By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Delavan Common Council last week approved spending up to $8,500 for an analysis of the Lake Comus dam.
The council April 9 awarded a bid to R.A. Smith National, of Brookfield, for the work.
City Public Works Director Mark Wendorf said the state Department of Natural Resources has not analyzed the dam since 1986. He said the city inspected it in 2011, but the DNR classifies dams as “high hazard” if they’ve never had a formal failure analysis. High hazard dams must be inspected every other year at a cost of $12,000 to 15,000. The rule was rarely enforced until the Lake Delton dam gave way in 2008, Wendorf said.
Once the failure analysis is done, the dam will have to be formally inspected every five years if it is classified as a “medium hazard” dam and every 10 years if it is classified as a “low hazard” dam. Wendorf said the city will continue to inspect the dam locally after large rain events and once a year no matter the rating.
The bid from R.A. Smith was not the lowest bid for the analysis but aldermen Bruce DeWitt and Gary Stebnitz said the company had a better chance to get the lowest possible rating for the dam based on its previous record.
Tax parcels combined
The council approved combining three tax parcels the city owns. Two of the parcels make up the Aram Public Library parking lot and the third is a house next to the library that the city purchased to make room for a possible expansion of the parking lot. Wendorf said the city had to pay three separate fire protection fees for the three separate parcels and now only has to pay one.
Wendorf said the house could be razed and the space could potentially be used to expand the parking lot but no formal plans have been made to do so and no money is budgeted for it this year.
Monument fundraiser
Ken Wargo, chairman of the Civil War Monument Restoration Committee, reported to the council that a fundraiser for the restoration work on the monument will take place at Bradley’s Department Store on May 4. A portion of all sales that day will be donated to the project. Wargo noted Bradley’s has been in business almost as long as the monument has existed.
