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On Thursday, March 1, the House Finance Committee heard testimony on the Lake Titloe Cleanup bill. Jim Swanson, chairman of the Lake Titloe Committee, and Trent Vorlicek, Professor at Minnesota State University-Mankato, testified before the committee.

According to Swanson, the committee responded very favorably to the testimony. The next step for the bill is for the committee to decide on the ranking of this bill to others they hear and determine whether or not it receives funding.

Because it is a one-time funding at this point, it could be funded this year, Swanson said. If not, the bill could be laid back to a task force that would do a site visit to the city of Gaylord to further study the issues. It could then be put into the bonding bill in the next legislative session, he said.

Action is also dependent on what the Senate does. The same bill was heard on Tuesday, March 6, by the Senate Environment and Natural Resource Committee. A number of local residents were going to testify at that hearing, according to Swanson.

The bill requests funding in three areas. One is to provide $150,000 to plan how to construct holding ponds or use lowlands upstream from Lake Titloe to slow water down and clean it before it reaches the lake. It will be like a feasibility study.

The second part of the bill would be an appropriation to the city of Gaylord in the amount of $325,000 to help pay for the diversion of the storm water from the lake to either rain gardens in the park area or a holding pond in east Gaylord.

The third item is to set aside $15,000 to assist landowners with making improvements to the open intake tiles in their fields to stop soil erosion and minimize the amount of nutrient-rich soil that enters the lake.

Representative Terry Morrow and Senator Kathy Sheran are sponsoring the bill.