After almost an hour of discussion about whether to chemically treat Fountain Lake for excessive algae, the Albert Lea City Council voted Monday to let the lake go as is for the remainder of the year.

City Council members indicated they would like to budget for the copper sulfate treatment next year and work with the Shell Rock River Watershed District to develop a plan of action for the treatment. For this year, however, funds are short and it is already late in the summer season.

“I look at the lake every day when I get up in the morning and every day when I come home,” Councilor Larry Baker said. “It is an issue we need to deal with.”

The discussion came about after Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Susie Petersen submitted a formal letter to the council asking to address the issue as soon as possible.

Petersen’s letter followed much controversy this summer as to whether the lake should be treated with copper sulfate to reduce its green hue.

“People who come into our town love our lakes and they love our community,” Petersen said.

She markets Albert Lea as the Land Between the Lakes and takes a great source of pride in it being such, she said.

If the lake could not be treated this year, she asked for the council to budget for it in 2009.

City Manager Victoria Simonsen said thus far the treatment is not budgeted for in 2009, unlike an earlier belief that it was. There had been a discrepancy about whether it was still included, she said.

If the council members want to keep the money in, they will have to vote to do so when they approve the budget. Until they vote, nothing is final.

Simonsen said she thinks there was some copper sulfate left from last year, but she doesn’t know how much. She said she is going to be looking into the whereabouts of the chemical and finding out exactly how much remains. This could make a difference in how much has to be purchased.

During the discussion, City Council members drilled Shell Rock River Watershed District Administrator Brett Behnke with questions about the district’s contribution to Fountain Lake and Behnke’s professional opinion about the matter.

“We do not oppose the treatment of the lake,” Behnke said. “However, we do not treat it.”

He said there are many people who have mixed opinions about the treatment, but in his opinion, “It’s safe, not harmful,” if it’s applied properly.

The watershed district constructed core samples of the lake, and it did not come back with any hot spots, he said.

Councilor Al Brooks asked whether treating the late this far in the season would be noticeable.

Behnke said it would, especially combined with the cooler evenings.

Councilor Vern Rasmussen expressed his frustration with the watershed district.

He said he knows the long-range goal of the district is water quality, but he asked, how long is it going to be before people can start seeing a difference?

Behnke explained several projects, which are set up to reduce loading of sediment.

“In the next five to 10 years, you’re going to see a huge impact on the upper watershed, and you’re never going to have this conversation again,” he said.

Councilor John Severtson asked why the Shell Rock River Watershed District or Freeborn County won’t participate in cleaning up the lake.

Behnke replied that that is not the watershed’s duty. Their duty is water quality, he said, and if they did it for Fountain Lake, they would have to do it for other lakes, too, including Pickerel Lake, where the algae problem originates.

Severtson asked who owns Fountain Lake.

Simonsen said she asked the county attorney that same question and he said that “the people” own the lake.

Behnke said if it were his position, he would have treated the lake closer to the Fourth of July, even though the lake wasn’t as green yet.

“If you apply it, it’s going to do something. It’s going to be less green,” he said.

Behnke said the watershed does not oppose the treatment of the lake.

“I don’t think it’s a perfect thing for the lake, but I don’t think it’s going to hurt your lake,” he said.

Councilors and Mayor Randy Erdman asked for the watershed’s help in coming up with a plan of action for the treatment, and Behnke responded he would do whatever he could to help.

“We are not the experts on the lake,” Erdman said. “We do need some kind of plan if this is going to take some kind of long-term plan.”

Every year, the council goes through the same process, he said, and every year, they’re told that eventually everything will get better. It doesn’t, Erdman said, and that needs to change.

In other action, the City Council:

– Voted to enter into an agreement with Alliant Energy to use funds through their shared savings program to complete a geothermal project at City Arena.

The proposed project will convert the refrigeration and heating systems from gas and electric sources to geothermal energy. It would create an annual net savings of nearly $45,000 per year in utility costs and a reduction of more than 300,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

The cost of the project is anticipated to be $950,000, with about $310,000 available through the shared savings program and the remainder being a city cost.

– Accepted bids and awarded the contract for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 biosolids hauling contract to Oyer Trucking out of Hayward with a low bid of about $239,000.

The engineer’s estimate was $252,200.

– Accepted bids and awarded the contract for the street reconstruction and water main replacement on Ridge Road. The contract was awarded to Sorenson Bros. Inc. of Albert Lea for about $184,000.

– Approved a Youth First Athletic Program agreement with the Albert Lea School District and Community Education.

The program involves multiple sports designed for seventh- and eighth-grade boys and girls during the 2008-09 school year.

The cost will be split equally between the city, the school district and Community Education, not to exceed $13,000 each.