Park board hears of flood repairs, complaint

The Hill County Park Board at its monthly meeting Monday heard about progress in fixing flood damage at Beaver Creek Park and heard a complaint from a cabin owner about those repairs.

Park Superintendent Chad Edgar told the board that he and his staff have been working to upgrade and repair roads, including moving gravel, and that some repairs approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are scheduled to begin soon.

The park was damaged in flooding events declared federal disasters in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Edgar said park staff members had worked on areas including near Lions Campground — which has been ravaged in each of the flood events — such as Dillons Bottom campground, areas have been graded and graveled at Beaver Creek Reservoir and damaged areas at the Havre Police Protective Association Campground had soil brought in, leveled and seeded.

He said flood repair work on Firemans Campground should begin this month or even this week.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said county officials are meeting with FEMA officials or talking to them in telephone conferences about every two weeks about the federal government’s requirements on flood repairs, and plans to repair Lions Campground are moving forward. The conferences have included plans on that campground, including delays when FEMA rejected a proposal to reroute Beaver Creek through the campground to reduce chances of flood damage in the future.

FEMA set a deadline that work on the Lions Campground project has to be completed by the end of October next year.

Peterson said work also is moving forward on conducting a study of the entire Beaver Creek drainage that could help plan for managing the area including for flooding. The county will request funding for that study from the Legislature next year, Peterson said.

An access complaint

Joe Skornogoski, who owns a cabin in Blackie’s Coulee, made a request that he be given some kind of a break on his cabin lease fees due to lack of access from flood damage.

Skornogoski said that because the county leases land out to cabin owners, it has some responsibility to provide access to the land.

The Blackie’s Coulee bridge over Beaver Creek washed out in two floods, and after the 2013 flood, FEMA said it would not pay to put another bridge over the creek at all. Peterson said the county officials were working with representatives of nine different agencies to get permission on what to do at the crossing.

FEMA has offered about $150,000 that would have been used to replace the bridge to be used for the betterment of the park, instead. Peterson said the agency may approve the plans for that money next week.

After the damaged bridge was removed last spring a crossing was built across the creek instead of putting in a new bridge.

Board members said they had talked about giving a break due to the lack of access, but that raised concerns that if they give a break due to the flood damage, it could set a precedent where cabin owners might demand discounts for almost any reason, with board chair Steve Mariani calling it opening “a can of worms.”

He said other cabin owners have lacked access due to weather damage and not received compensation.

“It was just kind of an act of God, and we did what we could do,” he said.

Edgar assured Skornogoski that the county restored access as quickly as it could.

County Commissioner Jeff LaVoi said part of the delay was working with all of the agencies that had to approve the work, including applying for different permits to do the work.

Board member Robbie Lucke said he had the same concerns as Skornogoski at the time and was not happy that access was cut off, but no cabin owners had come in to talk to the board.

“And I thought to myself, well, if they don’t care that the road isn’t there, why should I, and so I just kind of forgot about it. And here you are long afterwards (with your complaint),” he said.

When Skornogoski brought up the board giving allowances to cattle owners due to a breakout of pinkeye cutting back the number of cattle on the park last year, board member Larry Kinsella, who also leases grazing on the park, said the board did not refund any money on the grazing leases. The board instead did not penalize cattle owners on the number of cattle they could bring in for future years — the number is based on a rolling average, but the board did not count reductions last year.

Kinsella also said he has never received any compensation for cattle he owns that are run over on the park. He has to go haul the carcasses away, but is not paid for the loss, he said.

Skornogoski, who suggested he be given a free year in return for the lack of access, maintained that the board has a responsibility to provide access and owes him something. He said it seems like more could have been done to provide access faster.

When Peterson asked if Skornogoski had gone to his cabin while the bridge was out, he said he had parked and walked to the cabin several times.

“I don’t see where that’s relevant,” Skornogoski said.

The board agreed to talk to the county attorney to see what legally could be done to resolve his complaint.