Remnants of dam may be removed

St. Joseph County is expected to help financially with removing the final remnants of a dam from the Portage River in Park Township.

The recommendation was made during last week’s St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners’ executive committee meeting.

The dam in question is upstream from Parkville Road and is actually almost fully disassembled already. County administrator Pat Yoder said a bothersome vestige of the former dam is an abundance of concrete and a wire-like barrier extending the length of the river.

Yoder said Michigan Department of Natural Resources has indicated it would consider doing it because it’s such a small project at $53,000. However, Yoder added, it would want the municipal government to match $10,000.”

Yoder said Park Township has agreed to contribute $5,000 of the cost and appealed to the county to match its offer. Yoder said he recommends the county board approves the match.

That action is expected to take place at today’s county’s commission meeting.