Two organizations representing Secord Lake in Gladwin County are proposing different alternatives to fix the Secord Lake Dam.
The Four Lakes Task Force was created in 2018 to oversee the four dams Secord Lake, Smallwood Lake, Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake.
The task force’s goal is to take over ownership from Boyce Hydro.
“We feel more than ever that we need to get possession of these dams,” says Phil Dast, president of the Secord Lake Association and representative of the Four Lakes Task Force.
Joel Vernier is a Gladwin County Commissioner and board member of the Four Lakes Task Force. He says after the dam failures in May, ownership of the dams needs to be taken away from Boyce Hydro:
“All of us feel from our hearts that what happened downriver possibly should never have happened, if the proper maintenance on these dams were done… maybe, maybe not we would have had a different story,” says Vernier.
Now, the Four Lakes Task Force is proposing to condemn Secord Lake, the farthest north lake on the Tittabawassee River.
Vernier says, “That doesn’t mean we’re going to bring bulldozers in, that has nothing to do with it. The condemnation is simply a method for the counties to gain ownership of these private dams.”
Chris Ringo, director of the Secord Lake Preservation Association, says she doesn’t agree with the condemnation. Instead she wants Secord Lake to pull out of the task force.
“We went forward to start the process of unwinding out of Four Lakes Task Force and creating our own special assignment district that would just be Secord Township only,” says Ringo.
Her proposal is to work with Boyce Hydro to fix the Secord Dam. A $30,000 fix.
Ringo says, “To make those repairs immediately and go forward with refiling our lake.”
However, Dast says he doesn’t want a quick and easy fix. He says the Four Lakes Task Force’s proposal of $24M would make the correct changes to the Secord Dam.
“Our thoughts are we need to do it right,” says Dast. “The $30,000 Band-Aid fix that’s being talked about and having water immediately is probably unrealistic.”
Dast says so that the devastation in Gladwin, Edenville, Sanford and Midland doesn’t happen again:
“If we bring back this dam, we want to be responsible, we want it to be safe, we don’t ever want what happen down river to happen to us again.”
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July 21, 2020 at 04:09AM
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Four Lakes Task Force Plans to Condemn Secord Lake, Group Rallies to Leave Task Force - 9&10 News
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