POA searching for superintendent
Although there were not enough members present to form a quorum, the Joint Advisory Committee on Lakes met Wednesday and were among the first to hear that the POA is once again looking for a Lakes and Parks Superintendent.
Vern Olafson retired after 12 years in the position.
Last week he brought Jay Cox in to meet the Board of Directors and introduced him as the new superintendent.
After only four days on the job, Cox told Mike Taggart, director of Maintenance and Construction, he had changed his mind and wasn’t interested in working for the POA.
The only explanation Taggart could offer was that Cox, who had spent 30 years in the state Parks Department, was “overwhelmed.”
The hiring process will start all over again, Taggart said. Fisheries Biologist Rick Echols, who started with the POA in January, will help fill in, Taggart said.
Taggart offered a report on the Loch Lomond fishing dock project, which the Lakes Committee recommended to the Board. A contractor has been hired to do the work, he said, but he did not have a timeline for the project. Work encompasses relocating the present fishing dock and adding ramps until it reaches deep water.
Echols reported to the board that he’s planning to round up about 50 Canada geese next month. The geese will be harvested and the meat will be donated, he said.
The fish in the golf course nursery ponds are doing well, Echols said. The state has already delivered 25,000 small walleye but probably won’t allow Echols to move the two-inch walleye he purchased out of state for one of his nursery ponds. The state offered the free fry partially as compensation for the out-of-state walleye, although Echols said he hasn’t heard the final word on moving the fish. Arkansas Game and Fish Commission rules prohibit introduction of species from out of state.
The other pond is filled with baby crappie — the offspring of local crappie — that will be moved to area lakes in the fall, Echols said.
When the meeting moved on to the open forum, three POA members wanted to speak about problems with loud teenagers on the lakes at night. The fishing dock at Lake Avalon is a hangout, one member said, with kids jumping from the roof and some vandalism. The cars parked in the area often have Missouri plates, she said, so it’s obvious that the teenagers are not POA members.
One member said that the police told her to talk to the POA’s lake rangers, but there were no lake rangers on duty.
Board member John Nuttall, the liaison to the Lakes Committee, assured the members that the police will respond if laws are being broken. Vandalism is definitely against the law, he said. He encouraged her to call the police if the teens are loud or aggressive. The more calls they get, the more likely they are to respond. He also assured the members that the POA is trying to hire more lake rangers.