Repairs to Red Mill Pond dam move forward

On Wednesday, Oct. 22, a temporary dam replaced the large, damaged steel gate on Red Mill Pond’s dam as it went in for repairs. Evans Street, at the bridge, was closed for more than five hours as the Lenawee County Drain Commission used a crane, which had to operate from the road, to remove the steel gate. Stephen May, Lenawee County Drain Commissioner, said the removal and placement of the gate was only supposed to take about three hours, adding that there were only a few snafus with traffic control that day. “It went pretty well,” said May. “There were a lot of unknowns. This is not exactly something we do every day.”Removing the old gate went smoothly, though the replacement of the temporary gate did not. The damaged steel gate has gone in for repairs at Mitchell Welding and Fabrication in Adrian. According to May, the contractor said the work should take between 8-14 days, adding that the plan is to have the pond refilled this year. Originally, the dam was to be drawn down until the end of May 2015. When the fixed steel gate is replaced, the road will be closed again, according to the drain commissioner. The drain commission took on most of the repairs to the dam once the lone bid for the project was rejected after being asked for almost double the $315,000 estimated cost. Now that the gate is being repaired, work will continue on fixing the steel catwalks, patching concrete and replacing a security fence, which will be completed by drain commission staff and contractors. May added that the refilling of the pond wouldn’t be contingent on the completion of the repairs to the security fence or catwalk. Five feet of water has already been drained from Red Mill Pond since the repair project began October 1, and it should take several weeks once the gate is replaced to completely refill the pond.