The West Point Lake Advisory Committee decided Friday that it likely will spend some more of $37,000 it has left in its budget after economic and environmental studies to buy a boat to aid in water testing on the lake.

Ongoing lake testing, to establish a “baseline” for nutrient and other levels on the lake, has been ongoing since last spring, and the city of LaGrange, which has been doing the tests, has had its protocol approved by the state.

To stick with that protocol, however, the testing must be done on a rigid schedule, and Joe Maltese, the city’s point-man on the lake, said the crew has been forced to skip some days for its own safety.

The testing crew, which includes Maltese and wastewater superintendent Anne Westmoreland, has been using a bass boat to collect data from the headwaters at Franklin to the dam, but the boat isn’t big enough to ac-commodate the crew and heavy testing equipment during times when the lake is choppy. Maltese told the West Point Lake Advisory Committee there’s about an inch of boat hull between the top of the boat and the top of the water.

“We came around the bend the other day and we were in the wake of the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’) pontoon boat,” Maltese said. “We ate that water. And it was cold.”

Maltese said they had to “bail out” the boat after that incident.

The used bass boat was bought from Highland Marina for about $5,000, and Maltese and Dick Timmerberg, executive director of the West Point Lake Coalition, said they want to find another boat for about that price, if they’re able to keep the motor and the trailer from the current boat or arrange a trade.

Patrick Crews, interim chairman of the advisory committee, told the pair to research options for another boat and report back to the committee.

The committee was formed two years ago under the leadership of former Chairman Jeff Brown to raise money for economic and environmental studies on the lake. Last year was spent rallying the community to show up at the corps’ “scoping meeting” for the new water-control plan, which was held in October.

Members of the committee said Friday the group must continue to meet, to be able to react to developments as the water-control plan is completed over the next three or more years.

Many of this area’s comments were included in the scoping report, which suggests to the corps which areas to study as part of the new water-control plan. Maltese said additional pressure may be needed to make sure the area’s concerns are in the final report.

“The next step is to be ‘on guard’ and make sure our issues are addressed,” he said.

Jennifer Shrader can be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.