By Joy Warren
The Town of White Lake Board of Commissioners received a schedule of events for the White Lake Water Festival scheduled for Friday, May 21st and Saturday, May 22nd at its meeting Tuesday night.
Events and activities include Rotary Golf Tournament, Vineyards Golf Course; Classic Car Cruise-In and music at Goldston’s Beach; Car and Truck show at Lake Church; Parade on White Lake Drive; Arts, Crafts, Food Vendors, Business Booths, Wrestlers, Joy the Clown, and music at Goldston’s Beach. Please be aware that even though this will be an outdoor event, participants are required to wear face masks and to practice social distancing.
The monthly White Lake “Lake” Water Management report was provided to the Board. It included “What We Know About White Lake” – It is small and shallow so it can change relatively quickly. The main water source is rainfall. Recent rainfall pH change is up by 1 unit (normal lake pH is now 6-7). Water chemistry does not provide a buffer against pH change. Algae blooms can increase pH up to 2 units. The total Phosphorus levels are similar to historic values. At pH range of 6-8, Phosphorus is bound (not available to algae)to naturally occurring aluminum in sediments. Aluminum is also found in groundwater and acidic swamp water. The total Nitrogen levels are much higher now (same as other Bay Lakes). Rainfall is the primary source of nitrogen. There has been a five-fold increase in ammonia deposition, which can be rapidly utilized by algae. Big rains are happening more frequently due to climate change and algae blooms can result from big rains. More information from the report and current data can be found at http://whitelakewatch.com/.
The Board accepted the FY 19/20 Audit report from Bryon Scott contingent upon approval by the NC Local Government Commission.
Brian Cox with Engineering Services provided updates for Phase 1 & 2 of the Sanitary Sewer Improvement Project. The updates are posted on the Town’s website and the White Lake Watch website.
Sean Martin, Town Administrator, recommended to the Board that due to the amount of project costs for Phase II of the Multi-Use Path, that the 3 current bids be dismissed. A formal bid process would be done at a later time so that hopefully a more stable building cost will be available and would give time to look for additional funding sources.
In other administrative matters, the Board approved Tax Releases ($482.66), Tax Refunds ($95.84), and Utility Releases ($2,022.65); approved the Bladen County/White Lake Fire Department Funding agreement and Automatic Aid agreement; and approved budget ordinances and amendments.
Mayor Goldston Womble announced that The Education Writers Association recently awarded their 2020 National Awards for Education Reporting to Robert Kinlaw for the Visual Storytelling category. He won first place with a video entitled “Becoming the Conductor”. He is the son of Tim and Cathy Kinlaw of White Lake.
The municipal complex will be closed Monday, May 31st in observance of Memorial Day. A public works employee will be on call to respond to any water/sewer emergencies.
The virtual meeting was adjourned until Tuesday, May 25th at 6 p.m. for an in-person budget committee meeting.
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