Dredging project progresses behind the scenes

While there might not be visible progress, Creston Parks and Recreation Board are working behind the scenes to continue the McKinley Lake dredging project.

During Tuesday’s meeting, board member John Kawa updated the board on progress with the engineering team.

“Houston Engineering is our engineer. We had a meeting the other day. Everything’s going good, they’re on it. DNR wants certain things out of Houston engineering to make things simpler,” Kawa said. “They worked the last couple of days taking soil samples here and there, checking out our dump site, and so far everything’s good. They have to make sure that, DNR has to approve everything that we do.”

Board member Gary Borcherding said that a meeting in December will likely decide on timing for the project.

“Sounds like there’s a meeting in December probably that will be 30% of the engineering will be completed at that time,” Borcherding said. “That will evidently go a way as far as determining the types of permits we’ll have to have and either shortens or lengthens the amount of time.”

While no dates have been set yet regarding actually draining the lake, the first payment has been made.

“They’re doing what they have to do, it’s progressing,” Kawa said. “That’s the first payment of $16,000, 4% of their total bill. It’s started. We’re paying money, so it’s started.”

The McKinley Lake restoration project was approved in Nov. 2021, with an estimated $3.91 million split between the city and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

In other board news...

A date for Party in the Park has been set. While the Fourth of July lands on a Thursday next year, the concert will still take place the weekend beforehand, on June 29. The board is still looking into bands to book for the event.

The park board has also decided on Feb. 10 as the date of their annual Creston Parks and Rec Comedy Show. Though no plans are set, one possibility mentioned for entertainment was a dueling piano comedy group.