Weatherly Borough Council plans to move ahead with recreational fishing at the lake in Eurana Park, but not without some opposition.

Council on Monday discussed a plan to allow fishing for a fee at the lake, which had been used for swimming for decades.

Resident Beth Parker wanted to know why they were going with fishing without asking residents. Others have recently posted on social media about continuing to use the lake for swimming.

But council members explained that the swimming program wasn’t working. Fewer than 10 kids a week used the lake, and it cost the borough $25,000 to $30,000 a year to run the program with lifeguards, staff and chemicals.

“Do I wish the kids could swim? Absolutely,” Councilman Michael Bellizia said, adding that the program wasn’t working when only two kids — or no kids — were swimming a day.

The borough, which is now experiencing financial difficulties, could not continue to pour that amount of money into swimming at the lake, he said.

Councilmen Joe Cyburt and Vincent Cuddeford II agreed that the lake wasn’t being used.

Cuddeford said that times have changed, and many people bought pools due to the low cost and availability.

Borough Manager Harold Pudliner said that the borough might want to change the rules for fishing, if they go ahead with it this year.

Council last year moved ahead with a plan to charge people a daily rate to fish and then a per-pound cost for each fish caught. Pudliner said that they’d have to buy a commercial scale to weigh the fish.

Council members thought that plan might be too complicated, and considered options for a daily rate, such as $10 per person, and set limit of fish.

Parker also criticized a daily rate, saying that people couldn’t afford to pay that amount, especially children and seniors on a fixed income.

Former Councilman Joe Thomas said that he was the person responsible, as he served on council when this was proposed as fun fishing for the community. The borough was dealing with cost of the pool, including chemicals and liability, and came up with this idea, he said.

“There were no children swimming, because it’s a sign of the times,” Thomas said.

They envisioned a fishing program to allow senior citizens who weren’t able to travel to fish to enjoy time at the lake, he said, and even get people signed up to instruct folks on fly fishing.

The borough even had fish donated to stock the lake twice, Thomas said.

Council members discussed options moving forward, including possible per rod fishing with limit, similar to other pay-to-fish facilities mentioned, and wanted to get more information on the pricing.

They also discussed offering fishing on the weekends, possibly Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to start, rather than a seven day a week operation to due to staffing.

Council did not make any decision on pricing, staffing or hours, but agreed on moving forward with the recreational fishing program. They planned to have more information ready for their next meeting to move ahead.

The borough is probably going to encounter problems as they get the program up and running,

Bellizia said, but he and others wanted to see them move forward this summer to start working out the bugs.