Deputy County Executive for Economic Development Mark Geise, left, and Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello jointly answer interview questions about the Memorandum of Agreement for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy during the seventh Turner Winter Series lecture concerning the welfare of Chautauqua Lake. P-J photo by Eric Zavinski

CHAUTAUQUA — “Don’t let us get caught up in the weeds and drown,” said Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello with optimistic conviction regarding Chautauqua Lake’s future during Tuesday night’s edition of the Turner Winter Series of lectures.

Last Wednesday, Borrello made the announcement that 14 entities involved with lake-related matters will have three weeks to sign onto the recently created Memorandum of Agreement for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy. County officials helped facilitate the writing of the agreement, and Mark Geise, deputy county executive for economic development, joined Borrello with answers to questions posed by Host Greg Peterson at the Turner Community Center.

With two groups — the town of Busti and the Chautauqua County government itself — having already signed onto the memo, there remains a long way to go for as many organizations as possible to sign onto the binding document in the next two weeks before the April 17 deadline.

As such, Borrello and Geise wanted to share insight regarding the county-penned document and how it came to be.

The process started with informal discussions Borrello had with lake nonprofits, including the Chautauqua Lake Association, Chautauqua Lake Partnership and Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy. He also asked for input from lakefront municipalities, including the towns of Chautauqua, North Harmony, Busti, Ellicott and Ellery, and villages of Lakewood and Celoron.

A Buffalo-based firm, Ecology and Environment, was then contracted by the county to conduct formal interviews with the 14 organizations, which also include Chautauqua Institution, the Chautauqua Fishing Alliance and Chautauqua Lake Fishing Association.

Following discussions, Borrello said he noticed that almost everyone agreed on most aspects of what needed done on the lake. Concerns each group had were also summarized, and then translated into 24 tenets outlined in the memo.

“This is the first time we’ve had an agreement of any kind,” Borrello noted.

Since the interview process was seen as thorough by county officials involved with the project, Borrello said revisions won’t be made to the document and reiterated that not everyone is going to get 100 percent of what they want for the lake.

“We’re standing strong on that,” Borrello said. “There are no real handcuffs (in the agreement).”

The sophomore county executive then expressed speculation that those who don’t sign onto the agreement are possibly not considering what is in the best interests of the lake and overall community around it; he said on multiple occasions this year that he wants to stomp out the extremes ideas concerning lake weed management in organizations and hopes that who all remain can come together by agreeing on the tenets in the memo.

Some of the more notable tenets include signatory organizations not being able to file legal action against each other in the cases of perceived wrongdoing, herbicides only being applied to a maximum of 25 percent of littoral zones and a lake authority making decisions as to how the future weed management strategy will be implemented.

“That’s where the weeds grow,” Geise said regarding the near-shore waters in which aquatic vegetation sprouts.

Macrophytes, or lake weeds, are the concern of the memo. Harmful algal blooms are another concern for the lake, but Geise also stated that since HABs are so different, he wanted the memo to focus on a strategy for managing just lake weeds.

Tenets of the memo can change in the future as well. As it stands, the document is set to be revised every two years in the spring. The current agreement will go into effect May 1 and expire April 30, 2021.

“There was a positive response,” Borrello said of the press conference during which he unveiled the memo March 27.

Borrello said individuals who have approached him have been “overwhelmingly positive” about the memo. He said he’s hopeful that most, if not all entities, will sign onto the agreement.

Peterson asked Borrello why he got involved and if there was a specific moment that urged him to become more active in lake affairs. Borrello answered by saying that lake consensus needed leadership, and when he found out all stakeholders agreed on most things, he saw a goal in sight. He also expressed how the lake’s problems need addressed for the benefit of property owners, recreationalists and wildlife before things get worse.

“Certainly the word gets out: ‘don’t go there,'” Borrello paraphrased regarding the perception of the lake. “I’m a big believer that perception is reality.”

From homeowners in Burtis Bay, who are still living with the site of weeds that killed thousands of fish last fall, to Hart Hotels CEO David Hart, who brought the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel into business in Celoron with the help of his business partner Peter Krog, there are people in the south basin of Chautauqua Lake who are frustrated with near-shore conditions.

“Perception is that the lake is in peril,” Borrello added.

Both him and Geise said the consensus strategy proposed will strengthen the lake by strengthening the lake organizations with one mission: to make the lake usable and healthy for everyone.

Follow Eric Zavinski at twitter.com/EZavinski