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A committee that’s tasked with mitigating flooding on the Little Sioux River and the bottleneck on the Lower Gar northeast of Milford met in secret on Tuesday in the Dickinson County Engineer’s Office.
Dickinson County Attorney Steven Goodlow told The Storm Lake Times-Pilot the committee’s meeting on Tuesday afternoon was for informational purposes and a free-flowing exchange that wouldn’t “fly off the rails.” Goodlow was referring to a meeting of the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors on Saturday, when officials with Cherokee, Sioux Rapids and Spencer excoriated the board for considering breaching 230th Street, releasing the Lower Gar into the Little Sioux River.
A reporter from The Times-Pilot and an Okoboji resident who sits on great lakes conservation groups were denied access to the meeting, which began at 1 p.m. A zoning clerk described the meeting as a “meeting of minds” in the decision to close the meeting.
Supervisor Steve Clark told The Times-Pilot the meeting was organizational and informational in nature. No formal actions are expected.
“Our county attorney has told us that it’s not subject to the open meetings law,” Clark said over the phone before the committee meeting. “No decisions are being made. It’s just discussion, information we take back to our boards.”
The committee consists of 10 members who sit on supervisor boards in Dickinson, Clay and Cherokee counties. County engineers with the three counties and staff with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources were also invited to attend. Cherokee Area Economic Development Executive Director Bill Anderson represents Cherokee; Anderson declined to say where the meeting was or what would be discussed at 1 p.m. He claimed it was Dickinson County’s discretion to release the time and location of the meeting, not Cherokee’s. He agreed with Clark’s claim that the committee’s deliberations shouldn’t be open to the public.
Modifications to 230th Street are being closely watched around the Iowa Great Lakes and the Little Sioux River. Owners of marinas and resorts in the Lakes area pressured Dickinson County officials to release the Lower Gar to prevent what has been described as an economic catastrophe. Boats have floated away from their hoists. Basements in Spirit Lake, Milford and Okoboji have flooded. Marinas and business owners who’ve staked their livelihood on tourism and lake traffic are suffering from a sudden, protracted economic downturn.
Communities along the Little Sioux have fiercely protested immediate modifications to 230th Street. The Little Sioux remains at major flood stage in some areas. The river is nowhere close to its embankments in Spencer, Sioux Rapids and Cherokee. Thousands of residents across Northwest Iowa have suffered damages from the floods; officials in Cherokee and Spencer conveyed alarm to the board of supervisors. In a meeting on Saturday, they said releasing the Lower Gar would reverse whatever recovery efforts that have been made since the floodwaters crested last Sunday.
The board of supervisors has indicated that they’re not interested in inundating communities along the Little Sioux again.
But they claim that the decision to modify 230th Street near the Lower Gar is the sole jurisdiction of the board of supervisors. Supervisor Bill Luepold told The Times-Pilot the board would “heavily rely” on the committee’s recommendations. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are acting in advisory capacities, according to officials from both agencies.
“The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors has formed a committee to develop a plan for the Lower Gar Outlet,” DNR spokeswoman Tammie Krausman wrote via email of the DNR’s involvement with the committee. “The DNR will be available to this committee to provide technical assistance and answer questions.”
Iowa Freedom of Information Council Director Randy Evans excoriated the committee for its secrecy.
Evans told The Times-Pilot he was “troubled” that the committee would discuss water levels in private when the topic has “huge public interest in and around the Iowa Great Lakes and downriver.” Evans claims the committee is subject to Chapter 21, the Iowa Open Meetings Law, because the committee was created by a vote of the board of supervisors and its deliberations will influence public policy. A letter from Evans is expected to be submitted to Goodlow’s office later today.
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