Commission OKs Demolition Work For Lake Project

At the Aug. 8 meeting of the North Central Missouri Regional Water Commission, a task order was approved with Tetra Tech to oversee the demolition and disposal of 63 structures, the collapse and back-fill of 17 cisterns and the de-commissioning of one well, primarily in and around Boynton.
This is phase one of a two- or three-phase demolition plan. With the contract approved mobilization will begin, with demolition starting in late August or early September.
The task order followed approvals by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources of a demolition and disposal plan and a storm-water pollution prevention plan. The actual demolition and disposal will be performed by a specialized firm out of Kansas City that is subcontracted to Tetra Tech. Demolition and disposal should be complete by the end of October. The remaining structures in the commission’s inventory are in various stages of preparation for demolition and will be addressed in the future.
“While breaking ground on a new dam would be more noteworthy than demolition, it is still an exciting time and tangible proof of progress being made,” Commission Chairman Rick Gardner said. “We have money earmarked for demolition and lake bed preparation and we are anxious to get started in removing the deteriorating structures and backfilling cisterns.
“Nearing 4,300 acres under control, you can imagine the amount of work that needs to be performed to accommodate the 2,300 acre reservoir. We have six remaining parcels to buy out of 81. We hope to complete those soon and continue to ready the lake for the day when we clear permitting and secure the remaining funding for construction.”
A few persons have asked about the availability of salvage materials from commission-owned structures. The cCommission will be selling or salvaging a few selected buildings, but there will not be wholesale salvage of buildings and barns taking place. While it was the commission’s hope and desire to salvage materials or to allow the public to do so, both the cost of breaking out the salvage and the liability associated with public salvage were prohibitive.
Commission staff and contractors inspected buildings and barns to determine whether there was salvage value that warranted a salvage effort. Most houses and barns have collapsing floors and ceilings, foot hazards around the structures, broken glass and other impediments that present hazards. Moreover, salvaging large structures is both an art and a science that cannot be performed safely without proper training, experience and equipment.
For all of these reasons and after consultation with Tetra Tech, the commission determined to only salvage a very few structures. The commission will determine how it will proceed on the few structures that it will salvage in the future.
In the coming weeks, the commission will announce its selection of contractors to be “on-call” to the commission to perform various tasks for lake bed preparation including incidental clearing, fence building, ravine clean-up, light demolition, hauling and maintenance among other tasks. In September, the commission hopes to cut task orders that will put the new contractors in the field this Fall to advance the lake project. The contract solicitation was designed to qualify and hire local or regional contractors to perform the work. The contracts will be for three years.
“The commission has made it a priority to utilize local talent when possible,” General Manager Brad Scott said. “The commissioners believe that the people who have contributed to paying for the lake ought to have an opportunity to obtain some of the work to be performed. In addition, it stands to reason that local talent can and likely will do good work at a competitive rate saving money for the commission. We are thrilled with the response we received and we are anxious to put these folks to work.”