WEST MILFORD Ross Kushner, Executive Director of the Pequannock River Coalition, sought the agreement of the council this week to launch an innovative environmental project. Kushner hopes the council will support the Coalition’s plan to install a short PVC pipe underneath the surface of the lake in Westbrook Park to siphon cooler waters from the depths of the lake to benefit the ponds downstream. The objective for the plan is to save trout that are unable to survive when the water temperature rises above certain levels in the summer. Kushner said “On a hot day the surface temperature of the water can rise above 80 degrees. Trout will die in waters which get to around 82 or 83 degrees.” The plan would allow the pipe to take water which may be as much as 8 to 10 degrees cooler from greater depths in the lake and siphon it to flow over the dam in Westbrook. At present only the surface water finds its way over the dam and it is this water, which is at the greatest temperature, which is causing the problem. If successful, and Kushner admits that there is no guarantee that it will be, the cooler water brought downstream by the siphon pipe will lower the overall temperature of the lake flowing into the ponds and it is hoped will preserve the trout stocks found in those ponds. Council President Bill Gervens encouraged the council to support the plan saying, “I think this is the right track to take.” Gervens was supported by his council colleagues and Kushner can now proceed with his plans. New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection have agreed in principle to fund the project which Kushner hopes will have an initial life span of five years. Kushner explained there would be no financial responsibility to the township as the Coalition would monitor the results from the project and he hoped the Windbeam club would assist in the project’s maintenance. The Windbeam club is a private trout fishing group who if the project proves successful will reap the benefit of increased numbers of trout downstream from Westbrook dam. In other business: After a two year absence the council has put forward nominations for West Milford’s Volunteer of the Year. A committee of Bob Nolan, James Warden and Carmello Scangarello considered all the nominations submitted. Blood drive supremo Jim Gilligan was selected for 2004 while long time recreation volunteer Mark Lynch was given the nod for 2005. Newly re-elected council member Phil Weisbecker had hoped to upset the order of things on the council, literally. Weisbecker had asked at the council reorganization meeting last week if the order of voting could be alternated. Currently, Weisbecker always goes first, Carmello Scangarello goes last. While gaining support for his idea from council members Bob Nolan and James Warden Joseph Elcavage, Bill Gervens and Scangarello did not see a need for change. Mayor Joseph DiDonato, likewise, said, “Keeping it the way it is now will help ensure the Clerk’s office will not have difficulty recording the council member’s votes.” Weisbecker also called for improved relations with Passaic County and the City of Newark. Weisbecker is asking for the council to set up liaison committee’s to meet regularly with the county’s Board of Chosen Freeholders and with officials from Newark, who Weisbecker identified as the town’s largest property taxpayer, in order than improved communication and possible partnership in future projects could ensue. The council will consider Weisbecker’s ideas at a future workshop meeting.