Ocean Shores staff to seek $80,000 from council for 2025 canal and lake weed treatment

Ocean Shores staff told the Freshwater Advisory Board on July 7 that the city received two proposals for 2025 lake and canal weed management and that the low bid came from Aqua Technics. Becky, a city staff member leading the item, said Aqua Technics wrote the city's Integrated Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan and would handle permitting, surveys and the year-end Ecology report.

The city plans to ask the City Council for roughly $80,000 to cover administrative and treatment work for 2025. "The administrative part of the project includes permitting, posting notices, pre and post treatment surveys, and the year end report that's required for ecology," Becky said, adding the administrative portion is $10,225.

Why it matters: the city said it is catching up after years without systematic canal treatment and that last year's harvesting and treatment did not meet expectations. The proposed approach would allow the city to use a treatment that can be applied outside the seasonal fish window and to pilot different management units and cost levels.

Key details given to the board included per-acre treatment rates and a one-time product cost. Becky presented prices the company offered: $375 per acre for algae and submerged species; $1,750 per acre for pennywort; and a ProcellaCOR-style treatment option listed at $8,500 for an entire area (not per application). Becky told the board, "I'm going to council with a request of $80,000 for this. It typically runs between last year was 79,000, so we're pretty right on with what we did last year."

Board members asked clarifying questions about prior vendors and historic treatment patterns. Becky said the city did not work with Aqua Technics previously for treatment and that earlier long-term contractor Doug Dorling, who handled treatments for decades, has died. She also noted that two years earlier some canals were treated selectively while other years saw little or no treatment.

Discussion items the board flagged for follow-up included: (1) matching Herrera's unitized assessment and cost estimates to field inspection assignments, (2) publishing the consultant's report and town-hall schedule for public input, and (3) confirming permitting and the ability to apply certain products outside the fish-protection window.

Next steps: staff will present the budget request to City Council and intends to hold a public town hall this summer to review Herrera's consultant report and treatment options.

The discussion was informational; the advisory board did not vote on a contract or fund allocation at this meeting.