(Spirit Lake)– Controversy continued to flow at Tuesday’s Dickinson county board of supervisors meeting over the county’s plans to increase the outflow at the Lower Gar Outlet. A near capacity crowd was on hand for the session, requested by the city of Milford. City Administrator Brian Reed addressed a number of concerns the city has, ranging from liability and other possible legal issues to the timeframe for the work.
Reed asked Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders if the county intends to move forward with the project, even though the city, which has partial jurisdiction over the road involved, is against it. Saunders responded saying he believes it’s the board’s intent to move forward in atleast some fashion. Reed then reiterated the issue over the city’s partial jurisdiction of the road, saying the city has no intention of allowing access to its portion of the road “for anything related to this project”.
Reed also requested a joint meeting be held between the city and county be held on the matter sometime in the next week or so. The supervisors seemed receptive to the request, but one, Wayne Northey, said he feels plenty of joint meetings have already been held.
Another supervisor, Mardi Allen, expounded on comments from some in the crowd coverned over liability in the event the county does the project and there’s flooding downstream. She said the county is in a no-win situation, saying they could also be sued by residents on West Lake Okoboji should nothing be done and their shorelines are damaged further during high water.
Several who live and or own property on the lower chain of lakes which are already shallow, worry the added outflow would drain even more water from them, making them useless.
A date for the joint meeting between the county and Milford officials wasn’t immediately set.
Meanwhile, the Milford City Council has scheduled a special meeting for 7:00 p.m. this (Wed.) evening. A closed session to once again discuss possible litigation over the issue is the lone item on the agenda.
