Waterfall Cove Dredging – the dredge has completed Waterfall Cove and will be in Quantrill to finish the dredging season. Once done, the dredge will be pulled and moved to the Operations Building for maintenance and prep for starting back up in Big Rock early spring.
A lesson learned by our operator is that the dredge in the back of smaller coves like Waterfall has a tough time due to the contour of the bottom. There are a lot or rock out cropping that with the 10’ wide cutter bar make it hard to get all the bottom. The cutter bar remains flat as it transitions over rock and the silt around may get missed. The next big rain fall that creates a good current will spread the remaining silt. So we have some areas where silt will remain deeper than we would like as the dredge simply can’t reach. For some owners the increased depth around their docks will be disappointing due to the rock bottom restricting effectiveness. A suggestion to anyone considering a new dock in shallower coves, make sure you investigate all styles as some are better for low water conditions than others.
Redear Sunfish Stocking – On October 27 Freedom Fish Transport truck brought 32,000 red ears to Lake Lotawana from Hopper Stephens Hatchery near Little Rock, Arkansas. These fish eat the integers (baby zebra mussels). They were moved to every area of our lake by our outstanding Association work crew in large containers on the barge. Thanks to the Yacht Club for letting us utilize their boat ramp to move half the fish to the north/south area of our lake and then the dam ramp was used to transport the remaining half of the fish to the east/west arm of the lake. Special thanks for Brad Barnhardt who coordinates our fish stocking efforts. While this stocking will not eliminate the Zebra Mussels it helps us keep a balance.
Spire Project – project will move to Phase II as the crews move past W block. Once the service line installations are completed in the Phase I area, they will start to do live cutover of the new main infrastructure for that section. Many have asked about the roads and we are working with Spire to resurface the lakeside of the road. Also, Socket Fiber will be starting soon on their project on the east shore side with the goal to catch up to Spire prior to the resurface.
Socket Fiber – We are aware of concerns about the installation contractor’s daily and end-of-week cleanup and the quality of some installations. We have communicated our expectations, and the restoration crew is making good progress. Horizontal boring requires crews to dig test holes in the road to confirm utility locations before drilling. Water and gas lines were recently struck in the R & K and North shore areas because they were inaccurately marked or the rock conditions effected the boring process —an unfortunate risk when records are incomplete and conditions are difficult. In some cases they have to place equipment on owners’ property, which is not ideal, but necessary. They are required to do restoration in all cases. We will continue to monitor the work and address issues regularly with Socket Fiber. Please remember that boring involves several steps, and final restoration cannot be completed until each phase’s connections are in place. Please wait until restoration in your area is complete before calling the office with issues.
Sincerely,
Jeff Clemow
President