Dredging moves forward with adaptations

Movement of funds and sediment will keep the McKinley Lake dredging project going after discussion at the Creston City Council meeting Tuesday.

While official approval will be needed at the Nov. 18 city council meeting, the council agreed with Houston Engineering’s assessment and plans to get the McKinley Lake dredging project back on track.

Preliminarily discussed and approved during a special Creston Parks and Recreation meeting in late October, more money is needed to complete the dredging of McKinley Lake. Portions of the lake were overdredged after sediment depths proved to be deeper than originally thought.

“McKinley, as you all know, is a very old lake, so we don’t have reliable original design information on that lake,” Houston Engineering office manager Charles Ikenberry said. “It ended up that there was a lot more soft sediment there than we bargained for and that’s the volume that the contractor has removed below our planned dredging service.”

The soft sediment has to be removed so the equipment can move further into the lake without sinking. “They have to get all the way down or they just sink up to the top of their equipment,” Ikenberry said.

Michelle Balmer, a lake restoration program coordinator with the Iowa DNR, said issues like this pop up in most lake improvement projects.

“You are not alone in this problem,” Balmer said. “We’ve had numerous lakes where we thought we knew what the conditions were when we went out and as we designed and developed the plans, and you adapt in the field when there’s equipment out moving material around.”

The original plans had 250,000 cubic yards of sediment to be removed from the lake, with an average depth of about 7 feet. So far, 155,000 cubic yards of the planned removal has occurred, alongside an extra 65,000 cubic yards of overdredged sediment.

Construction company JNC agreed to waive 15,000 cubic yards, amounting to about $100,000, from the total.

To get to the minimum wanted depths, an extra $299,000 is needed. This differs from the number given during the parks and rec meeting, $366,000. Houston Engineering was able to take that additional $67,000 off by moving some of the sediment to the overdredged areas rather than completely out of the lake.

In order to get another $300,000 for the dredging portion of the project, a number of factors come into play. High Lakes Outdoor Alliance offered to put $20,000 toward a fish habitat in the lake, while the Green Valley State Park staff offered to paint the ADA signage free of charge. These two donations will mean a redirection of about $22,500 in lake project funds to the dredging.

Another way to save money on the project was to take one of the four planned jetties out of the equation. This will save an extra $80,000 to be used for dredging.

The Creston Parks and Recreation board originally had $100,000 set aside to finish any extra projects after the lake dredging was complete. However, they agreed to put this money toward the dredging. With $100,000 of new money coming into the project, the Iowa DNR has agreed to match this, bringing the total to $200,000 of new money coming in.

The council was generally in favor of these changes, though no official vote was taken yet. Documents for redirection and change orders will come in front of the council at their Nov. 18 meeting. Despite these hiccups, Houston Engineering and the Iowa DNR said a completion date of March 2026 is still expected.

In other council news...

The council approved an agreement with the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a $200,000 grant to go toward uptown street lighting in accordance with the Community Neighborhood Revitalization Grant.

The Creston Police will be adding another patrol car to the fray. The council approved the purchase of a used 2021 Chevy Tahoe for $45,000 from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office. Due to its prior use, the Tahoe has most of the needed patrol equipment already installed.