GIRARD — City officials said they will wait to hear from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on options for the Girard Upper Lake Dam.

City council met this week with engineer Dennis Meeks to review options for the dam and lake property.

Meeks, project manager for the dam project, said, “If you fix the dam it will increase the sale value of the dam and property.”

The dam has aged over the years, and there are mandates from the state on work that needs to be done in parts that may be unstable. He said the cost to fix the dam is between $4 and $4.5 million.

Meeks is looking into what grants may be available to help the city with costs.

He said the Girard Upper Lake Dam qualifies as “a high-hazard-potential dam” for Federal Emergency Management Agency grants.

In 1995, the city purchased the Girard Lakes property for more than $2 million.

Meeks said an inspection of the dam is set for this summer.

He said the city did have the Girard Lower Dam partially breached, which means a section of the dam is no longer able to retain water.

“The question has become whether to breach the dam or not,” Meeks said. “A partial breach of the Girard Upper Dam is a possibility. More and more dams are being breached.”

Meeks said the Upper Lake also can be drained nine feet.

Meeks said survey work has been done on the dam and property, noting there is a lot of silt. He said the sediment at the lake property can also be tested to see if it is hazardous.

He said the lake level needs to be lowered, noting that heavy rains this spring have caused it to flood.

“The key thing with the dam is safety,” Meeks said. If the dam fails and there is flooding, there could risk to people and property.

He said he would take any official or council member on a tour of the lake property.

Councilman John Moliterno, D-3rd Ward, does not want to continue spending taxpayer money on the property.

“We spent $2.5 million to purchase the dam and have put in millions of dollars into the dam, and all we are talking about is spending more. The dam has become a headache for the city,” Moliterno said.

Meeks said the dam was appraised is at $3.5 million.

He suggested waiting to see what happens with a change of governor in the state.

Councilman Thomas Grumley, D-4th Ward, said the dam is under the city’s general fund after previously being under the water fund and costing the city a lot of money.

Moliterno said the dam was eating up the water department fund and that was the reason it was moved to the general fund.

He said he is not sure the city is any further along on the dam than before on deciding what the city’s next step will be

“We are not sure what that next step will be. We are waiting for a response from ODNR to tell us what our options are,” he said.

Councilman James Clark, D-2nd Ward, said the city should try and sell the lake property and allow someone to develop there to create a tax base for the city. He suggested a public auction of the dam to the highest bidder.

“You can’t sell the dam the way it currently is,” Meeks said.

Meeks said if the city does nothing with the dam, ODNR would take ownership and breach the dam with the city to pay the costs.

SHORT-TERM RENTALS

In other matters, council is addressing short-term rental properties in the city with the goal of dealing with disruptions in neighborhoods where officials have said there are problems with large parties, often with juveniles, in the rentals.

Police Chief John Freeman said often there are problems connected with short-term rentals with large parties creating a lot of traffic and loud noise in residential neighborhoods. He said the ordinance will help keep neighborhoods safe.

Guidelines for rental properties include having a fire extinguisher inside the home and providing a place for property owners to have onsite parking areas to prevent parking on grass and sidewalks.