BOCC certifies delinquent Milo Creek charges
Fenced-in access points like this one show the new subterranean canal system that was installed to help Milo Creek safely flow beneath the streets of Wardner and Kellogg following a disaterous flood in 1997.
Photo by JOSH McDONALD
WALLACE — The Shoshone County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met with Mayor Joe Guardipee to discuss the certification of delinquent charges from the Milo Creek Water District.
The Milo Creek Water District collects annual monies that go for the care and. maintenance of the Milo Creek water system, which flows beneath parts of Wardner and Kellogg.
The charges were stemming from 2019, when the BOCC intended to certify the delinquent charges, but the state of Idaho did not show the Milo Creek Water District as a taxing entity due to some sort of clerical error.
The Milo Creek Water District was formed following the 1997 Milo Creek flooding disaster.
The higher-than-normal spring runoff caused the underground water conduit that creek flowed through to plug and burst, causing an estimated $400,000 in damages and also re-contaminated several properties that had already had EPA remediation work done to them.
State and federal officials declared a disaster and set in motion a multi-agency effort to resolve the problem.
In the interim, Milo Creek ran above ground and through the streets of Wardner and Kellogg before it was temporarily diverted below ground before winter.
Ultimately the project, which was completed with the combined assistance of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Silver Valley Natural Resource Trustees, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Economic Development Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bunker Hill Consent Decree, cost roughly $12 million to complete and was done in two phases.
The monies from these groups came with certain strings attached, which includes the upkeep of the new underground system that is still in place today.
When the error was discovered, the members of the district had to mobilize to make sure that the district was reinstated so funds being paid for maintenance made it to the proper coffers.
“With the federal money, there had to be care and maintenance and a taxing district formed, which was done,” Guardipee said. “The paperwork got misplaced by the state. We had to go through the rigamarole with the state to petition and get it reinstated.”