FOBC ran a Breaking News Story just yesterday, about delays in the Lake Petit Dam lower level outlet project. Within 2 hours the POA put out a comment, delivered via eblast, in which it said the following:
The installation of the plug mechanism on the Lake Petit Dam outlet has been delayed this week because the crew discovered that a key part – specially fabricated based on the original half-century-old outlet drawings – did not correctly fit.
That comment did not sit well with many people reading it, especially considering that Scott Auer had previously described the manufacturing of this plug as “an amazingly complicated, designed system”. (See Feb ’23 Board Meeting Excerpts) Would they REALLY have undertaken such a complex, expensive, and custom manufacturing job without getting exact, up to date measurements?
The answer is obviously “NO”. The reality is that in December of 2022, the Company hired to oversee the design of the plug actually identified “data gaps” in the plans. They subsequently did extensive “data gathering” and obtained “precise measurements” from “in the pipe”. Wes McDonald, our lead Engineer from Geosyntec actually gave an incredibly lengthy presentation on the matter back on December 3, 2022. At that time he said, “we’re getting some precise measurements here from these pipes to make sure… the plug fits.” That’s a direct quote. (See Dec 3, 2022 Annual Meeting Excerpts).
So, the question is… WHY did the POA intentionally lie, and try to redirect blame for this expensive failure on “half century old drawings”?
“Expensive” is probably the key word. In the February ’23 Board Meeting Excerpts, we can see that Scott described the cost of this, by comparing it to another UTAH Dam project, which was described as a “5 million dollar plug”… and then concluded “ours is much much much cheaper than that”. What the hell does that mean? That IS a lot of “muches”…. but it seems like it would have been a lot easier to just say “Ours is only costing $X Amount of Dollars”. Don’t you think? So what IS the cost, Scott Auer?
Perhaps more importantly…. Why did all of the “precise measurements” result in a non-fitting plug? Why was the blame placed instead on the reliance of 50 year old drawings? MOST IMPORTANTLY….. How much is the re-engineering and design of the custom milled replacement part going to cost the Property Owners?
And WHO is paying for this screwup? At this point we don’t even know what the real problem is, or what caused it. Did the people we paid to do the “precise measurements” do them wrong, but now expect us to pay for it? Did we ACTUALLY just never do the “precise measurements” because it cost us too much, and someone in the POA thought it was a good idea to just gamble that the 50 year old plans were “probably good enough”? What the %#@&! is the Truth?!?!
What we do know is that this DAMN DAM just keeps sucking up more and more property owner monies; no two stories are ever alike, and the Dam is STILL operating illegally in noncompliance.
Lastly, what is the contingency plan if this fails? Property owners don’t know. The POA says they have one, but they won’t tell us what it is, or how much it will cost. And Property Owners continue to put up with this SHIT!?!?
PS…. where are those internal camera inspections of the pipe that the POA has refused to share with both property owners, AND Ga Safe Dams? And speaking of Ga Safe Dams, where the hell is their over-site in all of this?
Everyone involved… PATHETIC LOSERS, AND LIARS!
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* publications of The Mountains Voice
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