MITCHELL — For more than a decade, Mike Vehle has participated in many discussions about how to correct Lake Mitchell’s long history of algae woes hampering the body of water. Those years of discussions with past city officials and elected leaders never produced successful results, leaving the community with an aging lake that turns green much more frequently. When city leaders presented a $25 million mechanical dredging project a year ago, Vehle said it was the first large-scale plan he was sold on.
As voters took the polls on June 4 to decide whether the lake dreading project can move forward, a combination of relief and joy is what Vehle felt following the narrow approval of the $16.8 million loan that will finance the project. “I am really grateful for the large turnout we had.
It’s been a long time coming for the community to see a real major improvement project at the lake,” Vehle said. “This is huge that it’s finally here.” As the vice president of Friends of Firesteel, a nonprofit organization that formed to raise money for a future dredging project, Vehle spent a lot of time campaigning for the lake bond issue vote.
ADVERTISEMENT Although the bond issue was approved by a slim margin of 30 votes, Vehle said nearly every resident he spoke with while campaigning for the project wanted to see “something big get done” to improve the lake. “Almost everyone I talked to wanted to see something big get done to the lake. Some weren’t sure what the best .
