Plans to open Lake Seaton to boating and fishing have once again hit a bump in the road. The most recent delay comes in response to questions over who will be responsible for enforcing the rules and regulations that govern recreational access to the lake.

Outgoing County Attorney Tommy Greer told the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that while a contract between the county and the Carroll County Water Authority has been drafted, it was his recommendation that it not be signed. As it’s written, he said, the county would agree to enforce proper permitting as well as the rules that mandate what kind of boats can be used on the lake and what kind of activities are allowed.

Not only could such enforcement pose logistical staffing problems but it could also open the county to legal disputes. The county would be forced to purchase liability insurance, and because the property belongs not to the county but to the Water Authority, it could be difficult maintaining insurance coverage, Greer said.

There’s been preliminary talk about the sheriff’s department shouldering the load of regulatory enforcement, though it would require a deputy be there at all open times to check permits and ensure lake rules are followed.

A more realistic solution might be to do as the city of Carrollton has done with Lake Carroll. An attendant is at the lake during work hours to make sure everyone has the right permits, and the game warden plays the role of lake police.

Even if the county did decide to go another route concerning who should provide enforcement, the warden would be required to enforce state and federal laws on the lake, as it would become a public waterway and fall under a greater jurisdiction.

“According to state law, I don’t care if the Sheriff’s Office or whoever checks on it or not. I’m still going to check,” said Eric Brown, conservation corporal with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

That still leaves open the question of permitting. Anyone fishing on the lake will not only have to be a registered boater and have a fishing license from the state, but they’ll also be required to have a boating and fishing permit issued from the Water Authority. While a game warden would have the authority to check boat registration and state-issued licenses, he’d have no power to punish those who were on the water without a permit. A full-time attendant could provide a temporary solution, but as is the case with Lake Carroll, once the attendant goes home for the evening, “it’s just a free-for-all,” Brown said.

This is not the first time the process of allowing recreation on the lake has stalled. Although the Water Authority’s bylaws call for limited recreational access on Lake Seaton, the authority never enacted those bylaws, causing an uproar among nearby property owners who claim they had been told that the reservoir would eventually be open for recreational use when they bought their property.

The tensions between residents and the authority swelled to the point that, in early 2008, several landowners brought a lawsuit against the authority for breech of contract.

Since then, however, the process has largely rolled along unimpeded. It was agreed that the contract regarding the lake was to be finalized and the county was to provide the necessary infrastructure in early 2009. But now the contract is going back to the lawyers, and the lake is still without a parking lot.

Commissioner Kevin Jackson said the project may be coming together slowly but it should still be ready for use in the spring. Any delays that are limiting the lake’s use now should be ironed out in the weeks to come. After all, he said, the county is hardly setting a precedent in allowing recreation on one of its waterways.

“I know the Water Authority is going to look into it, and we’re going to look into it,” he said. “This is not something that has not been done before. There are lakes all over the state where the governing body has allowed the general public to use it. This one shouldn’t be any different.”