of the Save Our Lake Environment, predicted.

“It just shows how people really feel about this treasure that we have in our community,” he said. “It’s very heartwarming in this time—these financial times of all times—people still recognize the need to invest in that kind of an asset in the community.”

In “this day and age,” people take a short view on things, from a company’s quarterly results to a day at the stock market, but voters took a longer view in their referendum decision, he said.

Since the referendum was only advisory, the final decision to dredge the lake rests in the hands of the city council members. They will meet Tuesday night to vote on moving forward with the project.

“This is something that the people here want in a resounding fashion,” Braunschweig said.

It’s pretty obvious which way he will vote, he said, because he’s said all along he would vote however the referendum turned out.

If the council approves the project, several steps already are in place so the dredging can begin when the ground freezes.

“It would mean we’d have the lake back in spring,” Mayor Sandy Decker said.

The project is out for bids now with a deadline of Monday afternoon, she said.

The project is attracting attention from contractors across the Midwest, including some of the best in the state, Braunschweig said. A special public works meeting could be scheduled Monday to review the bids in preparation for the next day’s council meeting, when the council could pick a contractor, he said.

“We’re hoping to see some movement relatively quickly,” he said. “No playing around this time. This isn’t like the last couple (approved) referenda. This one’s serious.”

Plans call for removing about 200,000 cubic yards of sediment and depositing it on nearby farmland. The project is designed to create a fore bay where sediment coming into the lake could accumulate so that future dredging only would be needed in one smaller area, Decker said.

“It’s designed well,” she said. “I think it’s just going to take care of this (so), hopefully, we won’t have to do this again for while.”

Braunschweig said he’s happy that he and former council member Fred Juergens first pushed for a referendum.

“It’s important for a project like this because this is (a community project),” he said.