Commission eyeing redesign boat ramp

 

The Lawrence County Commission has taken the first step in reviving the Indian Guyan boat ramp.

Commissioner Bill Pratt was authorized at Thursday’s meeting to find out the cost of doing a study of the currents of the Ohio River that would enable a redesign of the ramp that is so clogged boats can no longer be put in.

“Every time the river comes up, it gets covered with silt,” Pratt said.

The study could show how the ramp should be installed.

The commissioner was following up on the idea of the county’s game warden, Darin Abbott.

“We’ll put it out to bid and get that study done,” Pratt said. “That would bring back tourism.”

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has funding to do the work and recently put in one upstream that is self-cleaning, the commissioner said. That project cost approximately $2 million.

Right now the ramp is owned by the Army Corps of Engineer, which says it does not have the money to fix it.

Pratt said if the county had a feasible plan, the corps might be willing to vacate the site to the county.

“If they see we have the resources to do it,” he said.

After his first year as director of job and family services, Terry Porter reported to the commission on the state of the agency.

“Our state allocation and the budget are in the black,” Porter said. “We haven’t had to ask anyone for any money. Our state audit is finished. It appears there are no major problems with our state audit. We have done well in our budgeting and auditing.”