(Spirit Lake)– Controversy over plans by Dickinson county to install three additional culverts to increase capacity at the Lower Gar outlet has been fairly quiet the past couple of weeks…that is until today (Tues.).
The issue came back to the surface at the board of supervisors meeting when Phil Peterson of the Okoboji Protective Association, an advocate on increasing the outflow at the Lower Gar outlet, expressed concern over the amount of time it’s taking to set up a meeting between the supervisors, representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DNR, the Milford city council and other entities involved in the dispute. Peterson recommended the supervisors continue to arrange such a meeting , but to get it scheduled soon. He also called on them to follow through with action they took previously. That includes the action to install the three additional culverts, authorization of an engineering firm to design the project with bid documents to be received June 16th and bids to be opened July 14th.
Peterson also recommended the supervisors devise a contingency plan in the event flooding of the lakes should appear imminent prior to any recommendations from the Corps of Engineers being implemented.
Supervisor Mardi Allen also expressed her concern that such a meeting between the various entities hadn’t been scheduled…some two weeks after it was decided to go ahead with such a session. She got a speaker phone out of a storage closet and calls were made to the various entities to try to set something up. As of late this (Tues.) afternoon, no date had been arrived at yet.
