HART – The Oceana County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, Oct. 10 to discuss several items, including funding requests and the hot button topic of Crystal Valley Dam.
The Finance and Administration Committee met first to discuss the agenda before any decisions were made in the Commissioners meeting.
An audit presentation was given by Ian Rees of Garbridge & Company, before Shelby Township Supervisor Richard Raffaelli stepped up to the podium to present two separate topics of discussion.
The first was a proposal to hire additional staff for the Oceana County Economic Alliance (OCEA). Raffaelli, along with OCEA President Phil Morse, spoke in favor of hiring staff to perform administrative tasks that are currently being performed by Executive Director Curtis Burdette.
“Our request is simple in nature, but complicated to execute,” Raffaelli said. “We need to continually drive a positive economic impact in Oceana County. The only way we’re going to do that is to hire additional support for Curtis.”
“I believe Curtis’ time is best spent meeting with business owners and getting to know more about what grant opportunities there are (for) the people in our area. We’re not utilizing him where he’s best gifted,” Morse said.
Raffaelli stepped back up to the podium after that discussion topic to give an update on the new 46,000-square-foot community sports facility scheduled to be built in May of 2025 in Shelby. The facility will be half turf, half courts and feature two basketball courts, six pickleball courts, four volleyball courts, a full-sized soccer field with batting cages, a full mezzanine with a three-lane running track, a bow simulator for hunters, multiple golf simulators and a rock climbing wall.
The facility, which will cost roughly $8.5 million, is almost fully funded by grants and donations. Raffaelli did note that he’s still about $500,000 short but is fundraising. Raffaelli requested that the commissioners allocate $50,000 in ARPA funds for the project.
“I think the county can invest $50,000 of ARPA in a facility that is upwards of $8.5 million and, to be frank, will put us on the map with regards to sports,” Raffaelli said. “It will bring in different volleyball and basketball tournaments.”
No action was taken on either of those proposals, as Chairman Bob Walker suggested having a workshop before they make any decisions.
Walker then presented a proposal to replace the scale at the Oceana County Transfer Station. New Commissioner Joel McCormick, who was selected to replace Commissioner Morse in September after Morse was named the Shelby village administrator, gave input on additional electrical work that would also need to be completed in order to get a new scale up and running.
The proposal to get a new scale in an amount to not exceed $170,000 was approved unanimously.
One of the largest and longest ongoing topics on the slate for the commissioners meeting was the possibility of fixing or removing the Crystal Valley Dam. Commissioner Paul Erickson has spearheaded efforts to save the dam, but received pushback from others on the board.
Erickson brought in engineer Jim Tiffany via Zoom, who gave a rundown on a plan that would save the dam. Tiffany said that an impermeable barrier would need to be built on the crest of the embankment in a direction transverse to the spillway to reduce the flow of water through the embankment. Soil remediation under the spillway would also be required.
Tiffany’s recommendation for moving forward was to finish the plans of possible repairs and submit them to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) for permitting. That process is expected to take several months per Tiffany.
Tiffany also recommended that the Commissioners identify a source of funds to accomplish the job, which is expected to cost somewhere between $600,000-700,000. That estimate does not include any dredging that might need to be done.
Erickson voiced his support for retaining the dam, noting that public sentiment in Crystal Valley is the same.
“The people of the valley don’t want to see this thing removed,” Erickson said. “The dam itself was built as a county park by the road commission. We have not exhausted funding possibilities—there may be federal dollars to save WPA projects in our country.”
Commissioner Tim Beggs stated that he does not agree with Erickson on the dam’s historical value as compared to the cost to fix it. Beggs noted that a separate study that was done came up with the same cost estimate on fixing the dam, while the cost to remove the dam would be $500,000 with funding options available.
“Regardless of what repair options we do, (the) Spicer (Group) has also indicated to us that with new incoming rainfall requirements for dams, our dam does not meet the proposed new standards,” Beggs said. “Will it survive? Probably. Can we fix this dam now at its current form and still get a thumbs up every year or five years from EGLE? We’re still going to have that deficit if the dam doesn’t meet the proposed requirements.”
Beggs noted that all repairs, dredging and removal costs would total close to $1.2 million and was unsure where the county would find that money.
In the end, the commissioners opted to move forward with submitting repair permits to EGLE for approval. This ensures that more research will be done, but no decision as to the fate of the Crystal Valley Dam was made.
The commissioners also approved the appointment of Golden Township Treasurer Connie Cargill to the Materials Management Planning Committee.
