(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday authorized County Engineer Dan Eckert to write up a proposal to be sent out to engineering firms to design a new culvert to be placed at the Lower Gar Outlet.
Eckert, who said his crews are busy on other projects, was given the authorization after the matter was brought to the table by Supervisor Wayne Northey.
Northey expressed his frustration over the issue, which has been ongoing since the 1993 flood. The county has long wanted to either replace existing culverts with bigger ones or put in additional ones, but has met strong opposition from the city of Milford, which has stopped short of threatening an injunction if plans for the project proceed. City officials are concerned over the potential liability for any flooding downstream that could be blamed on any changes made at the outlet.
Northey said Tuesday he had met recently with a member of the Milford city council in hopes of reaching a compromise over the type of culvert to be put in. But he says that effort failed, adding “It’s better to move forward together than not move forward”.
Eckert was directed to write up the request for proposals and bring it back to the supervisors for their review prior to it being sent out to engineering firms for quotes.
