Alderman Matthew Wiesbrock removed the Fawell Dam report from the consent agenda in order to further discuss it. He wanted citizens to understand that Mr. Lindley “was not hired by or [a] representative of the city” but was hired by citizen Michael Hoffmann. He also noted that by approving the recommendation, the city will merely be passing along Lindley’s findings to another government entity.
“We don’t control that river, nor do we control the dam,” said Wiesbrock. “If anyone has concerns about the river and the dam, they should continue going to the county or begin going to the county because at this point, we as a city have done a significant amount in terms of research concerning the dam and the river. And we continue to work with the county as we speak. But, all in all, it isn’t the city against the county. We’re all part of the county as much as we’re part of the city.”
However, Alderman Christopher Halley countered that the city needs to do more to help its citizens living along the river who are affected by flooding.
“You’re right, we don’t own the river, but we live where the river is [flooding],” said Halley. “As a representative of this city—I represent Warrenville in Ward 4—we need to do more. And just going to the county and complaining to the county is not enough. The county is just going to sit there and listen to it, and that’s about it”
Mayor David Brummel responded that the city is doing something. He said that the county is currently conducting a watershed study at the city’s request to help everyone understand the river’s complexity “as it goes all the way through the community and not just the dam.”
“My understanding is the dam is not coming out; the dam is there [to stay],” said Brummel. “The only thing that might be changed would be the operation of that dam if new information is found through this watershed study. There might be changes made to the dam’s operation that might benefit our community somehow.”
The mayor added that this watershed study will “have the most comprehensive, technologically complete and sophisticated look at the river that’s ever been done,” and when it is complete, “we’re going to be in the best position to understand why flooding happens, what are some of the major contributors to that flooding and what we might do to mitigate that flooding.”
According to Alderman Stu Aschauer, the county has, so far, not been very responsive with information concerning the dam.
“Over a month ago I spoke with [Tony] Charlton, who’s the county engineer,” said Aschauer. “I asked him for copies of the dam safety report that they’re required by law to file with the state that also requires them to note and acknowledge any changes in the watershed that would affect the dam, which I haven’t seen. He assured me he would give me those, and he also told me he had four different engineering reports that showed that the low-flow tube had no significant impact on the operation of the dam or the operation of the gates. So far, I’ve only seen one and that has been from Mr. Lindley, who has a different opinion [of the low-flow tube].”
City staff will present their plan about who should receive Bill Lindley’s Fawell Dam report at the June 21 city council meeting.
