Officials from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission (MSWCC) met with the Carroll County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning to request the board sign on to receive funds for fixing a dam on Gee Lake.
“Gee Lake is at the head of this watershed [in Carroll County],” said NRCS representative Kevin Kennedy, “And what we can do for those communities downstream depends largely on whether or not we can get Gee Lake fixed.”
Kennedy said “all we’re doing is talking about repairing that breach.” Kennedy said the county could receive up to $1.5 million in earmarked funds to repair the breach in Gee Lake, and the deadline for the application of the earmark funds is May 23.
“It’s important that, because there’s not enough funding to fix all the issues, we prioritize what we’re doing within the county. From my perspective, Gee Lake has a lot of [issues] downstream and a lot of projects are going to be held up if we don’t get that one fixed,” said Nick Ivy of MSWCC.
Ivy outlined the importance of using the earmarked funds as quickly as possible by starting with Gee Lake.
He was asked by Beat Four Supervisor Claude Fluker if the county would have to provide funds for engineering costs during repairs on Gee Lake, and Ivy said no.
“We can do this as a reimbursable agreement with the county,” said Kennedy, “or we can run it through MSWCC and say that the commission,” along with the survey and design, will be handled through them. When they “get to that point, [they] can come back to the county and say ‘Does the county want to [allow for] bids and oversee the construction, or do we want to run it through the commission?’” Kennedy said.
“I know it’s really important to get this work on the ground,” said Ivy, “So we just want to cooperate with you.”
“You talk about the government entity having to come in and take responsibility [for the project],” said Fluker, “What is the responsibility of the government entity?”
Ivy said the county (as the government entity) would be responsible for the maintenance of the emergency spillway, and to make sure no one alters that area of land in any way. He said the county would not be responsible for the operation or maintenance of the spillway, that would be up to the drainage district.
Kennedy expressed the need for drainage districts to become active again, and said they would help with the maintenance of the levees in the county.
“But we’re a long way from that,” said Beat Two Supervisor Josh Hurst, “There’s a lot of steps between now and keeping the levee clean.”
There was mention of Big Sand Lake, Teoc Lake, Bailey Lake and Spring Lake as well, but the NRCS and MSWCC continued to recommend the temporary fixing of the Gee Lake levee first.
“A local sponsor has to sign on to say they will maintain it,” said Ivy, “We can’t do it” without that.
“Are y’all recommending that we use this $1.7 million of earmark money on Gee Lake?” President Jim Neill of Beat One asked.
“I would,” said Ivy.
Neill requested that they provide a recommendation in writing before the county participates in the earmark sponsorship of Gee Lake. He said the board was hesitant to deal with private property without state or federal recommendation.
“We’ve got all these lakes around here and the problem is when you’re a public entity, like we are, and we start working on private property, start using county tax dollars for working on private property,” it causes concerns, said Neill, “but we want the lakes fixed. That’s the bottomline.”
