Mayor, council argue over plans for dam

GIRARD -- Mayor James J. Melfi is threatening to veto city council legislation to repair or replace Lower Girard Lake dam unless the money is in hand.
The cost of repairing or replacing the aged concrete structure has been estimated at between $8 million and $10 million.
"Anything short of that, I will veto it," Melfi said Wednesday. "I'm not going to put the city in any further jeopardy. I will not be a party to it."
City council's property research committee was to meet at 7 p.m. today in the multigenerational center in an attempt to agree on a plan for the dam.
Charles Doran, D-4th, the committee chairman, supports continuing efforts to repair the dam.
Doran said Wednesday he wants the city to seek an extension of an Oct. 16 deadline set by the Army Corps of Engineers to use $1.14 million to breach the dam.
If the extension is granted, it will give the city time to find other funding sources for the repairs, he explained.
Doran said his committee will submit the plan to council and, if approved, lawmakers will send it to the mayor. "You can override a veto," he responded to Melfi's threat. "I'm not going to walk away from a battle."
Doran contends the issue is regional and not confined to the city. If the lake is drained, it will leave a wetland, and there isn't a market for wetlands.
Doran said he has concerns about the stability of the structure, but it can be repaired. Doran noted that he realizes that one funding source will not provide all the money; several sources will be needed.
More delays in using the lakes as an income source only serves to get the city that has been in state-imposed fiscal emergency since August 2001 further in debt, Melfi said.
"Is somebody going to wake up around here?" he queried, noting the city has spent $1.3 million on the lakes with no revenue.
In addition to the $1.14 million federal grant, the city has $585,000 in state funds to maintain the upper and lower lakes.
Of the $1.14 million, Melfi said, $800,000 could be used for the breach and $585,000 for operations and maintenance of the Upper Girard Lake while wetlands created by draining the lower lake are sold.
If the city is forced to pay for dam repairs, the mayor said, the city's water rates will skyrocket.
"I'm not going to let that happen," he said.
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