Bill Pipp,left, chairman of the Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy District, holds a discussion via Zoom with David Hollenbeck, district attorney, Saturday morning’s first meeting of the year for the district. Photo by Deb Patterson.

By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — The annual meeting of the Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy District was short, with just two items of business — election of two board members and organization of the district’s board.

Following the annual meeting was the first quarter meeting of the board resulting in several actions by the board and good news for the shareholders in the district regarding the tax rate in 2024.

Judy Roberts, who was appointed to fill the vacancy of David Johnston, was elected to a one-year term for the District 1 seat. She was unopposed.

Bill Pipp was elected to his first four-year term on the board. Pipp was originally appointed to the District 3 seat when the district was created. He too was unopposed.

Pipp will continue serving as the district’s chairman. Carolyn Anderson will be vice chair; Jim Silcox will serve as secretary and Todd Mikel will be treasurer.

It was during the regular quarterly meeting it was noted an increased assessed valuation in the district has lowered its tax rate for the general and cumulative funds. Overall the district’s tax rate for 2024 will be $0.0188 compared to the 2023 tax rate of $0.0214. Due to the high assessed valuation, the district will still be able to raise $311,890 to fund its budget in 2024 — $162,581 for the general fund and $149,309 for the cumulative improvement fund.

Pipp noted “through a lot of hard work, we’ve driven down costs, completed both projects within the budget and lower than the budget, pending final approval (of the dike project) from the Department of Natural Resources.”

Documents regarding the dike project and its completion will be submitted to the Natural Resource Commission and DNR for final approval. Once approval is received, dike officials will be communicating with its insurance company to lower it’s yearly premium now that both structures have been repaired.

The board did adopt a policy utilizing hybrid meeting options. This will allow the board to hold its meetings with a minimum of two board members physically and at least one other board member attending via electronic communications. This is allowed by IC 5-14-1.5-3.6.

During the meeting board members approved funding a plan for lake level/flow rate management technology to provide mathematical data for the town to operate the lake level control device gates. It will also create a management plan for yearly inspections of the dam and dike by Lawson-Fisher engineers.

During other matters the board approved Al Tehan’s proposal to reinstall the original dam control gate measuring system, at no cost. The system has been modernized by Tehan. “I see no reason why not to bring it back,” stated Pipp. Noting its historical value, he added “It will help visually tell where the lake level is.”

Final action of the meeting was establishing meeting dates for 2024 and the annual meeting in 2025. Future meeting dates will be at 4 p.m. Friday, April 26, Aug. 23 and Oct. 25. The annual meeting will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 followed by the first quarterly meeting of the year at 9:30 a.m. All meetings will be held at the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation’s Educational Center, Syracuse.