Waterfront residents want to save dam

Property owners affected by the dam breach last summer have decided to work together to help restore the dam and to ensure their voice is heard and to keep lines of communication open.

Jason Bessette has lived on the Manawa Mill Pond for 19 years, always wanting to find a spot on the specific bay that he used to fish in high school.

“I don’t think anybody realizes how good the fishing was in this body of water and how many people it brought to the community,” Bessette said. “That’s why I have a difficult perspective when I go to council meetings and I hear things like, ‘well if we don’t have the money, we’re not going to do it.’”

Bessette said he could fish from his shoreline, and ice fish just off his shore every winter, duck and goose hunt every fall, all of which he lost the ability to do with the dam breach.

Moving forward with waterfront residents, Bessette hopes to help the city see the value in the mill pond in order to rebuild and restore the mill pond to its previous glory.

The Little Wolf Coalition first introduced the group at the Nov. 18 Manawa City Council meeting.

Deb Sarna, a resident on the river whose property is affected by the dam, was present and said that they started a petition regarding the rebuilding of the dam and the shoreline failure.

“We deserve regular and transparent updates from the city of Manawa and the township of Little Wolf regarding the process of restoring the Little Wolf River and the Manawa Mill Pond,” Sarna said at the meeting. “We request monthly notifications detailing what is happening and what is being pursued.”

Both Sarna and Bessette agree that communication from the city has been lacking since the dam breached last July and they are hoping to get answers as to how the city is going to move forward to be able to plan their own future and whether or not they move from the area.

Bessette is a general manager of utilities in New London, starting as a lineman and working his way up through the company, which he said makes him question why there isn’t more urgency in rebuilding the dam because of the hydroelectricity the dam creates.

Prior to the dam breaching July 5, due to excessive rainfall in a short period of time, Bessette said the dam was creating a significant amount of energy and has done so for the past 100 years since it was rebuilt in the 1920s.

Bessette said another reason why the coalition was formed was due to two area residents, Nick Heise and Ben Hlalban, who have argued against replacing the dam.
Bessette broke down some of their arguments, including being able to turn the land that was previously covered by the mill pond into green space.

Bessette said that now that the water body is drained it goes back to being private property, because you can’t own water and now that the water is gone it goes back to the original property lines.

Overall, Bessette said the communication coming out of the city is disappointing.

“Why can’t we know the intentions? I mean it just gives us a better understanding of what I’m going to do with my life,” Bessette said. “I’m not going to put my life on hold but it doesn’t make sense why they aren’t communicating way better than they could be.”

Bessette said regardless of what the city is intending to do with the dam, whether build or remove, he just wants to be updated on what is happening so he can make an informed decision on his and his families future.

“It didn’t take Marion five years to rebuild the dam, it didn’t take Iola five years to rebuild the dam, so when they say it takes five years to build the dam, I think it’s just an excuse to say we’re not rebuilding the dam,” Bessette said. “If that’s not their true intentions they need to tell individuals in Manawa what their intention is. That’s why this group was formed is because we wanted answers and we thought we would have more strength in numbers.”