Board Meeting \ Election News

April 4, 2023 "DOCK TALK" is a BIG Hit

We had a nice turn out of CULP board members and lake residents yesterday for some dock talk discussions about our lake and the future of the dam. We had an opportunity to work with Hunter Croan and Frank Baker and borrow their technic for Dock Talks and we were able to discuss many aspects of the dam construction and the upcoming vote for the additional borrowings needed to complete the Lake Placid dam and spillgates. Stay tune for the CULP version of Dock Talks that will be hitting the web page and social media sites near you.

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History

In March of 2016, the spill gate at the Lake Wood dam outside Gonzales failed. By the end of the day, the lake was completely drained. A 2019 media report described the situation facing residents: “Three years later, the place for family fun and get-togethers now looks more like a ghost town ... For three years, neighbors in the tight-knit lakefront community have been fighting to get their lake back.” Then on May 14, 2019, the spill gate at Lake Dunlap, upstream from Lake Placid, also failed. These events led engineering firms to determine that several of the nearby 92-year-old dams were in eminent danger of failure. On August 16, 2019 the GBRA officially announced its plan to drawdown Lake Placid, along with Lake Gonzales, Meadow Lake, and Lake McQueeney - starting September 16, 2019. As soon as the GBRA announced the plan to “dewater” Lake Placid, the Board of Directors of Citizens United of Lake Placid (CULP) took immediate action. Lake Placid property owners and supporters raised $236,000 and these funds allowed CULP to join with Friends of Lake McQueeney (FOLM) to pursue legal action against GBRA. Litigation costs amounted to $290,000, which resulted in CULP funding approximately $54,000 of the total. Attorney Ricardo Cedillo, of San Antonio, filed a temporary injunction on behalf of ten plaintiffs, five from CULP and five from FOLM. This action culminated in a temporary injunction after the findings of a safety study concluded that, with additional lake use restrictions, the lakes would be safe and not be drained before October of 2020. The temporary injunction allowed time for CULP to pursue a solution with GBRA. CULP spent significant resources and countless volunteer hours in extensive consultations with local officials, key state legislators, state agencies, and state officials as part of negotiations with GBRA to bring us to a point of having a definite workable solution that would ensure that Lake Placid remains a LAKE.

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The Solution

Our solution was to form the Lake Placid Water Control Improvement District No.1 (WCID) to fund the dam and spill gate replacement. The Lake Placid WCID No.1 was approved by the Guadalupe County Commissioner Court and an agreement was negotiated with GBRA. The agreement provided an immediate and sustainable solution by providing access to a low interest bonds for the dam and spill gate replacement, and a dependable revenue source to repay the bonds. It also guarantees transparency in the budgeting and auditing process, so residents will know how each dollar is spent and why. WCID held its first election on November 3, 2020 to approve the WCID, and the residents of the district came through! The Water Control Improvement District No.1 (WCID) was resoundingly approved. Over 88% of the lake front property owners voted in favor of all three propositions and the original slate of directors for the new WCID. The original Board consisted of five CULP members who were elected to the board of the Lake Placid WCID No.1: Kevin Skonnard, Jay Haselwood, Robin Dwyer, Ray Thomas, and Randall Cox. These Board members worked diligently to ensure that our interests are protected as they go through the process of engineering, bidding, and repair construction on our dam and spill gate replacement. This was very exciting news as it meant Lake Placid, as we know it today, and have known it for generations, will remain the beautiful lake we cherish. An enormous number of hours have been dedicated to this process by the WCID Board of directors the CULP Board of directors, their families and friends and many other waterfront property owners and their dedication to this cause is deeply appreciated and applauded. GBRA obtained approval for the contract from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The initial permitting request was filed with the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) in October 2021 with final approval of the permit obtained in December 2022. GBRA then issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from qualified construction contractors for the construction of both the Lake Placid and Lake McQueeney dams. Qualified bids under the RFP for the construction of both the Lake Placid and Lake McQueeney dams were received in February 2023 from three major construction contractors with bids for the Lake Placid component ranging from $41,005,000 to $50,329,000 substantially in excess of the original estimate and greater than the initial voter approved borrowing limit of the WCID. This increase in the estimated construction costs has been attributed to the overall inflationary impact on mainly the steel and concrete components of the dam construction during the extended permitting timeframe. In order to obtain the additional funding necessary to contract the construction of the Lake Placid dam and spill gate construction the WCID has proposed the issuance of $12,000,000 in additional bonds for the Lake Placid lake remediation and the levy of additional taxes for the payment of those bonds. The additional $12,000,000 is considered by the WCID to be more than sufficient to cover the dam construction and spill gate replacement including overhead and contingencies for unknown conditions or flood delays. This proposal by the WCID requires the District to hold a new 2023 bond election and operation and maintenance tax election, which is scheduled for May 6, 2023.

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Board Members

Officers

Bill Fisher: President/Treasurer - bfisher2009@hotmail.com - 210-213-2529

Jeanette West: Vice President - j.west57@sbcglobal.net - 210-710-4917

Ron Hermes: Secretary - hermesdana555@gmail.com - 830-534-5544

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DIRECTORS

Kathy Campbell - campbell.elitewindows@gmail.com

Clark Weldon - cpweldon@sbcglobal.net

Liz Hilsdorf -

John Martin - vincentone@satx.rr.com -

Scott Noel

Doug McEwen-

Mark Dietz-

Steven Blakeley-