Due diligence develops decent dam designation

The Lake Gladewater dam is back in a holding pattern — this time for all the right reasons.
“We’re all in compliance with everything now,” Mike Simmons says, “the maintenance, our inspections, our reports. We’re waiting on the 2025 release of funds,” public monies that could cover the lion’s share of looming project costs.
Key caretaking tasks were neglected for years, putting the dam in potentially dire straits as a ‘high hazard’ construct. Since Simmons donned his ‘Emergency Coordinator’ hat as Gladewater fire chief, city personnel have brought the significant structure to a stasis point.
Granted, there are still plenty of essential projects on the table to ensure the dam — approaching 75 years-old — can confidently hold out for decades to come. Those tasks, many of them costly, qualify for state and federal funding now that the city can prove the dam is being properly and regularly maintained.
Next steps depend on when those funds become available and how far down the list of public projects Gladewater’s dam falls. Among a laundry list of needs there are voids to fill, a release valve to upgrade and erosion to address, and nothing’s cheap.
“It’s all going to be one big project when it gets funded,” Simmons said, requiring a substantial planning and engineering phase before any new build. “We’ve got to find what the funds are going to allow us to do.”
One project may happen sooner — dredging is being discussed as a separate effort, one that will have a positive impact on the lake in general along with other aesthetic and amenity-oriented projects on the shoreline.
Meanwhile, the dam’s secured, the emergency plan has been updated and filed in the right spots, active monitoring is underway and routine maintenance continues. Gladewater’s Genasys alert system has been updated to include evacuation protocols.
Simmons and other city personnel consistently monitor the dam and also keep an eye on lake levels before, during and after storms.
“It’s just kind of a holding pattern now. Everything is maintenance-oriented,” he said: “Maintain what we’ve got.
“With this new round of engineering, it’ll be built to last a long time, especially if we do our due diligence in maintaining things.”
The early, rough estimates put the projects’ total pricetag in the $3 to $5 million range.
“Could be less, for all we know,” Simmons concluded. “I do know it will be a substantially larger structure because it has to come into compliance with modern flood zones.”