/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

County steps in for grave problem in Balaton

MARSHALL — Erosion along a steep section of shore at Lake Yankton has been threatening graves at Lakeside Cemetery for more than a year. Now there’s a plan to stabilize the shore, and Lyon County commissioners approved funding to help the cemetery association pay for the repairs.

The Lyon County Board approved over $22,000 in funding for the cemetery project, but commissioners balked at funding the full $72,000 needed to cover the low quote for the project.

Bob Fricke, president of the Lakeside Cemetery Association in Balaton, said erosion of the lakeshore has damaged an access road and crept close to some of the graves. When members of the cemetery association approached county commissioners for help last fall, there was one large washout that ate into the access road. But Fricke said more than just that spot was at risk.

There was an “absolute gouge” with a 20-foot dropoff near the southern border of the cemetery, Fricke said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen,” he said, and the erosion threatened graves in that part of the property.

Cemetery association member Kathy Swift said time was also of the essence in stabilizing the lakeshore. If the erosion continues, “We will be moving graves,” she said.

Swift provided commissioners with some background on the cemetery. Around 1,000 people are buried in Lakeside Cemetery’s 6.5 acres of land. The annual budget for the cemetery’s upkeep is around $5,000 to $6,000 a year, while income relies on the sale of burial plots. Two or three plots are sold a year, the cemetery association said. Besides upkeep costs and stabilizing the lakeshore, the cemetery association said it also needs to make repairs to the cemetery’s front gate and build and restore access roads.

Lyon County Soil and Water Administrator John Biren said his office has been working with the cemetery association and the Southwest Prairie Technical Service Area to engineer a plan to help stop the erosion.

“The soil borings revealed layers of sand and gravel,” that would tend to keep the lakeshore near the cemetery wet, Biren said. That posed a risk of more erosion to the cemetery, especially with water levels on Lake Yankton being unusually high for the past few years. Biren said the engineer’s plan called for installation of drainage tile, and riprap along the lakeshore.

Biren said the group really had two engineer’s estimates, one to repair a large chunk of lakeshore that washed away in spring 2019, and one to stabilize the entire shoreline at the cemetery as a preventative measure. The engineer’s estimate to repair just the big “blowout” was $22,000, and the estimate to do the whole shoreline was around $67,000.

“We asked for six or seven different bids, and four of them came back,” Biren said. The low quote came from A&C Excavating, at about $71,500.

The Lakeside Cemetery Association was asking for $72,000 in funding to complete the project.

County commissioners said they supported the project, but some were hesitant about fully funding it.

“I’ve been out there. I know what needs to be done,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.

But he said he was concerned about the precedent the board would set if they approved the full $72,000. “I really feel … any project we sponsor or help out with, the landowner always has to pay something, some kind of cost sharing.”

“I respect what you say, and it makes total sense,” Fricke said. However, he said the stabilization project would be a big expense for the cemetery. “We don’t make money. We are always depleting our funds every year.”

Commissioner Steve Ritter said he would be comfortable with funding the $22,000 to repair the big washout, but not the whole stretch of lakeshore.

Commissioner Rick Anderson said he disagreed with Crowley, and moved that the board fund the full $72,000. The motion failed 2-3.

After more discussion, Anderson moved that the county pay the full $22,000 for the lakeshore repair, and fund the remaining shore stabilization with a 5% cost share by the cemetery association.

“I think $72,000 should be the maximum,” Anderson said. The second motion passed.

“We’ll go to work to get it done,” Biren said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today