HOUGHTON – Houghton County Board members and Otter Lake residents talked about a state grant that might cover repair work at the Otter Lake Dam during the board’s meeting Tuesday.

Residents are seeking to tear down the current dam and replace it with a rock dam, which many of them say could restore the amount and diversity of fish found in the lake.

The Department of Natural Resources built the dam in 1975 and maintained it until 2013, at which point the county created a special assessment district including about 70 lakeshore landowners.

At a meeting with the dam committee in August, residents overwhelmingly backed the notion of blocking off access to the dam’s railings and walkway instead of putting money into repairing them.

After the meeting, the Department of Natural Resources informed the county of an $80,000 grant to repair the concrete structure of the dam, fix the railings and repair the walkway. The DNR told the county it can repair the railings without having to upgrade them to Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.

Resident John Beck asked why the board was pursuing the grant, as it provides funds for a service residents hadn’t wanted.

“The wishes of the property owners were made very clear to you,” he said. “That was we do not want this dam repaired. We would like to pursue a natural dam, and we are looking for grant money and funding for this project, so it really makes no sense to do repairs on a dam that we do not wish to have.”

Board member Tim Palosaari said the county board had not known the grant would be available until after the meeting with residents.

“If they’re willing to come and fix the fence, with no cost to you directly … should we have told them, ‘No, don’t do anything?'” he said.

The grant would require 10 percent in matching funds – about $9,000. Drain Commissioner John Pekkala said the amount paid by the residents would be less than it would have cost for blocking access to the railings without the grant.

“We are still at the point where we can turn down that money and send it back to Lansing,” he said. “It’s up to this board.”

Otter Lake residents petitioned the board earlier this year to remove the dam. In April, the county dam commission found the wording to be invalid.

Two-thirds of landowners would have to come to the board with a valid petition, Pekkala said. He said the cost of a rock dam had been estimated at $1.2 million; resident Ed Laitila said he had gotten a lower quote of about $100,000.

Pekkala suggested having residents contact him or meet at the dam committee level.

Laitila said residents were first told to write a petition to gauge interest.

“It was misworded, but it still showed the interest of the landowners,” he said.

Laitila rewrote the petition and sent the petition to Pekkala in May, but has yet to hear back, he said.

“What are we supposed to do?” he said. “It seems like we’re chasing our tail and not very productive.”

Commissioner Anton Pintar said the board wanted specifics on what residents want to do.

If residents wanted a rock dam, they would be able to bypass a circuit court ruling on the level.

“The circuit court doesn’t care how you control that level, as long as it’s being controlled,” he said.

Laitila said he had talked with Rob Aho of the Natural Resources Conservation Service about designs for a rock dam and submitting a proposal to the Department of Natural Resources. However, he said, Aho had told him it would be better to reapply for another grant. As the DNR one was due Friday, choosing another grant would allow for more time to prepare the application, Laitila said.

“Everybody’s in favor of just replacing the dam with a rock dam right now,” he said. “But at the same time, the costs have been mounting that we’re paying, and all that money could have been used for a rock dam.”

Commissioner Tim Palosaari said the assessment is a prerequisite for getting grants for a rock dam, or the DNR grant.

Palosaari also questioned residents’ acceptance of maintaining the water level, contrasting it with their earlier request to have the level dropped.

Laitila said getting rid of the lake level restriction had been the board’s suggested course when residents had come to the board after learning they would be paying for a $180,000 repair bill. While the petition was worded poorly, he said, the sentiment of the landowners was clearly in favor of the rock dam.

“One could say legally it wasn’t there; however, philosophically, it was there,” he said.

Pintar suggested to Laitila the residents work with Gina Nicholas of the Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District, Aho, Pekkala and the dam committee to decide on their goal and the path to it.

Until a petition is presented, the dam committee’s task is only to maintain the dam, said County Administrator Eric Forsberg. The board can petition the court to eliminate the lake level, without waiting for a two-thirds petition from residents, Pekkala said.

Chairman Al Koskela didn’t foresee a rock dam happening within the next few years. In the meantime, he said, the DNR represents an improvement.

“If this takes 10 years, at least they’ll be fixed for 10 years before this other stuff happens,” he said.