SHUTESBURY — An imminent need for emergency repairs to the Lake Wyola Dam, discovered on Black Friday, is prompting the Select Board to revoke all public access to the site near the corner of Locks Pond and Lakeview roads.
The board on Tuesday voted unanimously to post warning signs and put up fences restricting access at the dam to only authorized town officials and private consultants GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., who are working on behalf of the town.
The decision, following an emergency management team meeting directives from Emergency Management Director Leonard Czerwonka, is the result of recent leaks that developed around where the water should be flowing at the dam.
Town Administrator Hayley Bolton said the thought is that sinkholes in the area are causing the problem, and that those formed due to a clogged trash rack, which protects the dam’s inner workings from lake debris, such as tree limbs. Trash stuck in that mechanism has since been removed.
To address the problem, the lake is being lowered 3 feet from its usual fall and winter level, with permission from the state’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. This will allow better access for those examining the dam and reduce pressure on it, but creates a potentially dangerous situation for the public, and also limits a water source for the Fire Department. The Fire Department is working with mutual aid communities to have sufficient capacity through tanker trucks.
Bolton said she is waiting for a scope of work to be provided by the contractor.
Bolton said the state has offered tentative approval for the town to repurpose for emergency work part of a $41,325 grant awarded through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Dam and Sea Wall Program.
“We’re trying to get the condition of the dam to poor, which is bad, but it helps open the gateway for grant funding and prioritizes the town on the list of dams that need funding for repairs,” Bolton said.
The dam has been rated unsafe. Bolton said the hope is to eventually achieve a fair rating, though for now “the primary concern is just to get to poor.”
Last rehabilitated in 2008, with riprap repair, tree stump removal, dam crest improvements with a concrete slab to allow safe overtopping, concrete repair of spillway training walls and installation of a seepage monitoring weir, the dam is classified a large size, high hazard potential due to the sites below, mostly homes along North Leverett Road in Leverett.
Interim clerk appointed, future of Spear Library
In other business, the Select Board appointed Ann Dunne as the new interim town clerk, a position she would hold from mid-January until the annual town election next spring.
Since the departure of Grace Bannasch in late summer, Leverett town clerk Lisa Stratford has been serving as the interim and will continue in the role through the end of December
A special Town Meeting approved making the position appointed rather than elected, but a ballot vote is also needed to formalize that decision, Bolton said. Dunne could be eligible to be the permanent town clerk, depending on the vote outcome.
Bolton said Dunne brings eight years of experience as clerk, including in Ashfield, Sudbury, Essex, and is also familiar with the community from her work at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments.
Select Board member Rita Farrell also updated the board on the work of the reuse committee that is studying the future of the M.N. Spear Library, a 1902 building that will close once the new library under construction about a mile away opens.
While the old library could provide space for the police department, which is housed in offices on the main level of Town Hall across the street, there are questions about whether the building code would allow such use without significant upgrades, Farrell said.
The idea is to get cost estimates and, if fiscally prudent, bring spending for improvements to Town Meeting.