Supervisors support funds for dam in bond issue

By KENT THOMPSON
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors offered verbal support for Humboldt County Conservation to access borrowed funds to help serve as matching dollars for grant monies to rehabilitate or remove the Reasoner Dam in Humboldt.
The discussion was held at the Board’s Sept. 8 meeting at the courthouse.
Humboldt County Conservation Director Todd Lee was at the meeting and updated the Board on the project so far.
“We did move forward with a hydrological study. The purpose of that was to look at the flood plain above the dam and also study the effects of taking a foot off the dam and what would that do when the river comes up, or what would taking two feet off do,” the conservation director told the Board.
“With that data we could potentially open ourselves up for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants as a flood mitigation project,” T. Lee said. "That river is an untapped recreational resource for this community.”
“If you do something with that (the dam) and make some good choices, Humboldt could be a regional recreation destination point. People would want to come here, visit, hang out and spend their money. Especially if we tie it in with what we have going on with a full trail loop and improvements at Sheldon and Gotch parks,” T. Lee said. “You can come here and camp and float the river.”
“I agree,” District 2 Supervisor Sandy Loney said. “We need to do whatever we can to populate Humboldt County and cause it to grow. We have a great community here and I would hate to see us sit back and not do everything we could to help make it grow."
District 1 Supervisor Bruce Reimers, who turns 60 later this month, recalls when he was a kid how water skiing on the river was one of the main recreational activities in the community from Friday afternoons to Sunday night.
“Ideally, we’d like to return to doing that again, but my hesitancy would be the price tag,” T. Lee said.
“That would involve dredging,” District 3 Supervisor Rick Pedersen said.
Reimers said dredging would only be one component of a solution.
“It’s a beautiful area. I’m for it,” he said of needed improvements. “You have to put money in things to keep them up. We’ve hardly put anything (into the river and the dam) most of our lives,” Reimers said.
The Board approved $500,000 in borrowed monies to go toward the dam/river improvement or renovation. On Monday, the Board approved a resolution to authorize the issuance of an amount not to exceed $2.78 million in general obligation bonds for existing debt regarding the Law Enforcement Center and radio communications, new digital compatible radios for local fire departments, body cameras and microphones, squad car cameras and mobile laptops for the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, and computer software upgrades for the LEC dispatch center. Read all about it in this week's Humboldt Independent.