Nov. 4 Vote To Appraise Milo Creek Kellogg, Wardner Face Flood-Control Decision

The construction of a $9 million flood-control project hinges on a Nov. 4 vote by some of the people in Kellogg and Wardner.

They’ll be asked to create a Milo Creek Conservation District. If the answer is “yes,” the same voters eventually will take another vote on whether to pay for operation and maintenance of a new system to contain the creek.

Assessment would be based on property values. The owner of property worth $42,000, for example, would pay $25 per year.

Support for the project has been high, said Shoshone County Commissioner Sherry Krulitz.

Folks are eager to prevent a repeat of the flood that happened last May. That’s when Milo Creek, part of which flows through pipes under Kellogg, burst into the open.

It flooded streets, houses, yards. It left dangerous sinkholes in its wake.

The county and communities of Wardner and Kellogg couldn’t even come up with $500,000 to conduct a study of the problem. Now, they have a commitment of federal dollars for the entire project.

Agencies that have committed money are the Environmental Protection Agency, Silver Valley Natural Resource Trustees, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Economic Development Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something,” Krulitz said.

But first, the watershed district must be formed.

That would be done by the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission under a rarely used state law designed to funnel federal dollars into water projects. In all other cases, those have been agricultural projects, said acting administrator Jerry Nicolescu.

A simple majority of voters can approve the district. It would include most of Wardner, the south side of Kellogg and some unincorporated parts of the county.

The commission would chose one supervisor to run the watershed district; residents would vote on the two other supervisors. Then, they’d vote whether to pay the maintenance fees, Nicolescu said.

“None of this can ever be changed without a vote of people,” he said.

State law gives residents a number of ways to opt out of paying, he added.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING The Milo Creek Maintenance Referendum will be explained at a public meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Kellogg Middle School. Residents will be given maps showing the district boundaries, as well as estimates of what the watershed project will cost them.