Good presentation by staff this evening. There were also representatives from the state department of Game and Inland fisheries. Packed room – I wish there were that many people on a regular basis.

What the presentation from the staff illustrated is that, at this point, there are as many question as answers. However, the staff laid out a very good course of action for us to pursue and the Council voted to direct staff to try to fill in the holes. With any deal like this, the success or failure will be in the details that emerge so stay tuned.

The timeline is a unclear at this point. If the deal is to work there are at least 3 governmental agencies that will have to iron out operating and other agreements. At this time of year with the holidays and state and local budget season approaching it may take some time finish. If there is any good news, it is that this is primarily a staff-driven effort so even if the Council or GA doesn’t have time to work on it, this should not seriously impede progress.

If you have a burning desire to stay abreast of the situation, the utilities meetings (or minutes thereof) would be the best place to look.

There is, as mentioned in the WaPo this weekend, a meeting on Monday night about reopening Lake Manassas. It is at Public Works.

I’ve read the backup material and I’m interested to hear from staff on this item and see what can be done. I suppose that I have 2 chief concerns:

1. Maintenance of safe drinking water. People will ridicule that statement, spout all kinds of studies and facts, call me spineless and lots of other stuff but the fact is that if we cannot ensure continued availability of water from the lake, this ain’t happening – at least in my view. i know that a select few might be put out with me if we don’t do this but I believe I will have truly failed the community if the lake gets contaminated due to a bad decision on my part. The lake is a great advantage for our City: witness the fights that Fairfax and other localities have had to endure to get access to drinking water.

2. Cost. I wouldn’t mind talking about one-time startup costs but an operating subsidy would be problematic. I’ve read and heard from those that insist this is a money-making proposition but that wasn’t our experience the last time around. Someone brought me a MJM clipping that covered the council’s deliberation concerning the marina years ago and the operator of the marina was coming back for money for new boat motors, facility improvements, etc. I don’t point this out to condemn the operator but to illustrate the facts of our previous experience. Ideally this would pay for itself on an operational basis.

If we can cover those two bases then we could probably start to get this moving. If not, well….not. I know that this is going to be a emotional issue so fair warning: If you want to post, be thoughtful. If you want to rant or insult others, I’m going to delete it.