Hainesville board leans to ILM for three-year Cranberry Lake stewardship plan

Trustees in Hainesville debated two contrasting proposals to manage Cranberry Lake and reached a consensus to proceed with ILM’s three-year stewardship plan.

ILM submitted an updated three-year proposal that presented costs of $25,177 in year one, $27,552 in year two and $32,777 in year three (a three-year total of $85,506, averaging about $28,502 per year) and offered a 5% discount if the board signed a multi-year contract. David Eubanks proposed a first-year plan priced at about $29,000 and indicated he would offer 10–20% discounts in years two and three if he repeated the same scope; trustees noted that Eubanks’ estimates rely on future assumptions and that direct apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult without identical scopes.

Trustees questioned differences in scope: ILM’s plan staggers seeding and reserves prescribed burns to year three, while Eubanks’ proposal assumes repeated year-one treatments with discounts thereafter. Concerns included whether costs should decline after an initial remediation year, how prescribed burns are scheduled and whether a national firm or a local contractor better serves village stewardship goals.

Several trustees emphasized local knowledge: one trustee said Eubanks takes a personal interest in Cranberry Lake and has worked there for years; other trustees favored the structured three-year approach and the discount ILM offered. After discussion the board recorded a consensus to move forward with ILM’s three-year proposal; trustees asked staff to request more granular, comparable line items from both providers if needed for contract finalization.

The board did not record a formal roll-call vote on the selection during the discussion; staff will follow up with contract terms and bring a final contract for a future meeting.