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Dredging and marine construction company J.F. Brennan Co. has finished the dredging of Edgewater Bay and next week plans to prepare for the second phase of the project on Fountain Lake.

Shell Rock River Watershed District Administrator Andy Henschel said the company is slated to remove the dredge currently on Edgewater Bay on Monday and move it to the lake’s main bay. As the transition is taking place, the boat access off of Minnesota Highway 13 will be closed that day where the dredge will be brought out of the lake, and the Brookside boat landing is slated to be closed on Tuesday when the dredge will be put back into the lake. 

On Wednesday, Blackmer Drive along Dane Bay will be partially closed to allow a new, smaller dredge to be brought in to dredge Dane Bay. Henschel said the two dredges will run in conjunction to each other through the same booster pump.

Both dredges are expected to start up in roughly three weeks.

Henschel said the Watershed District is working closely with city staff, law enforcement and the fire department to keep everyone updated on the move.

He said Brennan so far has removed about 708,000 cubic yards of sediment out of Edgewater Bay.

“I think that’s a huge accomplishment,” Manager Brad Kramer said, recognizing Henschel, staff and all others who played a part. 

Henschel said there is a berm failure in the second confined disposal facility where the sediment dredged from the lake in the next phase is expected to be placed, and the district is working with its engineers and construction company Veit & Co. Inc. to get that resolved in the next three weeks before the dredges are up and running.

He said the failure covers approximately 400 feet along the southeast corner of the cell, and he thinks the portion that is problematic can be repaired without removing the entire berm. It is still up in the air as far as who has to pay to repair it and when it is going to be completed.

Henschel said the failure has been sent to the builder’s insurance to see if that will cover it, and he noted that there is a $12,000 cost per day that will have to be paid to Brennan if the confined disposal facility is not ready when dredging is slated to begin. The confined disposal facility is where the sediment is placed after it is removed from the lake. The water is siphoned off and returned to the lake.

He said there is some capacity left in the first cell that could help if necessary, but he said they didn’t want to use that if they didn’t need to.

The third confined disposal facility is not yet complete.

In other action, the board:

• Witnessed the swearing-in of Managers Brad Kramer and Gary Pestorious to another term on the board as appointed by the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners.

• Voted to keep board officers the same for another year. Mick Delger will continue to serve as chairman, Gary Pestorious as vice chairman, Dan DeBoer as secretary and Alan Bakken as treasurer.

• Briefly discussed the Watershed District’s COVID-19 preparedness plan.

Henschel said some of the staff will come into the office in the morning and work from home in the afternoon while another will work from the office in the afternoon. Social distancing and hand-washing rules will be in place and staff will be asked to take their temperatures daily. If they have a temperature above 99.5 they will report that to Henschel and stay home.

• Received an update from district lobbyist Judy Erickson about the Legislature’s upcoming special session. Erickson said the Legislature will automatically be called back into session on Friday, and she expects most of the time that day to be spent regarding a potential extension of the governor’s emergency powers.

She does not anticipate the bonding bill to get brought up at that time and is not aware of an agreement at this time between the House and the Senate. She said she has been reassured that there will be a bonding bill at some point this year.

Henschel said he and a few others locally met with Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, and Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, last week stressing the city and watershed district’s priorities for the bill.