News Poll: 83% Support Dam Retrofit

The results are in for the latest Performance Radio News Poll on Facebook. The question was should the City of Huron move forward with a proposal to retrofit the Third Street Dam in Huron to reduce the risk of drowning, despite the high cost of engineering for the project proposed by a Minnesota company. 83-percent of respondents say the City should retro fit the dam with a rock arch rapids design to eliminate the hydraulic rolling caused by the low-head dam that crosses the James River. Barr Engineering of Minneapolis presented the Huron City Commission with such a plan Monday night. However engineering costs in the proposal caught members of the Commission and Mayor Dave McGirr off guard. McGirr says the City is used to seeing engineering costs for eight to 10 percent on large projects. Barr’s engineering estimates were closer to 25 to nearly 30 percent of the projects overall cost. Under Barr’s current proposal, engineering would cash out at around 121-thousand dollars. Two other low-head dam retrofits in Hutchinson and Jackson, Minnesota cost nearly a million dollar each. Barr representative Ron Koth was pressuring the Commission to sign a contract starting work, so grant applications could begin to be submitted to help reduce the cost of the dam. Mayor Dave McGirr wanted time to evaluate all of Huron’s options in the matter. The item will likely be placed on the agenda for the Huron City Commission meeting this Monday. Performance Radio News polls on Facebook are unscientific and we thank everyone who participated