By Kim McDarison
The Rock-Koshkonong Lake District (RKLD) annual meeting of electors will be held Saturday, Aug. 28 at Race Track Park, 900 Stoughton Road, Edgerton.
RKLD Board of Commissioners Chairman Alan Sweeney said the meeting will follow a format similar to the one used last year, with registration tables for electors opening around 8:30 a.m. and the meeting starting at 10 a.m. Attendees are advised to bring lawn chairs.
Among items on the agenda this year are wicket gate replacement and renovation plans at the Indianford Dam, also referenced as the water control project; lake access improvement through the development of boat launches and landings; and a request from the lake district made to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to complete a wetlands study, the results of which will determine whether a future summer water level increase of 2.5 inches, which was negotiated in 2017, will be executed on Lake Koshkonong.
Additionally, an election will be held to fill one seat on the seven-member board of commissioners held by Mike Shumaker, who was elected to the board in 2018, replacing longtime commissioner and then-board chairman Brian Christianson. Commissioners are elected to three-year terms.
Shumaker told Fort Atkinson Online he plans to seek reelection. District residents interested in running for the seat have until Aug. 20 to declare their candidacies and have their names appear on the printed ballot. Challengers also may declare their candidacies or be nominated during the annual meeting at any time before the voting process begins, Sweeney said, adding that the ballot will include spaces for write-in candidates.
As of July 14, no candidacies had been officially declared, Sweeney added.
Agenda topics anticipated as part of the annual meeting and their histories follow.
Wicket gate replacement/water control project
Information released by Sweeney earlier this month on the RKLD website noted that the final design plan for the Indianford Dam water control project met all DNR regulatory requirements and received approval from the Wisconsin Historical Society and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A bidding process to award the project’s construction contract closes on July 30, he said. The board of commissioners plans to hold a monthly meeting in August during which time it anticipates approving a construction bid.
Sweeney said the district’s water control project became a DNR mandate in 2020 after the department determined some components within its directives, issued in 2014 and 2016, to RKLD for water control at the dam had gone unmet. How the dam operates, and at what level water within Lake Koshkonong, the lake impounded by the dam, is maintained is set by state statute.
In 2018, with flooding among topics of concern from lake district constituents, the RKLD Board of Commissioners began exploring the concept and cost of removing the two wicket gate carousels housed underneath the dam’s powerhouse.
Attention focused on making modifications which might have allowed for better control when releasing water through the dam. Discussions revolved around the removal of the submerged gates, that, many said, were hard to maintain and repair, and trash racks, installed on the upstream side of the powerhouse designed to protect the submerged wicket gates, which required a labor-intensive cleaning process.
In 2018, at the annual meeting, Cottage Grove-based Montgomery Associates Resource Solutions principal Rob Montgomery offered an analysis showing that even with all the gates open at the dam, water levels would not draw down at a significantly increased pace.
He cited rainfall, which, he said, was 50% above normal. The increased amount of rain was flooding the system, which was already operating at capacity.
During the 2019 annual meeting, electors approved a 2019-20 budget that earmarked $50,000, coming from proceeds collected through the district’s special fee used to provide operational funding, and another $50,000, coming from one of the district’s segregated funds, to study proposed modifications that might be made to the Indianford Dam.
In the fall of 2019, the RKLD board hired Minnesota-based Emmons & Oliver, Inc., to draft a request for proposals (RFP) which could be supplied to engineering firms interested in bidding on a project to design a sluiceway and Tainter gate system on the east side of the Indianford Dam, thus replacing the underwater wicket gate system that remains in place today.
Some $3,000 was approved to fund the development of the RFP.
At that time, the board discussed its intention to seek a DNR grant, which commissioners noted, could potentially fund up to $300,000 in repairs or modifications at the dam.
In December of 2019, the board hired Madison-based Mead and Hunt to design a supplemental gated spillway with a crest gate at the dam. Moving from a Tainter gate to a crest gate was approved after Mead and Hunt Project Engineer Jeff Anderson explained that the change could save taxpayers nearly $19,000.
Services hired through Mead and Hunt came in a two-phase process: the first phase included field investigation, analysis and schematic design, coming at a cost not to exceed $63,200. A second phase, including the preparation of design drawings and a report to be submitted to the DNR as part of the grant application process, would come at a cost not to exceed $75,000.
Additionally, MARS-EOR was hired to help the board understand submitted proposals from engineering firms. MARS-EOR engineer Rob Montgomery was identified as the board’s hired agent.
In 2020, the board learned from the DNR that the district had been placed on the “priority funding list” to receive funding through the 2019-21 Municipal Dam Grant Program.
To receive funds, Sweeney told the board, a bid for the construction project at the dam had to reach or exceed a total of $1.2 million to be eligible for the maximum grant of $400,000 in reimbursable funds.
Sweeney also informed commissioners that the DNR had written a “Revised Work Directive,” which required that the district meet certain requirements at the dam by Dec. 31, 2022.
Sweeney noted that the project designed by Mead and Hunt, which included the replacement of two wicket gate carousels under the dam’s powerhouse with six slide gates — a change from the previously approved crest gate design — met the new water control directive.
Costs outlined for the project in 2020 included $71,900 spent on engineering services delivered by Mead and Hunt, with the full construction project, as proposed, coming in at $2.275 million. The district proposed using funds from its segregated Dam Fund to help pay for the project.
The segregated Dam Fund, along with RKLD, was created in 1999, when ownership of the dam was conveyed from Rock County to the lake district. Along with ownership came some funding which was paid to the district in sums of $50,000 a year for 10 years from Rock County and $10,000 a year for 10 years from Jefferson County. The money was used to form a segregated dam fund to aid in future requirements associated with operating the dam.
In 2020, the fund held approximately $700,000, which represented the amounts paid by Rock and Jefferson counties, along with some earned interest.
As part of the 2020-2021 budget, electors approved funding the water control project with the segregated dam funds and entering into a 8- to 10-year loan agreement in the amount of $1.5 million. Another $400,000 was anticipated coming through the reimbursable DNR grant.
During the 2020 annual meeting, electors further approved a new process through which to obtain general revenue funding. Instead of a special fee, the district would impose a tax levy assessed against the equalized value of property within the lake district. Proceeds secured through the annual tax levy would be used to fund future operating budgets and payments associated with the loan approved to help fund dam improvements.
Boat landings and lake access points
Updating constituents through the RKLD website earlier this month, Sweeney described the boat landing issue as a “regular agenda item at the monthly board of commissioner meetings,” adding: “The RKLD board is considering any fair course of action to improve landing and parking issues around the lake per action by the electors at the 2020 annual meeting.”
Sweeney cited a DNR landing study, presented to RKLD board members on June 17, which, he said, resulted in some recommendations and a decision was made by board members to consider the costs and benefits of those recommendations.
Sweeney said the DNR representative who gave the June presentation indicated that the DNR had some interest in looking at the North Shore Road boat landing in the town of Sumner.
Parking already exists at that site, Sweeney said, and the DNR and Jefferson County own land near the site that could be used for its improvement. Further, he said, the site seemed better suited to qualify for DNR grants.
According to RKLD Commissioner Bill Burlingame, the parking lot at the landing is owned by Jefferson County. The land at the end of North Shore Road which is used to launch boats is owned by the Town of Sumner.
In 2020, during a monthly meeting, the board learned from then-commissioner Jim Jelinek that a meeting, including representatives from the Town of Albion, Mead and Hunt, the DNR, the Dane County Parks Department, and RKLD, about a proposed boat landing project on Bingham Road in the town of Albion, was being discussed. At the meeting, those involved explored the feasibility of having a landing at the proposed site, a need for project partners and held a discussion about which entity might own the required land, he said.
Jelinek has since resigned from the RKLD board, noting in his letter of resignation, that he had moved and no longer lived in the district, which is a requirement of serving on the board.
His seat has been filled with appointee Susan Shearer who will serve the remainder of Jelinek’s term ending in 2022.
In the fall of 2020, the board approved writing an offer to purchase a 2-acre site on Bingham Road for the purpose of developing a public boat launch.
During several of the districts monthly board meetings, RKLD board members and Town of Albion Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Venske said their respective boards would be interested in partnering to develop the launch, with Venske noting that the town board had set aside $20,000 to help with the project, but neither entity was interested in taking full responsibility for the project.
RKLD board members said that while they would help buy the land and build the launch, they did not want to own the property or maintain it.
During several discussions, Venske said he was in contact with the Legion of Christ organization, which, he noted, operates Oaklawn Academy in Edgerton and is the entity that owns the two acres of land around which conversation about a proposed boat launch centered.
The owning entity, according to Venske, had agreed to sell the property to the town at its appraised value, which Venske said, was $62,900.
Also during discussions at monthly board meetings, it was determined that some grants might be available to help construct the boat launch, a total cost of which had been earlier estimated at $450,000.
During the lake district’s 2020 annual meeting, $100,000 was approved to help develop the launch, with those monies coming from the district’s segregated Lake Improvement Fund.
In September of 2020, Venske told RKLD board members that the town was requesting the board’s sponsorship to help facilitate grant applications. The town, according to Venske, also was requesting that the board employ a lawyer to write an offer to purchase the land from OakLawn Academy. At the time, Venske said the Albion town board would be willing to own the land, but had no available funds to purchase the land and was not in a position to pay for construction costs.
Sweeney, referencing an email sent to him by the district’s attorney, Danielle Thompson, noted that the board would need to go before its electors for approval before it could authorize the district to buy land.
Sweeney recently told Fort Atkinson Online, that, at this point, the Town of Albion Board of Supervisors no long has money available to help fund the project.
Previously, he said, the lake district offered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) stipulating that if the Town of Albion would take ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the proposed launch, the district would invest up to $100,000 in the project.
“The Town of Albion amended the MOU to read that the town would facilitate the purchase, but not the completion of the landing. The RKLD board decided that an open-ended proposal was not in the best interest of the taxpayers,” Sweeney said.
The $100,000 earmarked for landings could be used to improve a landing other than the proposed Albion site, he added.
RKLD Commissioner and Treasurer Mark Meyer told Fort Atkinson Online that the long-discussed Bingham Road project currently has no party that is willing to take ownership. The board has been discussing other options including potentially doing something at other locations that already are designated as boat launches, he said.
While the electors in 2020 approved $100,000 to be used to fund boat launches, a project with a budget has yet to be identified. Plans for the Albion site never evolved beyond conceptual, he said.
“For now,” Meyer said, “We are looking at sites we have.”
Water levels
As part of this month’s update found on the RKLD website, Sweeney wrote: “The end of a dry spring and a dry June along with timely rainfall and the closing of all gates bring water levels to the WDNR Operating Order summer level maximum of 776.55 feet above sea level. The Indianford Dam operator intends to maintain that maximum level until October 15, 2021. People are encouraged to observe data from USGS Gauge #05427235 on the USGS link as well as the NOAA site on that link, both on the RKLD website.
“The RKLD board has unanimously approved a letter to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to encourage completion of the required wetlands study this year. The results of that study will determine the water level order in the future.”
Water level history
In 2017, the lake district and the DNR, after more than a decade of litigation, arrived at an agreement in which summer water levels on Lake Koshkonong would be allowed to increase.
The agreement stipulated that the DNR would initiate a two-step process, the first of which would take place in July of 2017, allowing an increase of 2.5 inches to summer water levels on the lake. If, after monitoring the effects of the first increase, no adverse impacts were determined to have taken place to surrounding wetlands as a result of the increase, a second increase of 2.5 inches would be implemented in the summer of 2019.
While the first step in the process did take place, the second step did not. DNR officials have cited in the years between 2019 and 2020, flooding in the area, likely due to increased rainfall and runoff, which prevented the department from being able to conduct proper studies of the impacts of wetlands brought about by the first step in the process.
In 2020, the district learned that the DNR had placed a stay on the dam’s operating order, effectively postponing a final decision about initiating the second approximately 2.5-inch water increase that had been slated to take place in 2019. The department, at that time, according to Sweeney, noted that severe impacts to wetlands had taken place, but the cause of the impacts were not yet determined.
2020-21 budget
Looking toward the budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year, Meyer said electors can expect to see a proposed budget for the upcoming cycle that looks very similar to the current budget approved last year.
“The budget will mirror last year’s basically. There might be a few tweaks to the operating budget and there will be all the same allocations for the segregated funds,” he said.
Any differences will be “very minimal,” he added.
He noted that payments for the loan approved last year for the water control project at the dam will likely not start until after the project begins.
“We will borrow the last dollars, so if the project takes two years, we might not borrow until the second year,” he said, adding, “We don’t have a proposed schedule from a contractor yet.”
The Indianford Dam. File photo/Kim McDarison.
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