Letter to the Editor: Otsego County failed to maintain lake drain. Now they should fix it.
Dear Otsego County Commissioners,
I am writing to request that you allocate funds to pay for the Otsego Lake drain replacement. Otsego lake encompasses both the Otsego Lake Township and Bagley Township. The estimated cost to pay for the replacement of the drain is approximately $350,000.
According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, Otsego County received $5,700,000 in mid-2021 from the Federal Government via the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, ("ARPA"). A second distribution of ARPA money in the amount of $1,296,981.97 was paid out in June 2022 with Otsego Lake Township receiving $152,587.08 and Bagley Township receiving $315,893.10.
I base my request on the following considerations:
There are eight townships in Otsego County. If each of these townships were to share equally in the first tranche of $5,700,000 ARPA funds, each township would receive $712,500. Otsego Lake and Bagley Townships would have $1,425,000 at their disposal to cover the cost of the drain replacement.
Otsego County has a population of 25,091. Approximately 1/3 of the population live in Bagley and Otsego Lake Townships. If the $5,700,000 ARPA funds were divided by population, Bagley and Otsego Lake Townships would receive 1/3 of the $5,700,000, which would amount to $1,900,000, again leaving sufficient funds to cover the drain replacement.
Otsego Lake is a driving force for the Otsego County economy. The benefits of the lake extend well beyond lakefront property owners or those who have deeded access to the lake. Tourism dollars are generated from the County Park and State Park, and from renters, property owners, visitors, hotel guests, restaurant patrons, shoppers, marinas and service center patrons, etc. Everyone benefits from the income produced by tourism dollars including business owners, their employees, and the residents of Otsego County. Without the driving force of tourism, county residents would not have the availability nor the selection of stores and services. When you compare counties without a large lake or those who neglected their lake, those counties' economies have suffered drastically.
As county commissioners, you have a duty to be good stewards and to be transparent when it comes to allocating funds. This entails investing those funds in assets which generate the greatest return for the greatest number of people, such as Otsego Lake. Even if residents don't use the lake, certainly everyone benefits from the tourism dollars it generates.
It has been Otsego County's duty to ensure the maintenance and operation of the drain since it was installed. Maintenance means the county should have ensured the drain was kept in good operating condition. Maintenance means to preserve from decline or failure. Otsego County has failed to maintain the drain.
At a recent Otsego Lake Association Meeting, a comment was made by a county representative that the ice on the lake was to blame for the decline of the drain. Ice on the lake is not a new phenomenon. Each year we see how the ice has effected the shoreline and surrounding property. Each year it is the county's responsibility to see that the drain is maintained, regardless of how the ice has effected the lake. Has the county taken any measures throughout the years to protect the drain? There are a variety of inexpensive ways the county could have protected the drain to keep it in good operating condition. Because the county neglected to maintain the drain, the county should bear the cost to replace it.
I was made aware at the recent Otsego Lake Association annual meeting that assessments to property owners is being considered to pay for the drain replacement. Assessments should be a "last resort," after all other remedies have been exhausted. The county, having received $5,700,000 in 2021, and another $1,296,981.97 in June of 2022, should have more than enough to cover the $350,000 cost to replace the drain, especially since it was the County that failed to maintain it!
Therefore, I request the county commissioners do the right thing. Appropriate ARPA money to cover the full cost of the drain replacement, and allocate necessary funds to ensure its maintenance in the future.
Charles Postlewaite
Otsego Lake
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Letter to the Editor: Otsego County failed to maintain lake drain. Now they should fix it.
