Wayland water committee blocked from Heard Pond herbicide permit by funding gap

WAYLAND -- April 10, 2024, Wayland's Surface Water Quality Committee said a $3,500 Heard Pond herbicide permit is stalled by missing funding. Chair Thomas Klem told the panel Wednesday that Town Manager Michael McCall has not identified a source for the money the Select Board approved last month for a Notice of Intent permit to be filed by vendor Solitude Lake Management. The committee voted 3-0 to send member Thomas J. Largy to confront McCall directly, with Largy warning the alternative is that "the town abandons the pond." A separate $1,500 Solitude invoice for a 10-page year-end Heard Pond survey, hand-delivered in November, remains unpaid; Assistant Town Administrator John Bugbee has said it will be paid "under protest." Member Carole Plumb cited roughly $600,000 sitting in unreconciled town accounts as evidence of broader financial-controls problems. The panel also approved roughly $10,000 in hand-pulling for the 2024 season from its FY25 budget.