County residents seek supervisors’ opinion on dam

     With the Jones County Conservation Board meeting the night before, one of the topics of discussion during the July 18 Board of Supervisors meeting included the future of Mon Maq Dam in Monticello.

     Mike Davies, a resident of Anamosa, explained to the board that Jones County Historic Preservation presented results from a survey they put together concerning the options for the dam. Mike said the results showed that 93 percent of the residents of Jones County “don’t support removal of the dam.

     “They (Conservation) lost support because they (Conservation) changed the project from what was initially presented,” explained Mike. He said several years ago, former Conservation Director Larry Gullett presented a project for the dam site that “created something versus just tearing the dam out.”

     Mike asked the supervisors what their thoughts were on the project, proceeding without county support, with the Conservation Board members being appointed by the county. The ultimate decision lies with the Conservation Board.

     Supervisor Joe Oswald commented that the 93 percent who oppose the dam project represent 93 percent who took the survey, “not the whole county.”

     Mike said Historic Preservation had a booth set up in Monticello on the Fourth of July, handing out surveys to people.

     “They got over 400 responses,” Mike said. “And they talked to people in the community.”

     Supervisor Ned Rohwedder, who attended the July 17 Conservation Board meeting, said he felt the survey wasn’t complete enough to warrant true results.

     “There were no costs presented with the survey,” he said of the options explained, “no economic details to help people decide based on the financial ramifications of the different options. I couldn’t make a good decision based on the information I had.”

     Rohwedder also questioned the survey results representing Jones County as a whole.

     “How can you say the responses represent the county,” he asked Mike, “when the majority were from Monticello, at least 75 percent?”

     Cindy Davies said Conservation Director Brad Mormann quoted a previous survey Gullett conducted in years’ past, with the majority of responses coming from Monticello at that time.

     When it comes down to it, Mike said, “The vast majority of residents don’t support tearing out the dam.”

     Supervisor Lloyd Eaken said he is bothered by the fact that the only people speaking out are those who are opposed to the Conservation project.

     “We have not heard from those who are in favor of it,” Eaken said. “What about the 19,000 other people in Jones County? How do they feel about it? Four hundred people are not representative of Jones County.”

     Eaken said he doesn’t feel he would be able to make a decision based on the information presented thus far.

     “Why let this project go through then?” questioned Cindy.

     Rohwedder said the decision does not lie with the board of supervisors, but with Conservation.

     “You do have influence with what decisions are made,” said Mike.

In other county business:

     • The board approved updating various documents related to the Title VI Non-Discrimination Plan, naming County Engineer Derek Snead coordinator and the County Attorney’s Office as an alternate. The documents will then be filed with the state.

     • The board approved a quote from MAC Concrete Construction for $21,400 for a sidewalk project around the courthouse.

     The county received three bids; MAC was the lowest.

     • The board approved a quote of $2,091 from Monticello Carpet & Interiors for new carpet in the Recorder’s Office.

     • Snead and the supervisors discussed installing gates on Ely’s Stone Bridge to allow bike and walking traffic to utilize the bridge, which is closed to through traffic. The final decision was to install staggered gates on the north end of the bridge for now.