Mountain View County council last week ordered the cleanup of Water Valley Campground, closed since the site flooded in late May.And while officials are hoping to have the campground up and running by the coming weekend, liability concerns could also lead to it being closed for more of the season.Responding to continued pressure from Water Valley merchants to reopen the county-owned facility, and with key staff away on vacation, council enlisted agricultural services manager Jane Fulton to take on the project.Speaking at Wednesday's meeting, Fulton said it appears the north part of the campground could be reopened with only minor road repairs.ìHowever, the south side is a different story,î Fulton said.But while the southern approaches may need more significant work so that emergency vehicles can access the site, there are about a dozen additional camp sites ìthat are good and ready to be usedî at the south end, Fulton said.She estimated that a total of 24 to 30 sites could be made viable out of the 40 to 48 normally available.Div. 7 Coun. Al Kemmere asked if the county would be opening itself up to liability if the campground were reopened in an unsafe condition, and Fulton said she shared the concern.ìI support making it ready,î Kemmere said, ìbut I just want to make sure it is ready.îCouncil allocated $5,000 to hire a contractor to take on the project, so that county crews would not be pulled away from re-gravelling and other assignments.Asked by Reeve Paddy Munro for a realistic time frame to complete the work, manager of infrastructure maintenance Pete Waycott said it would take the balance of last week and all of this week to reopen this weekend.That estimate could be off, he added, if crews find that major riverbank stabilization work is needed.ìThen we should be prepared to barricade,î Munro said.ìIt has been our priority to get the road open,î Munro added, referring to Rge. Rd. 52. ìWe did get the road open and now we're dealing with this. There's a thousand other issues to deal with as well.îìWe can go for it,î Waycott said.ìBut I don't want you to feel this is your priority,î Munro told him. ìYou've got the big picture to look after.î
