[0:25] Michael Bryce, are there still people signing in?

[0:29] No, we're just checking to see if anybody's

[0:31] coming. Ah, gotcha. Cody, who came at two,

[0:40] his grandpa showed up. Since Cody wasn't here,

[0:42] he left. Oh, Okay. So I think we're

[0:52] about ready to get started. We're ready to

[0:54] get started? Yep. Okay. Well, hello everyone, and

[1:09] welcome to our public scoping meeting for the

[1:12] Stockton Washfoot Retarding Structure Rehabilitation Project. My name

[1:18] is Christina Mojos, and I will be your

[1:20] host in today's meeting. And, if you can

[1:24] go to the next slide, Stephanie. Before we

[1:27] begin, we ask that your microphones and phones

[1:31] are muted and your cameras turned off. And

[1:35] at the end of this meeting, we'll have

[1:36] the chance for everyone to give their, questions

[1:40] and comments and concerns. And lastly, I want

[1:46] to inform you all that this meeting is

[1:48] being recorded, and it will be posted on

[1:50] the county's website. So let us begin. Next

[1:54] slide. In today's meeting, we will discuss who

[1:59] makes up the study team, what are the

[2:02] goals of the meeting, what are the purpose

[2:05] and need for action, what is the overview

[2:08] of the planning study, What are the formulation

[2:11] and evaluation of alternatives? And lastly, the public

[2:16] participation. Next slide. So as I mentioned earlier,

[2:22] my name is Christina Mahos, and I will

[2:24] be describing the study team. The study team

[2:29] involves members from NRCS, the local sponsor, a

[2:33] team of consultants, stakeholders, agencies, and the public.

[2:40] Next slide. So NRCS stands for Natural Resources

[2:45] Conservation Service. Listed here are the four key

[2:49] members of the NRCS with varying disciplines. The

[2:54] NRCS is the lead federal agency. They are

[2:58] a funding source. They provide engineering and construction

[3:02] assistance and construction quality assurance. The local sponsor

[3:10] for this project is Graham County. Michael Bryce

[3:15] and Eric Engel are the two county engineer

[3:17] members assigned to this project. They operate and

[3:21] maintain the dam. They are a funding partner.

[3:26] They acquire necessary land rights and easements, obtain

[3:31] required permits, and manage contracts. Next slide. The

[3:37] consultant team consists of two consultants, Genera Consultants

[3:42] and Stantec Consulting Services. As you can see

[3:46] with the list listed key members, they are

[3:49] disciplined in a wide range of fields. Next

[3:53] slide. And as you can see on this

[3:56] slide, preparation of the watershed plan involves a

[4:00] multidisciplinary process ranging from engineering to environmental to

[4:05] economic and etcetera. Next slide. Our next presenter

[4:11] is David Bayman with NRCS as a State

[4:14] Conservation Engineer. He will be describing the goals

[4:18] of today's meeting. David, please go ahead and

[4:21] take it from here. Thank you. Good evening,

[4:25] everyone. How are you? Good. We really appreciate

[4:29] you guys being here tonight. First off, I

[4:32] want to thank the county for their partnership

[4:34] in this endeavor. Really great to have good

[4:39] partners like the county when we begin one

[4:41] of these projects. So my short time in

[4:46] front of me tonight is kind of talking

[4:48] about the goals. Why are we here? Next

[4:51] slide, please. First off, we kind of want

[4:57] to explain to you the who, what, the

[4:59] why. Why are we doing this study? What's

[5:02] the purpose? And then what is your role?

[5:07] We're going to give you that overview of

[5:09] what is this study? What is this document?

[5:12] What's its intent? What do we want to

[5:15] do? As you can see here, we want

[5:18] to talk to you about the condition of

[5:21] this structure. Here a moment later on, the

[5:24] structure is over 50 years old, so it's

[5:26] been in the community for quite some time.

[5:29] We want to kind of talk to you

[5:30] a little bit about what is it, why

[5:32] is it here, and is it good, is

[5:35] it okay? You know, this is the Commission.

[5:38] I want talk to you about this input

[5:41] session. This is your opportunity to hear about

[5:44] the project, but really for you to give

[5:47] us feedback. Are we asking the right questions

[5:51] about this type of project? Are there things

[5:54] that we've overlooked up to this point? You

[5:58] are an integral component. Remember that previous slide,

[6:02] we have, like, four little pictures. You are

[6:05] that fourth leg, that fourth element of this

[6:09] process. Without you, we can't do it. You

[6:12] need to know what is happening here in

[6:15] the community. But ultimately, you get the questions.

[6:20] We need that feedback. We need to understand

[6:23] how the structure and any potential improvements to

[6:28] the structure that impact you, your community. Next

[6:34] slide. Public involvement. This is critical. Can't do

[6:42] this alone. We can't do it without the

[6:44] county. We can't do it without your help.

[6:47] We don't live here. You guys do. The

[6:51] structure is for your event. So we need

[6:54] that feedback. We need the engagement tonight and

[6:57] as it processes forward. And as you can

[7:01] see there, you know, we're looking at the

[7:04] flooding. The structure was built to protect the

[7:08] downstream properties from continued flooding and erosion. We

[7:13] made out of the cells that are still

[7:14] working by continuing. Meeting that intent and we'd

[7:19] expand its purpose of power. Culture resources, as

[7:23] they're doing what they're supposed to do, the

[7:25] interaction with the community, support. Culture resources, we

[7:31] always have to consider on their effects on

[7:33] cultural resources So again, appreciate all of you

[7:40] being here this evening. I look forward to

[7:43] the conversation, the dialogue. Thank you. Thank you,

[7:52] David. Our next presenter is unfortunately unable to

[7:55] attend today's meeting due to a medical emergency.

[7:59] I will be presenting on his behalf the

[8:01] purpose and need for action. Next slide. So

[8:07] the Stockton Wash flood retarding structure, otherwise called

[8:11] the Stockton Wash FRS or the Dam, is

[8:15] a flood control dam located about three miles

[8:18] Southeast of the city of Safford, East of

[8:22] Highway 191, and South of East Solomon Road.

[8:26] In the map shown on the right, you

[8:28] can see the red circle is where the

[8:30] dam is located at. The Grayhub County Fairgrounds

[8:34] is also located on the map for reference.

[8:38] Next slide. The dam was built in 1964

[8:45] as part of the Fry Creek Stockton Wash

[8:47] Watershed flood protection project. The original project included

[8:52] flood control dams and outlet channels to the

[8:56] Gila River for four drainages. As shown in

[9:00] the image on the lower right to upper

[9:03] left corners is the Stockton Wash, Graveyard Wash,

[9:08] Freeman Wash, and Fry Creek Wash. Next slide.

[9:14] The Stockton Wash FRS consists of a 40

[9:18] foot high earthen embankment dam, a reservoir flood

[9:22] pool, a principal spillway, two auxiliary spillways, and

[9:28] an outlet channel. The image on the left

[9:32] shows the features of the dam in plan

[9:34] view, and the image on the right shows

[9:37] a cross sectional view of the dam. We

[9:40] want to note that the dam does not

[9:42] permanently store water, so it remains dry except

[9:46] during large rainfall events. Next slide. The purpose

[9:53] of this rehabilitation project is to extend the

[9:56] service life of the dam, and while doing

[9:59] so, we need to bring the dam into

[10:01] compliance with current performance, design, and safety standards.

[10:06] The NRCS provides design requirements, and the Arizona

[10:11] Department of Water Resources provides rules and regulations.

[10:15] We also want to take this opportunity to

[10:18] maintain or improve flood protection to reduce flood

[10:22] damages. Next slide. The dam was designed to

[10:28] have a fifty year service life. Recall it

[10:31] was built in 1964, so it is about

[10:34] 60 years old. ADWR has identified safety deficiencies

[10:41] at this dam to be inadequate auxiliary spillway

[10:45] capacity and possible foundation cracking. Some items we

[10:50] are looking at to upgrade to meet current

[10:53] standards and sufficient dam or sufficient dam height

[10:58] and freeboard, adding a filter diagram for the

[11:02] outlet pipe, the flow velocity at the principal

[11:06] spillway inlet, the stability and integrity of the

[11:10] auxiliary spillways, and adding an emergency access route.

[11:16] Next slide. As shown in the image, the

[11:21] dam provides flood protection to areas between Highway

[11:24] 191 and South Barney Lane, and then Highland

[11:30] Canal and Gila River. This entails part of

[11:34] the city of Safford and all of the

[11:36] Hollywood community, about 1,000 buildings, Highway 70, natural

[11:43] gas lines, and irrigation ditches and water lines.

[11:49] The various shades of color in the image

[11:51] represent the 1,500 acres of irrigated cropland. Next

[11:56] slide. The image on the right shows the

[12:01] inundation area based on a ten year storm

[12:04] event if the dam was not in place.

[12:07] And as you can see, water is flowing

[12:10] beyond the banks of the Stockton Wash Outlet

[12:13] Channel if that were to occur. The image

[12:16] on the left shows the inundation area if

[12:19] the dam is in place as it is

[12:21] currently. The dam, you can see, provides flood

[12:26] protection with flow through the Stockton Wash Outlet

[12:29] Channel all the way to the Gila River.

[12:32] Next slide. Our next presenter is Greg Wall

[12:37] with NRCS as a state watershed planner. He

[12:41] will be describing the overview of the planning

[12:43] study. Greg, please take it from here. Thank

[12:49] you, Christina, and thank you to those of

[12:53] you who are participating tonight and providing comments

[12:57] and input to this project and process. Next

[13:01] slide. So what is a watershed plan EA

[13:07] or plan environmental assessment? It's a combined planning

[13:11] document making up those four components you see

[13:14] on the right hand side of the slide

[13:16] in those blue boxes. Those components consist of

[13:22] Public Law eighty three thousand five and sixty

[13:24] six, which we'll go into more detail, NEPA,

[13:28] the National Environmental Policy Act, which is the

[13:31] process, PRNGs, which is the principles, requirements and

[13:36] guidelines for federal watershed projects and other policies

[13:42] and manuals like the National Watershed Program Manual

[13:46] and Handbook. In addition to those, as part

[13:50] of the process, NEPA covers, you can think

[13:52] of it as an umbrella. NEPA is a

[13:56] process and the umbrella covers a lot of

[13:58] other federal laws, regulations and policies. Some of

[14:03] those, as an example, are NHPA, which is

[14:06] the National Historic Preservation Act that deals with

[14:09] cultural resources and archaeology, ESA, which is the

[14:13] Endangered Species Act, deals with threatened endangered species,

[14:17] and in all other applicable laws like executive

[14:21] orders. Next slide. So what is the watershed

[14:27] planning process that creates this watershed plan EA?

[14:32] The process is a nine step process in

[14:37] which we are at step number two as

[14:39] indicated on the slide by the yellow arrow

[14:42] in which we are gathering public input and

[14:46] comments during the initial information gathering stage. So

[14:52] during public scoping is when we hope to

[14:55] gather information and concerns and comments from participants

[15:00] in the community. The other opportunity for the

[15:04] community and the public to engage during this

[15:06] process is step seven, when the draft plan

[15:11] EA is put out for public comment. It's

[15:15] important during scoping to identify any problems or

[15:17] important resources that you're aware of that we

[15:20] need to consider at this phase during the

[15:24] process. Next slide. So what is NEPA? As

[15:31] I was describing earlier, NEPA is that umbrella.

[15:34] It's intended to help federal agencies make decisions

[15:37] that are based on an understanding of the

[15:39] environmental consequences and take actions that protect, restore

[15:44] and enhance the environment. A policy of NEPA

[15:48] requires an evaluation of the potential impacts of

[15:51] natural and human environments associated with any proposed

[15:55] federal action. Next slide. So PRNGs that we

[16:01] mentioned earlier, the principles, requirements and guidelines for

[16:06] watershed projects have three objectives, maximize sustainable economic

[16:11] development, avoid the unwise use of floodplains and

[16:15] flood prone areas, protecting and restoring the functions

[16:18] of natural systems and mitigating any unavoidable damage

[16:22] to natural systems. Public benefits encompass environmental, economic

[16:30] and social goals, including monetary and nonmonetary effects

[16:36] and allow for the consideration of both quantified

[16:38] and unquantified measures. Next slide. So what is

[16:46] Public Law 83,566, which is part of those

[16:50] four components that make up a watershed plan

[16:53] EA? The three purposes of the public law

[16:57] is to prevent damage from erosion, floodwater and

[17:00] sediment. It's furthering conservation, development, utilization and disposal

[17:05] of water. The other purpose is furthering conservation

[17:10] and proper utilization of land. So Public Law

[17:15] eighty three thousand five hundred and sixty six

[17:17] watershed projects have eight authorities. So these are

[17:22] the authorizations that any watershed project can commence.

[17:31] This project, the first one, is flood prevention.

[17:35] Other authorizations include watershed protection, public recreation, public

[17:40] fish and wildlife, agricultural use, municipal and industrial

[17:44] water supply, water quality management, watershed structure rehab.

[17:50] Next slide. So what is NHPA? We'll briefly

[17:56] touch on the National Historic Preservation Act. Essentially,

[17:59] NHPA will identify historic properties during this federal

[18:04] action. It'll assess the impacts with the proposed

[18:07] action and it'll seek ways to avoid, minimize

[18:10] or mitigate any proposed impacts that are associated

[18:17] with the proposed action. NEPA also requires consideration

[18:20] of historic and cultural sites. So examples of

[18:24] those are archeological sites, artifacts and structures such

[18:30] as houses, barns, bridges and dams. Other considerations

[18:36] under NHPA are culturally significant plants or landscapes.

[18:40] Next slide. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. I

[18:47] will be presenting on behalf of Michael Johnson

[18:49] describing the formulation and evaluation of alternatives. Next

[18:53] slide. So as we develop each alternative, we

[19:00] need to consider all reasonable alternatives, including a

[19:04] future without project alternative, which is like a

[19:08] do nothing alternative, a dam decommissioning alternative, a

[19:13] dam rehabilitation, a nonstructural, a locally preferred, an

[19:19] environmentally preferred, and a national economic efficiency alternative,

[19:25] and any other reasonable alternatives that may come

[19:28] up. Next slide. Potential rehabilitation alternatives include increasing

[19:36] the sediment storage capacity to extend the life

[19:39] for another fifty to one hundred years, increasing

[19:42] the downstream flood protection, raising the top of

[19:46] the dam, modifying the existing auxiliary spillways, constructing

[19:51] a new auxiliary spillway, modifying the existing principal

[19:56] spillway, constructing a new principal spillway, and adding

[20:01] erosion armoring to the dam slopes. Next slide.

[20:08] We will evaluate all the alternatives in a

[20:11] comparative form to assess the environmental impacts. These

[20:15] are factors to consider while comparing the alternatives.

[20:19] One factor is how to maximize the public

[20:23] benefits relative to cost. Another factor is to

[20:27] not give more importance to any of the

[20:30] three goals: economic, environmental, and social impacts. Another

[20:36] factor is to evaluate the effects on natural

[20:39] and human environment and incorporate mitigation measures as

[20:43] needed. Next slide. The plan EA will document

[20:48] all the reasonable alternatives considered and the reasons

[20:52] for selecting a preferred alternative. The Plan EA

[20:56] will describe the arrangements and responsibilities for financing,

[21:00] installation, and operation and maintenance for the rehabilitation

[21:04] project. Next slide. Next I will be talking

[21:10] about the public participation. As shown on the

[21:15] left is the estimated project timeline. We are

[21:19] currently collecting and reviewing public comments. We have

[21:23] received some comments via email, phone, and website.

[21:28] When the public comment period will end, we

[21:30] will complete our formulation and evaluation of all

[21:33] the alternatives. Around June and into July, we

[21:37] will analyze in more detail the selected alternatives

[21:41] and evaluate the potential impacts they may have

[21:44] on the environmental resources. From August 2023 to

[21:49] March 2024, the draft plan EA will be

[21:52] prepared and the public will be given an

[21:55] opportunity to review and comment, and the plan

[21:58] EA will then be finalized. Next slide. At

[22:05] this time, we need the public's input, and

[22:07] some items to consider are flooding and erosion,

[22:11] water, cultural, wildlife, and biological resources, social and

[22:17] environmental justice, and evaluation of the alternatives. Sorry.

[22:25] We've reached out to the public utilizing various

[22:28] methods. We mailed the notices based on a

[22:32] boundary covering an area upstream and downstream of

[22:35] the dam using the county's parcel database. Nine

[22:40] eighty eight notice envelopes containing the project fact

[22:43] sheet and meeting notice were mailed out on

[22:46] May 13. Less than 100 envelopes were returned

[22:50] due to various reasons such as property owner

[22:53] had moved, it's a vacant lot, or was

[22:57] not deliverable as addressed. We also utilized Eastern

[23:03] Arizona Courier to publish on two separate days

[23:06] the meeting notice. And lastly, the Safford CityGraham

[23:11] County Library allowed us to post the meeting

[23:14] notice. Next slide. As indicated on the meeting

[23:20] notice and website, the public scoping comment period

[23:23] started on 05/16/2023 and ends on June 15.

[23:29] We encourage you to send us your comments,

[23:32] questions, or concerns using one of the listed

[23:36] methods: email, website, and on the website is

[23:40] a comment form, mail, phone, today in person

[23:45] using the comment cards that are placed on

[23:48] a table in the county's assembly room, or

[23:51] virtually as we begin to allow the public

[23:54] to unmute themselves within the Teams app. I

[23:58] will remind everyone that we are recording this

[24:01] meeting and will be posted we will be

[24:04] posting the meeting on the county's website. And

[24:08] if you could go to the next slide.

[24:11] As we begin to open the floor to

[24:13] the public, I would like to point out

[24:15] the USDA nondiscrimination policy statement. So at this

[24:21] time, we are going to allow, if possible,

[24:27] people in the assembly room to provide their

[24:30] comments first before we go to those that

[24:33] are logged in virtually attending the meeting. So

[24:37] right now we're going to go ahead and

[24:39] provide permissions. So Michael Bryce, if you want

[24:43] to go ahead and lead the effort for

[24:45] guiding those to speak first in the assembly

[24:48] room, I leave the floor to you. Do

[24:53] we have anyone that wants to ask questions

[24:56] or maybe comments? As long as you do.

[25:00] So just state your name and and. Okay,

[25:06] I'm Lawrence Brockett. I'm the owner the land

[25:23] Sorry, didn't quite catch the end of that.

[25:25] If we are to raise the dam, what

[25:27] was the rest of it? Yes, where's the

[25:30] material going to come from? Are we going

[25:33] to add it? We're going to try to

[25:34] dig it out from? Yes, well definitely that,

[25:39] good question. Yes, so we will definitely analyze

[25:42] as part of our study in the Plan

[25:45] E A, we will document on, where the

[25:48] material would come from, whether it's reusing some

[25:51] portions from other parts of the dam if

[25:53] we're going to modify by cutting somewhere. It

[25:57] could be if we find that the material

[26:00] inside the reservoir or flood pool area is

[26:03] adequate enough, that might be a source of

[26:06] material to use. Or if we have to

[26:09] go to outside resources, that may be a

[26:11] source as well. And that's part of the

[26:14] study that we're planning to, prepare here as

[26:17] we move forward is to determine some of

[26:20] these, solutions. One more. Would cleaning the frozen

[26:27] gap out help put the new vehicle parts

[26:30] on the boat? If cleaning the reservoir out,

[26:35] would that solve the problem? Is that what

[26:37] your question is? It could help resolve some

[26:39] of the problems. It definitely could. It helped.

[26:45] Did he say to remove some of the

[26:47] deposited If you remove some of the material

[26:50] in the reservoir area, could that help resolve

[26:52] some of the problems? Some of it. It

[26:54] gives you more capacity obviously for storing water,

[26:58] but there's still, you wouldn't have enough to,

[27:01] you still need to mitigate or have another

[27:05] part of the alternative in order to fulfill

[27:10] both the state and NRCS requirements. But it

[27:14] would help, and it is being considered. But

[27:21] when they built that dam Go ahead and

[27:24] state your name. When they built that dam,

[27:27] they took all the dirt out of the

[27:29] upper side. That's where they took it down.

[27:33] Because I worked on an engineer. It always

[27:37] with the SCS Well, that was the best

[27:42] one we had to do. We drive farms

[27:45] in the growth rates. I raised three gun

[27:48] violence. Had 40, I don't know how much

[27:51] to me. Was 100, but I guess it

[27:53] was probably. Upstream or downstream. We didn't even

[27:59] find myself. Very clear. Was paid. We, my

[28:03] father, our father bought that. In fact, I

[28:05] put the dairy there. And he was paid

[28:08] to have the damn foot, but we can't

[28:10] was allowed to park, but you were at

[28:12] risk to get insurance or anything. Yeah, we

[28:15] would, it would level up just perfect. I

[28:18] mean, boring. And then you would kill it

[28:22] a little bit, put seed in about the

[28:25] time about the time that you needed water

[28:28] from getting the monsoon fill up. And we

[28:32] got three time model. We got two two

[28:34] time model here. One grows here and one

[28:36] blood here. I'm Dale Crockett. I'm his brother.

[28:47] Until 02/2005 approximately, there was around the main

[28:54] spillway there were blocks seen that put around

[29:00] about two foot high to keep keep the

[29:03] water where it would, wouldn't, wash things out.

[29:09] Those were removed and and the focus land

[29:13] that we used farming and we got, we

[29:18] would lose, maybe one crop every five years

[29:24] because the planting the We had, as Lawrence

[29:29] mentioned, we had good, good farming, good crops

[29:34] open. For whatever reason they took the blocks

[29:39] out, it suddenly made noise and complete erosion

[29:44] and we we lost probably 60 acres of

[29:47] land that's not far. Like to change that,

[29:53] but the way it is better right now,

[29:56] it doesn't give us much purpose for. Do

[30:00] you know who removed those wrong? Yeah. It

[30:06] was, I was approached or say the names

[30:09] that we need to drain that because it

[30:12] was the source of the West style virus.

[30:15] And so my understanding was there would be

[30:17] one draining to it and they were gonna

[30:20] remove one layer of tiles. And when I

[30:23] went up there, they roll out. There was

[30:26] all kinds of branches, ditches and dykes and

[30:28] everything. And there's no way to do one

[30:30] of us for Hilton, new Barn. Without I'm

[30:34] a dozer operator, so I'm gonna get the

[30:36] I had golfer or what do think we're

[30:37] gonna get there. But but it was that

[30:41] and I don't know whether why, who determined

[30:44] that was the source of West Nile. I

[30:46] personally got West Nile, so I can't argue

[30:49] that that one very much, but it there's

[30:52] other sources of water. There there was a

[30:54] lot of other. Bonds around, but that one

[30:57] was the one that was. Goes into. That

[31:02] is why it hasn't been far since then.

[31:04] Jason Crockett's what what type of flood event

[31:14] are we trying to prepare for? Like I

[31:16] saw there, there was a ten year flood.

[31:20] Is that what we're No, that was just

[31:26] an example. We definitely look at various frequency

[31:33] events like the five, ten, 20 five, 50,

[31:37] one hundred. This dam was built for the

[31:41] 100, and definitely we're making sure that it's

[31:44] going to again fulfill the one hundred year

[31:47] requirements based on current standards. Palpione has water

[31:56] gotten in there since it was, Say, go

[32:00] to the. Spillway, how high up there has

[32:05] it gotten through. I've never seen it very

[32:09] high. I don't think it's ever gone through

[32:12] the spillway. And but this ADWR requirement is

[32:19] the spillway piece size for the probable maximum,

[32:23] but which is beyond the five hundred year

[32:25] flood. I mean, it's. That entertained it is

[32:31] a brain that's about. I know it's pretty

[32:34] good with $79.83, but we don't see anything

[32:37] like that. So is there current damage to

[32:42] the we walked at the other day? Is

[32:44] there current damage to the dam? No, is

[32:49] it just that the regulations have changed? It's

[32:52] mainly that the regulations have changed over the

[32:54] years from when it was originally designed and

[32:58] built in 1964 to what it is current

[33:01] today. We got a letter to the mail

[33:11] and that's why we're here, but we don't

[33:14] have any farmlands. My husband just has a

[33:17] tiny little piece of land in Little Hollywood.

[33:20] So how is that going to affect us

[33:22] or? I sure hope I'm here. Help you

[33:26] with flood protection. It's definitely Here's the question.

[33:33] No, it's okay. It's definitely there. Having this

[33:36] dam, it's definitely going to provide protection to

[33:39] those areas downstream of it. And definitely the

[33:42] community of Hollywood is one of those areas.

[33:45] So I would say it would be an

[33:48] asset having that dam to provide that continued

[33:52] flood protection to your property. I'm sorry, what

[34:02] was She says, is this coming out of

[34:08] our taxes? Are we going to have to

[34:09] pay for it? I would say a good

[34:13] portion is lead federal agencies is providing a

[34:19] good portion of the funding source for this

[34:21] rehabilitation effort. And then your local sponsor is

[34:25] also a source of that funding. Yeah, they

[34:30] definitely do cover a good majority of it.

[34:34] So currently, the study is funded by the

[34:38] NRCS. So this is at no cost to

[34:42] the county or to the taxpayer. If the

[34:47] results of the study are favorable, there's a

[34:49] desire to move forward, and we get into

[34:52] a situation where we're going to something new,

[34:56] different, taller, that will be covered by the

[35:00] RCS. If those results positive and we get

[35:06] to a point where the community, the county

[35:10] wants to implement and construct those features, it's

[35:16] at that point where there's a local badge

[35:20] that the county would be responsible for. Typically,

[35:25] the federal government would pay 65% And it

[35:38] would be up to the county to determine

[35:41] how that 35% collected for whatever their process.

[35:50] But again, I just announced years away if

[35:53] we get to that. Back in, I think

[35:59] it was in the 80s when they had

[36:01] that run. I know that the graveyard wash.

[36:10] I know there was squirrel holes or gulper

[36:14] holes or something through it. Just one minute

[36:17] got up so high water started going through

[36:20] it. They had ever gone trucking around it

[36:24] and stopped from breaking. And I'm quite sure

[36:32] this dam right here is just about the

[36:34] same way. My name is Leslie Paulsley, me

[36:43] and my wife ops the plant, south of

[36:45] the dam. I have a couple of questions.

[36:48] I know before that Native Americans down downstream,

[36:52] they own the water. We're not allowed to

[36:54] climb it or something that's been considered in

[36:57] this. Digging it out. And another one is.

[37:03] Right. If we clean it out, how much

[37:06] would we still have to raise the dam?

[37:11] Meet the new standards. Yeah, so I could

[37:19] answer a part of that question. Know, definitely

[37:23] we will have some people out there serving

[37:26] and actually some of that has been conducted

[37:28] already. So you might have seen some people

[37:32] walking on some properties just doing an assessment

[37:36] to determine if there's any archaeological finds. We

[37:43] do, later on in this process, also look

[37:46] for tribal consultation. And when it comes to

[37:52] if we raise the dam using some of

[37:54] this material, may that be part of the

[37:57] area that could be something tribal or cultural?

[38:02] Yes, we always want to look through and

[38:06] be thorough in our investigation as we provide

[38:10] some results of our analysis. Further on, I

[38:17] imagine as we go to the design, if

[38:20] that is a process that happens later on,

[38:24] additional studies may be conducted at that time.

[38:29] But yes, when the dam was originally built,

[38:33] there may have been already a cultural resource

[38:37] assessment that was done at that time, and

[38:40] anytime we do anything new, we obviously want

[38:44] to examine that area as well. I wasn't

[38:49] concerned about their artifacts. I was more concerned

[38:52] about stay on water because it runs off

[38:55] to them. The I'm sorry, what was that?

[39:00] There was a water right associated to the

[39:03] drug. Don't know. Well, water right. The the

[39:08] armature is not out of the walls permanently.

[39:12] He designed structures with kind of a ten

[39:15] day window that if it should fill, it

[39:19] should drain within ten days. So increase in

[39:22] this building? Does that help? Only if it

[39:25] gets to that elevation and what will happen.

[39:28] What about the drainage pipe? Drainage pipe is

[39:30] going function as is always function. Put a

[39:32] note. That could be part of the solution.

[39:37] A lot to add with what he had

[39:38] just said, removing sediment from from the south

[39:42] side. Could we also possibly construct a pond

[39:45] there? Yep. By what it's function. Wade, What

[39:51] I was told from the time on is

[39:53] since there's years that we had a pond

[39:55] on the old Killing, Cobb County, and probably

[39:58] they bought they bought. We have a pond.

[40:01] We actually had two, but the county didn't

[40:02] like it coming up to the road. And

[40:05] so we could catch because we have water

[40:08] shares, but we're part of the development of

[40:10] ditch company. We could catch water in our

[40:13] pond, but we thought it used it down

[40:15] the phone, but we could not use the

[40:17] dam to impound and pump it back because

[40:20] that the county tried to do that. And

[40:23] they have helicopters and everything down there. They

[40:27] we cannot use the dam for we could

[40:30] they can't take it away because it's also

[40:32] the ground department because of the way it

[40:34] can do. If I I can't pump out

[40:37] of that blood control down, because the county

[40:39] you would have a place where they pumped

[40:41] it out. And they put in and we

[40:44] cannot do that. And you have to, but

[40:46] you can't use impound it before, but once

[40:49] it touches that down, you cannot be a

[40:53] board bumping out. It's already been decided. Okay,

[41:54] Mike. Is for this. Oh, the damn. Outlet.

[42:03] Who's supposed to take care of that? Right?

[42:07] The canal. The making something now that it

[42:12] it typically depends account. They don't do anything.

[42:18] If it that day I'm right now. Got

[42:21] up three quarters full. That outlet came out

[42:25] like it has years back. That water would

[42:29] go down and never get past the Lone

[42:32] Star Bridge. That little star, it would clog

[42:36] up completely. And what they didn't call the

[42:39] right down the road on track. It's same

[42:44] thing down there. Because of all the cameracks

[42:47] that's real good in it. And lower wings.

[42:52] I don't know that. I took some new

[42:57] cameracks out. Somebody ripped from Lone Star Road

[43:03] up quite a ways and took the tamarack

[43:05] dug them out. They just dropped them back

[43:09] down in the water. It's gonna create a

[43:14] hell of a problem. Well, the canal company

[43:17] cleaned a bunch of the canal dumped it

[43:19] in the stock. The canal loss cleaned. They

[43:24] cleaned the canals on our farm and dumped

[43:27] them in the stock. Yeah, but. So I

[43:31] mean, even for like through my farm, the

[43:33] Kenton farm, it's the wash these That'll work.

[43:37] The the stock and. That's right. Pictures the

[43:45] last three years of what it feels just

[43:48] for the rates. Yep. Is a big problem

[44:11] that they do not need. He's got to

[44:15] go down with his backhoe over to the

[44:17] highways and clean the canal out because the

[44:19] county doesn't do their jobs. Do. Actually took

[44:24] a track over there. So we all went

[44:27] track. And that tracks coming down so fast.

[44:31] We didn't think that it was going to

[44:34] be cleaned out in time. Then they're running

[44:36] over time. But we are talking about the

[44:45] stuff that they had itself, But all the

[44:48] references, the output canal to the river, the

[44:51] output part of this assessment to make sure

[44:54] it's going to function as planned. The associated

[44:57] with the demand and upstream of the management.

[45:01] Yeah, that's really important. Dads are protected within

[45:07] the. My personal opinion, That damn field about

[45:14] three quarters full right now. It'd be gone.

[45:20] There's no doubt in my mind. Because of

[45:24] the gopher names and whatever squirrels and the

[45:27] poles and stuff. But. They definitely expected. Charges

[45:36] us. We feed and inspect it for poles

[45:41] or. That they find them, then they notify

[45:46] us. I would park doing that. The rest

[45:52] of the notes. Issue because. There has been

[46:14] times where they've said that they're they call

[46:16] them animal girls on there and and other

[46:22] thing that they will talk about it, it

[46:25] depends on the type of plant that grows

[46:28] on certain snippets. If it's like a mosquito

[46:33] or something, we'll run along the lead. Then

[46:37] those need to be eradicated. But then not

[46:40] that grow big because if they grow big,

[46:43] they're gonna. And then the water. We took

[46:51] those out over the last few years. Upon

[46:56] the the end, there should have been. Was

[47:02] in front of all the data. And I

[47:04] know that they have. As far as the

[47:07] channel, I know that they've been out there

[47:09] and part of the channel for reasons channel.

[47:14] I think they do that almost every year.

[47:17] They have to run it for quite a

[47:19] while. Some of those. There's places that it

[47:33] isn't for meeting him. On both sides. That's

[47:38] Tamarac 10 foot tall up there. It it

[47:43] built up. It would go around those no

[47:47] way it could keep from them. That. We

[48:11] taking those out. If they go down the

[48:15] progress up and down, we'll track. That will

[48:18] track probably everybody below is gonna sue me.

[48:24] I've got. Notifications, I wasn't even notified. I

[48:33] was sending it up in the mail or

[48:35] anything. So, This is another question for speed

[48:43] on notification. Yeah, so it seems to me

[48:48] that unfortunately several people didn't get these notices

[48:53] and I I highly ask that you guys

[48:56] please, fill out that comment card, provide your

[49:00] contact information so that in the next meeting

[49:04] that we have for the public, I can

[49:07] notify you directly. So please do, provide your

[49:12] information. You could do the comment card. You

[49:15] can email me. You can use the website

[49:18] comment form to submit your information, but please

[49:22] provide your concern stating, like, for example, that

[49:26] you were not notified before and would like

[49:28] to be added to the mailing list. So

[49:31] I apologize for not emailing you directly at

[49:35] this time. Alright, thank you. If there's a

[49:40] neighbor that's similar situation that you think might

[49:45] be interested in and not get notified, if

[49:48] you could encourage them to contact us, Because

[49:54] we want the community part of it across.

[49:59] Next time on the meet, we're gonna come

[50:01] in with some ideas on how to fix

[50:05] it. So, question is really important to all

[50:08] of you if we're raising the dam, where

[50:11] does the material come? What are those impacts?

[50:14] What does it look like? Is there a

[50:17] way we can get a copy of your

[50:19] slide presentation on paper somehow? Christina, did you

[50:25] hear that? Yes, yes. We do have it.

[50:29] We will be posting this PowerPoint presentation as

[50:32] a PDF on the website, as well as

[50:36] the video recording that we're doing right now

[50:38] on the website. To print and provide, I

[50:42] will have to double check with, but I'm

[50:46] not sure if that was something that we

[50:49] were supposed to be doing. For sure, it

[50:51] will be available on the website for you

[50:54] guys to print and download. I think the

[50:59] website is on this piece of paper. So

[51:02] will be available. Future project information will be

[51:09] updated as. Yes, at the website. Yeah, on

[51:16] the website we will have the draft plan

[51:18] EA document when it becomes available, and we'll

[51:23] be sending out those mailing notices to inform

[51:26] everyone about that and that also where to

[51:29] go to download it and review. We may

[51:32] have a hard copy available at the library

[51:35] for people to review there in person. So

[51:39] just know that the website will be a

[51:41] go to place for people as a resource.

[51:45] But also please call and ask or email

[51:48] me if you have any questions, because I

[51:51] will definitely direct it to the right person

[51:53] and get a response when it becomes available.

[52:02] Are there any other questions in person here

[52:04] before we go to opening the floor for

[52:07] virtual people? So is it on mute? Okay,

[52:19] so everyone we do have one. Go to

[52:22] the check. Don't start row. There's around track.

[52:29] I got about 88%. I know. Right? Well,

[52:34] the water things out, she's on both sides

[52:36] of the. That's one of the concerns I

[52:41] have. Keeping that channel clean. It's the road.

[52:52] Did you ever fix the road? The road

[52:54] was slumps that went right into the field

[52:56] and it Cut anywhere near the top. That's

[53:03] another issue that the approach that's on. And

[53:08] when I asked the highway department that they

[53:15] indicate that they haven't done any location on

[53:18] that. I don't know if it's what the

[53:22] telemetry thought, but. Any other comments? I guess

[53:34] you can go to those and see if

[53:35] there's any comments online. Yeah, we're looking at

[53:39] the chat, and we also have everybody unmuted

[53:44] so that they can go ahead and unmute

[53:46] themselves. And again, if, you guys have any

[53:56] other further questions you want to ask, you

[53:58] have until June 15, to provide us your

[54:02] questions and concerns. We're not seeing anything right

[54:13] now. Well, I really appreciate everyone taking the

[54:21] time to be here today and to definitely

[54:24] let us know about your concerns. If there's

[54:28] no further questions, then I guess this meeting

[54:31] is over. And thank you again. We will

[54:34] document this, and we will post the video

[54:37] and the PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file

[54:41] on the website. So give us, I think

[54:44] maybe about a week or two to get

[54:46] that going, but we will have it up

[54:48] there on the website for people to download.

[54:52] So I thank you guys very much for

[54:54] your time. So a week or two and

[55:03] a week, it's going to be rolling around

[55:06] and talking to you. The date. Because my

[55:12] husband's out of the country and I know

[55:13] that he's going to want to.

SWFRS Public Scoping Mtg Recording 05-13-23 (MP4)

Transcript