Cantrell Dam costs swell to nearly $8 million

Even if the people were made of money, we still shouldn’t spend $7.8 million on Cantrell Dam.

But we likely will. The Truth or Consequences City Commission made Cantrell Dam one of its top projects for the 2026-2030 Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan at the June 26 meeting.

The city commission didn’t question the $7.8-million estimate in the June 26 Wilson & Company presentation, even though it’s about $5 million more than that same engineering firm’s estimate was in its April 12, 2023 report and over $6 million more than the same firm’s December 2022 report.

Some background: In July 2020, Cantrell Dam “partially breached” according to a dam inspector with the Office of the State Engineer, during a heavy rainfall, causing a burst of water to damage property downstream. See the Sierra County Sun’s story for more information: https://sierracountysun.org/feature/july-26-torrential-downpour-cantrell-dams-malfunction-part-2/

Ironically, the city has consistently denied the dam breached, while it pursues a multi-million-dollar fix.

Then-City Manager Morris Madrid and then-Mayor Sandra Whitehead refuted that the dam had breached when Fire Chief Paul Tooley said it had during his report, given to the city commission shortly after the flood.

At the June 26 city commission, while I was using my five minutes during the ICIP public hearing, City Commissioner Merry Jo Fahl refuted that the dam had breached when I used the term.

Wilson & Company, which is among the dozen or so firms with an “on call” contract with the city, gets the vast majority of the city’s engineering work and it was given the task of examining and making recommendations about Cantrell Dam.

The city applied for and received $450,000 grant/$300,000 loan/$75,000 cash match from the New Mexico Finance Authority. It is unknown how much of that money has been spent for Wilson & Co.’s work so far. The city received the grant/loan in June 2021.

In December 2022, Wilson & Co. gave a presentation to the city commission and I reported on it:  https://sierracountycitizen.org/fixing-cantrell-dam-may-not-be-worth-it/

At that time the engineer estimated it would cost up to $5 million to fix Cantrell Dam, but the engineer said the city should not do so because the dam never held back enough water to make it worth the cost. The dam, even if it had not “failed” in July 2020, causing a wall of water to cannonball downstream, even if it was functioning at optimum capacity, would have reduced the downstream flood waters very little,  the engineer said.

He recommended the dam be “breached” and that about $1.7 million in downstream channel improvements be made. $1.7 million was Wilson & Co.’s cost estimate to breach and channelize in December 2022, which is $6.1 million less than Wilson & Co.’s $7.8 million estimate on June 26 for the same work.

April 12, 2023, Wilson & Co. presented again to the city commission. The engineer again recommended that the city not fix Cantrell Dam at a cost of between $4 and $6 million. It was better to “breach” it, which would cost between $500,000 and $1 million. Downstream channel improvements were estimated at $1.5 million to $2 million. Therefore the maximum estimated cost was $3 million, which is $4.8 million less than Wilson & Co.’s $7.8 million June 26 estimate for the same work.

During a break in the June 26 meeting, I asked Fahl why it was costing so much to breach the dam. “Because it has to be engineered,” she said.

It might be cheaper to shop engineering firms, I thought, but didn’t say, which I say to you now dear reader.