Since I was called out in the April 17 Post-Journal opinion piece, I need to make some clarification. The irony here is that because the quote ascribed to me was erroneous or at least out of context, the reality is that my point at the meeting was exactly that of the editorial writer.

My comments at the Mayville Village board meeting were not that folks shouldn’t be “allowed” to voice their opinions at public forums. They should, and are. I never protested the CLP’s inclusion on our schedule, but I have continued to voice the very concerns that the editorial highlighted.

I will also continue to condemn the rogue efforts of the CLP to undermine and subvert the best science that has ever been at work collectively on this lake and watershed. An informed lake management plan may well include spot application of herbicides as a part of that holistic approach, but we are not at that point.

I am in admiration of the work The Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Alliance is doing. It is an Herculean task to bring all of the lake-interested groups together, and there has been some progress toward the informed and focused approach to which the editorial aspired.

However, I also have concerns about the strength of the coalition. The CLP receives funding through the Alliance for their efforts, it’s true, but it would seem to me, then, that the Alliance would have a mechanism in place to make sure that these efforts hold with the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding. If I said the CLP shouldn’t be “allowed” to lobby for wanton herbicide application, my clear indication at the meeting was that those efforts should be subject to some sort of a response from an alliance that is heading toward holistic lake and watershed management. When the group presenting itself belongs to the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Alliance, the implication might be that they are acting as representatives of that alliance.

They are not.

Most, if not all of the other entities who belong to the CLWA are not in favor of the CLPs efforts.

So the bottom line is that the editorial writer and I agree that we need to expect a stronger lake management authority as a result of the very good work by the likes the Jefferson Project, Chautauqua Watershed conservancy, the Chautauqua Lake Association, and the real and ongoing science that is at work on Chautauqua Lake right now.

Bill Ward is a Mayville resident and member of the Mayville Village Board.