12 May 2013: Clary Lake Dam Fund Update and Information

eyesI’ve received a few questions from people about how, when, and under what circumstances the Clary Lake Dam Fund monies will be spent. I’ll try and clear that up in this posting. First, I’m happy to report that Bill Donovan from over on the west shore of Clary Lake donated $100 to the Dam Fund bringing the balance of the fund to $1402 which is almost 1/3 of the way to our $5000 goal. Have no fear, when we are close to achieving our $5000 goal we will simply raise it; the $5000 goal was just an initial target. Bill’s donation was a good-faith gesture; he and a few other people that have donated money have said they will donate more money when the time comes to actually spend it. Yeah.

The plan is that the dam fund should be used to repair the dam as soon as possible regardless of who happens to own the dam at the time. Our thinking goes that whomever owns it is going to need financial and technical assistance. We’re prepared to offer that assistance. Assuming the Association does NOT own the dam then there are some conditions that must be met to receive our money; the Association will not simply give the money to the dam owner to spend as they see fit. We will discuss the scope of the work and the nature of the repairs as well as the projected costs and if we approve, then we will authorize the work and we will pay the bills. These conditions should not constitute a serious problem for the dam owner; when it comes to repairs we’re open to suggestions and ideas but we must assure that money donated to the Association for repairing the dam is well spent toward that end.

We also anticipate and are willing to help with other unavoidable expenses associated with repairing the dam such as the costs of designing and building a coffer dam between the narrow gauge rail road abutments, State permitting requirements, etc. We have set up a discussion list to talk about these issues and kick around ideas. If anyone is interested in participating in the list, get in touch with me.

As for when all this might happen… I’m sorry to say probably not for a while. Mr. Kelley (perhaps understandably) has not acknowledged our offer to purchase the dam but sadly, he  hasn’t responded to our request for permission to get an engineering assessment done on the dam either though it’s been almost 2 weeks since the letters were sent. This is truly “cut off your nose to spite your face” behavior on Mr. Kelley’s part because he would benefit greatly from a current engineering assessment. Given how far relations between Kelley and the Association have deteriorated, it is extremely unlikely that he will entertain letting the Association get involved in dam repair planning and execution anytime soon. Perhaps as the reality of a DEP enforced water level order approaches, Mr. Kelley will become more willing to negotiate. In the mean time, we plan, we collect money, and we wait.

Perhaps people will remember this article in the Lincoln County News last August:

How soon we forget eh?

Dam Fund Progress: [progressbar url=”https://clarylake.org/data/dam.txt” rounded=”0″ width=”400px” color=”green”]