City Council takes steps to save shrinking lake

ISHPEMING — The City of Ishpeming is trying to save one of it’s most scenic locations from disappearing.

Lake Bancroft has been going through a eutrophication process. What had once been a thriving fishery is now filling with soil.

“The results of this are that there’s more algae blooming in the lake, that the lake may tend to have more odor from gasses produced by the decomposition of organic matter, basically, slowly the lake is becoming a swamp,” said City Manager Mark Slown.

The Lake Bancroft Committee has been treating the issue for the past two years, so the lake isn’t un-fixable yet. But, to keep the problem from getting worse, the City Council voted to apply for an Aquatic Habitat Grant from the DNR. Slown is working on revising the application after receiving feedback, and he’ll resubmit it in a few days.

Another big project tackled by the council were the wages of the Fire Department.

“They haven’t had a raise in the fire department since 2013 and here it is, about to be 2016. They were getting $9.61 an hour, now they’ll be getting $10.21 an hour. The total cost of that for the city will be around $3,200. So, I think it’s well deserved, and probably a little overdue, maybe,” Slown added.

Ishpeming has thirty fully trained volunteer firemen. Having a volunteer force is actually a cost saving measure for the city, as firefighters are only paid when they actually fight a fire, rather than getting paid to sit at a fire hall.