Saline River Dam Decision Headed for Ballot Box?

It appears that the fate of the Saline River Dam and Mill Pond may be determined at the ballot box. Mayor Brian Marl kick-started a discussion of the issue toward the end of Monday's Saline City Council meeting. Marl started by saying the recent townhall meeting on the issue offered a wealth of information.

"Over the course of two calendar years, this issue has been discussed at other specific groups, and at my coffee hours and at senior conferences. I am personally of the opinion that there's not much additional information worth sharing," Marl said of the issue. "People can draw their own conclusions. I've talked to many people in the community about the issue. People who are very strident and emphatic about preserving the asset and those that believe in moving in a new direction. There are some cost implications here, some environmental implications, but as the city manager so aptly put it last week when he and I discussed this, this is also largely an aesthetics issue."

Marl said he'd like to see the issue before city voters. He noted he had no position on the issue and that he'd spent months learning about the issues.

"I think the most fair and equitable approach would be to put the issue on the ballot. I would advocate for the November ballot to draft language and to develop some non-biased, informative information that we can provide to our constituents, weighing both the pros and cons of restoration versus removal and let the citizens of Saline make the determination," Marl said.

Several members of city council agreed with the referendum approach. Councillor Tramane Halsch had already expressed his desire to see the matter placed before the voters.

"The amount of passion and the sentiment the dam has evoked definitely warrants a community conversation and that community conversation should take place on the ballot," Halsch said.

Councillor Jim Dell'Orco said that putting the issue on the ballot will give city staff the direction they need to find funding and start moving forward on the issue.

Councillor Janet Dillon didn't express support for a referendum.

"I think that there is information. Um, that was presented. On both sides of the issue, and I think that you know, we can continue the conversation. We can make a decision, but at the end of the day, the biggest factor that we need to figure out is the money," Dillon said. "You can put it on the ballot of yes, we're keeping it. No, we're not. How are we paying for it? This is the big issue right now."

Girbach urged caution for anyone expecting a decision from voters will help the city quickly finalize anything.

"This is not going to be a quick and dirty little process that's going to happen two minutes so we can make statements here to say, well, we're going to do this in November. I don't see that time frame. I think there's a lot more things that are going to have to happen, but we do need to make the repairs that are necessary to, at a minimum, maintain the dam to or fix it," Girbach said. "How we approach the dam, whether to repair it or take it out, those are significantly more discussions that we can't do in just six months."

Councillor Nicole Nice said there are many "what ifs" out there that could influence the decision.

"I think what the real issue here, in particular with the city of Saline, is that folks are looking at the pond as an asset," Rice said.

Rice said putting it to a vote will allow residents to have their say and give council and staff some marching orders.

"I'm in favor of putting it to a community vote, and then, we were elected to do the hard work and figure out how to make it happen," Rice said.

Harmount also expressed support for a public vote.

"I say, put it to vote, I say. Make sure that we have all of the facts for the pros and the cons, and it's not filtered through a bias, obviously, and the dollars are accurate for both," Harmount said.

Marl said work on the dam may be necessary, whatever the city decides.

"There's absolutely repairs and work that will need to be done on the dam and ensuing years. I don't think anyone would deny that. I do think it is realistic and achievable to work towards a goal of getting this on the November ballot," Marl said.

Girbach had questions about how the city can offer a vote without requiring appropriations. City Manager Dan Swallow will discuss the issues with legal counsel.

Dillon was also concerned about getting locked into a decision without having funding. Marl said he expected the ballot language would be tight and strong before the council attempted to put it on a ballot.

Marl explained why he wanted this issue on the November ballot.

"I think it's important to place something of this magnitude in nature on the ballot where the largest, most diverse swath of our electorate is participating," Marl said.

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