The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Special Meeting
October 5, 2015
6:30 PM
Lake Delhi Administration Building
Delhi, IA
A special meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District was called to order by President Steve Leonard at 6:35 PM.
Trustees Present: Leonard, Colgan, Davidson, Burger, Kramer
Trustees Absent: Gifford, Herman
Recording Secretary: Absent
Visitors: Larry Peter, Eve Peter, Pat Dede, Don Dede, Ed Schmidt, Jim Locke, Lou Christiansen, Sue Christiansen, Jim Willey, Becky Willey, Ben Pasker, Ben Kindred, Randy Rattenborg, Chip Hughes, Bob Galiher, Chloe Colgan, Dan Reyner
President Leonard reviewed the agenda noting that two timely additions were added. Those were a consideration of payment to General Constructors and consideration to request reimbursement from the County for invoices related to the spillway rebuild.
Motion to approve the amended agenda made by Davidson, seconded by Kramer, motion approved.
Leonard asked Pat Colgan to present the proposal from Burrington Group for services required for Lake Delhi startup and operations management. Colgan reminded those in attendance that the District’s operating plan was approved in May of 2014. At last month’s meeting Colgan received approval from the Board to get a proposal put together from Burrington Group. This proposal would be for the administrative part of operating the dam. Colgan has also reached out to Lunda Construction for a proposal for the mechanical operation of the dam as well as Price Electric and Jetco who would cover the software operations of the dam. Burrington Group would be responsible for all recordkeeping, providing an Emergency Action Plan and 24/7 monitoring of the dam. The proposal includes a provision to adjust the contract every three months based on the needs of the District. Colgan than asked for formal approval of the Burrington Group Proposal. Motion made by Burger, second by Davidson. Leonard asked for comments from Randy Rattenborg, President of Burrington Group. Rattenborg said he has three employees on staff that will be trained to operate the dam and they will be ready to start when the District asks that of them. Colgan mentioned that the way this dam is going to operate is that water will flow over the dam 365 days a year. Operating flow will be between 100 cfs and 400-500 cfs which is about 2-3” above the spillway and that will occur about 85% of the time. 85% of the time the gates will be closed given that the top of the spillway is 1” below lake level. In other words, 85% of the time the operations of the dam will be daily walk-throughs to make sure no incidents have occurred like boats being hung up near the spillway, vandalism, etc. Colgan also explained that once water flows exceed 500 cfs there’s a protocol that the gates will automatically begin to open in one inch increments depending on the flow. Even with the automation of the lake, there are requirements for people onsite. This is what was required for our permit with the State. It was reiterated that the proposal with Burrington Group will be reviewed every three months since this is a new operation and it’s understood the proposal may need to be adjusted as we move forward. It is not a contract at this point and will need to be reviewed by the DNR for us to move forward. Leonard asked for a vote from the Trustees. All ayes, motion carried.
Kramer asked for consideration to pay the interest due on our GO Bond Debt Service which is due 12/1/15. The interest is in the amount of $115,323.75 along with a $250 bond registrar fee. Motion by Burger, second by Davidson. Motion carried.
Kramer asked for consideration for Payment #6 from General Constructors in the amount of $1,088,273.91. Colgan explained that GCI is under the gun to get done this fall. The coffer dam needs to be removed as well. GCI has been working two shifts six days a week to keeping things moving. As has been discussed in previous meetings, the failure of the first cofferdam caused about a 3 ½ week delay. There was also a lot more earth and dike material required. To give some perspective as to what is left to do, in September there were 25 concrete pours completed. There’s another 40 left to go. GCI, along with Brian Monk, and other crews are working hard to keep things moving quickly. The major expenses included in this invoice include downstream training wall work, soil removal and embankment fill. There’s still an expectation that we will be $400,000 under-budget with the GCI contract. Leonard asked for motion to approve. Colgan motioned to approve, Burger seconded. Motion carried.
Kramer asked for approval for a request to the Delaware County Supervisors for 50% of the approved GCI invoice in the amount of $544,136.95. Colgan made the motion to approve, Kramer seconded. Motion carried.
Leonard presented a request from that he received from Deer Run Lane for reimbursement for lake bed work done in their area. He mentioned that at the last board meeting we had approved a couple different association requests for reimbursement in the form of an 80/20 match for lake bed work/and or sand removal. Deer Run Lane stated they restored depths in a 600 ft. by 200 ft. distance from 1-2 feet down to a level of 4-7 feet. The cost to the association was $4,860.00. In their letter they are requesting an 80% reimbursement or $3,888.00. Leonard asked for a motion to approve the Deer Run Lane request. Colgan made the motion to approve, Burger seconded. Motion carried.
Leonard shared additional information regarding the 2009 estimated dredge costs done by Brennan. The general rule of thumb is the further the area is away from the dredge site, the more costly it would be to dredge based on a per cubic. For example, Hickory Hollow near the dam would cost $42.00 per cubic yard versus way upstream where the cost would be $7.00 per cubic yard at the Cedars. The cost difference is significant. At our last meeting we went through an evaluation process to develop criteria moving forward in anticipation of other road association requests. They included cost effectiveness, safety, high public recreational area and distance from docks. Leonard presented a complete mapping of the results of the most recent soil borings that were done a few weeks ago. Borings were taken from the dam area all the way up past the Maples but not including the Cedars area. Those borings will be done in the next few weeks. He pointed out that at Hickory Hollow near the dam most of the sediment is 6+ feet and depths range from 2-4 feet. The Hickory Hollow Association is working with a contractor to take deal with the sand and take the depths from 2-3 feet up to about 6-8 feet at a cost of about $10,000. The work is scheduled to start in the next couple of days. In addition, Trustees have reached out to a number of different associations to let them know about this opportunity to remove siltation based on the criteria the District has outlined. Some areas could take advantage of this but others will probably have to wait until we can dredge with hydraulic equipment. Hydraulic dredging will probably be most cost effective for those areas closer to the dredge site. One of those areas is Linden Acres. They have a between 6 and 10’ of sand-based sedimentation. They have a contractor looking at the area and hope to make a presentation to the District at our next board meeting. This area also has stumps from the tree cutting that was done in August at creates a safety concern. A bulldozer may need to be used to removed those stumps as there around 500-1000 stumps and they range in size from 1- 2 ½ inches thick. Leonard indicated that the key to the mapping various areas of that lake is that that we know the depths of the lake and the siltation levels. We need to continue to evaluate very closely the cost effectiveness versus hydraulic dredging, the high recreational value of the area and whether there are public safety concerns.
Hickory Hollow asked Leonard to formally present their request for approval for to do work in their area since they have a contractor lined up to do the work very soon. The cost is not to exceed $10,000. Colgan made the motion to approve, Kramer seconded followed by discussion. Colgan asked if $10,000 was the total cost. Leonard indicated that was correct so with an 80/20 split the District would pay $8,000. Kramer asked if Hickory Hollow would present the District with actual costs as was done by Deer Run Lane. Leonard said that was correct. Colgan said he felt with the additional boating and public access there is a legitimate concern for boating safety in the shallow areas. He also said that given the location of Hickory Hollow, the cost to hydraulically dredge versus what their association proposes to do would be extremely more expensive. This is a great opportunity to take the sediment out. In two months, these opportunities will go away. Leonard said that it the Dredge Committee including himself, Doug Herman and Todd Gifford, have been working to develop a complete dredge strategy along with a watershed management strategy. They have been working with the NRCS, the DNR, the Corp of Engineers and all other regulatory authorities. The common theme is that we need a very large siltation trap – about 300 yards long and about 100 yards wide to manage the amount of siltation coming in. This is much larger than we’ve had in the past. The recommended place is in the Cedars area, close to the current dredge site. There has also been contact with the quarry upstream. Bard Concrete recently purchased the quarry and has been doing some small level dredging. The plan is a long way from being finalized but the main focus right now is to take care of areas that are most cost effective and have safety concerns. There being no further discussion, Leonard asked for a vote on the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.
Leonard also indicated he had been in contact with Bob Galiher regarding the Freddie’s Beach area. Currently there doesn’t seem to be a creative solution to help those areas. He also mentioned that Oasis Well Drilling has offered to do is lend us their laser equipment so we can now get down to the inch of depths. This equipment was used at Linden Acres and will be used at other potential sites like the Cedars in the near future. It will confirm the accuracy of our lidar results.
Leonard asked for other comments. Burger asked that any future considerations from associations be forwarded to all the Trustees. Davidson presented a request from Bruce Schneider for work he did in his area. Leonard asked Davidson to give a short overview of the area. There was a short discussion of the depths in that area. Leonard asked that the Schenider request along with the request from Linden Acres be put on the October 15th agenda.
Public Comment:
There was a concern raised over the work done at Deer Run Lane and how much material was removed. Leonard said that anyone who went out to the site could see the difference in the depth from before the work began. There was also a question regarding where the money was coming from to pay for the work done by the road associations. Kramer stated the money is being paid from the money the District receives from the $4.00/$1000 taxes.
A question was raised regarding the use of state, county or bond funds for dredging. Leonard replied that neither state or county funds can be used for dredging. The bond funds or our general fund can be used to pay for dredging expenses.
Another question that was asked is if the District knows how much dredging the whole lake would cost. Leonard indicated that we don’t have that information at this time. Another lidar test will be done in the next 30 days to confirm the accuracy of what we had after the breach of the dam. Soil borings were done very recently.
A concern was raised that the Board needs to understand what the costs are to dredge throughout the entire lake and where those dollars are going to come from before spending any dollars on current lake bed projects. There were also concerns about moving materials rather than removing the same.
A question was concerned about hydraulic dredging given the current dredge site is not been transferred.
A request was asked that the Board reconsider their motion to pay Deer Run Lane until information regarding the amount of material removed is obtained.
A question was asked about the estimated cost of for using Burrington Group for the day-to-day operations of the dam. Leonard said the current number is $27,000 per year for the on call service portion.
There was a question regarding debris removal from the lake. Colgan indicated that the District will be asking for proposals as he currently has three bidders interested in the job.
A concern was raised about the safety process for removing debris and maintenance of the flood gates. Burger explained that this a brand new dam and it’s a new process. Old procedures do not apply.
A question was asked about how much money has been set aside for road association dredge projects. Leonard responded that we don’t have a set budget. Given the fact that there are time restrictions, we can only hope more associations come forward.
There was discussion regarding the Turtle Creek Park project. A concern was raised that members of that association didn’t have full understanding of the proposal that was submitted to the District. Leonard said concerns should be addressed to the association’s officers as the District is only receiving proposals and are not involved in the decisions made by the association.
A concern again was raised that the Deer Run Lane project was approved without a cost based on the cubic yards removed. Leonard said the basis doesn’t always have to be about the yards removed. He believes the Board approved what they believe to be a cost effective project to spend $3,888 to now have 6-7 feet depths of recreational level for the public to use.
A question was asked if one of the criteria for approval of an association’s proposal was to have the material removed. The Board responded no.
It was asked again to have the motion to rescind the motion to approve payment to Deer Run Lane. Leonard asked the Board if any one of them would like to rescind the motion. No board member asked for the motion to rescinded.
It was suggested that the spending of these dollars could be construed as a mis-appropriations of funds. Burger said he did not feel that was the case. He suggested that in the future the District possibly consider asking for the quantity of cubic yards being removed but he felt the proposal the District approved tonight is still cost effective. There was no action by the Board that the quantity of cubic yards taken were required.
Leonard suggested that we consider adding additional criteria for association proposals for reimbursement to the next agenda.
Kramer moved to adjourn, second by Burger. Motion approved.