FALCONER — It’s not known how many acres of Chautauqua Lake in the town of Ellicott will be approved for herbicide treatment by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

As a result, it’s also unknown how much it will cost the town to contract with SOLitude Lake Management for the treatment.

On Monday, the Ellicott Town Board held a special meeting to hear about their options from William Duncanson Jr., town attorney, who discussed the contract proposal from SOLitude. He said the proposed contract is basically the same as it was last year other than it doesn’t go into exact detail about the payment terms. He added that the proposal doesn’t have an acreage determination, so how much the town would pay SOLitude is still undetermined.

Duncanson said it won’t be determined how many acres the state DEC will approve until SOLitude does a survey of the lake, which is scheduled to happen this week. The town applied for 85.3 acres to treat Eurasian watermilfoil and 113.9 acres to treat curly-leaf pondweed. In past years, the DEC has approved less acreage for treatment than requested by the town.

The town has three options that were discussed during its special meeting Monday. Option one would be to sign the contract with SOLitude not knowing how much they might eventually pay for the herbicide treatment. Option two would be to place a maximum amount of money they would be willing to pay for the herbicide treatment. Option three, which is the one Duncanson recommended, was to wait until the survey of the lake is completed and the DEC determines how many acres will be approved for herbicide treatment.

“There is no hard figure,” he said. “Who knows what the DEC will approve.”

Duncanson said last year the town didn’t finalize its contract with SOLitude until July, so there is still time.

After hearing the advice of its attorney, the board passed a resolution to not approve the contract with SOLitude until they know how many acres the DEC will approve and how much it will cost the town.