Johnson takes over as head of TLAC

Russ Johnson was elected chairman and Stan Smith was re-elected vice chairman of the Tri-County Lake Administrative Commission during elections at its Tuesday board meeting. Ralph Brush was elected secretary/treasurer.

The board also acknowledged appointments by the counties and participating organizations. They are as follows:

Bedford County: Kathleen Guzi, administrator; Chuck Neudorfer, supervisor; Brush, citizen representative. Franklin County: Rick Huff, administrator; Bob Camicia, supervisor; Johnson, citizen representative. Pittsylvania County: Dan Sleeper, administrator; Jerry Hagerman, supervisor; John Lindsey, alternate/citizen representative. Liz Parcell, Appalachian Power; Smith, SML Association; and Tom Buck, SML Regional Chamber of Commerce.

All 10 members of TLAC's Environmental Committee were reappointed, with Camicia reappointed as chairman. Similarly, all seven members of the Navigation Committee were reappointed and Smith was reappointed chairman.

In other TLAC news:

Pam Dinkle, TLAC's lake management and project coordinator, said the Envinromental Committee is proposing an estimated $190,000 budget for its aquatic vegetation management program. She said that is a high-end estimate and that the actual cost will not be known until the board decides which herbicides it will use to treat invasive aquatic vegetation.

The estimated budget also includes a full-lake survey of aquatic vegetation. Dinkle said the committee has recommended the full survey every year since hydrilla, an aggressive weed, was discovered in the lake about five years ago. The program was approved unanimously.

The board approved the release of a request for proposals (RFP) for the full-lake survey. The RFP was released last month after a vote from TLAC's executive committee, but the board needed to ratify the vote before a subcommittee could review the four proposals received.