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Last year’s Kankakee River flood did more than damage farms and homes along the river.

That flood, the most severe in more than 30 years, also prompted Indiana legislators to draft legislation to re-make the government body tasked with overseeing Indiana’s stretch of the river.

House Bill 1270 passed its final legislative hurdle late last week, when the Indiana House concurred, 84-2, with the Senate’s changes to the bill. In January, that bill had passed the House on a 97-0 vote. It awaits Gov. Eric Holcomb’s signature.

For the first time since it was created more than 40 years ago, the Kankakee River commission will be able to raise its own funding from a tax – called an assessment – on landowners in the river basin’s eight Indiana counties.

That assessment, which is expected to raise nearly $3 million a year, will allow the commission to pay for projects and studies along the river, and to obtain federal grants.

Until now, the Kankakee commission has depended on the Indiana General Assembly to provide money every two years. It has never received more than $1 million for a two-year period and usually got less, Scott Pelath, the commission’s executive director, said.

The legislation also shrinks the commission’s size, from 24 members to nine, and gives it a new name – the Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission.

“It’s certainly a new day for the Kankakee River basin, which has had 100 years of accumulating problems,” Pelath said.

“This is an opportunity to solve decades’ worth of problems,” he added. “It will take time, but at least we’ll be on the path to solving problems.”

Pelath, a former state legislator from Michigan City, has been the Kankakee River Basin Commission’s executive director since January.

State Rep. Michael Aylesworth, R-Hebron, called HB 1270 “one of the most important bills to pass thelLegislature this year.”

Aylesworth served on the first Kankakee River Basin Commission in 1979, when he was a Porter County commissioner. This year, he was one of HB 1270’s co-authors. Four other Northwest Indiana legislators also are listed on the bill – State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster; and state Sens. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell; Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; and Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago. State Rep. Doug Gutwein, R-Francesville, is the author.

Problems along the Kankakee River have been building for more than a century, Pelath said.

Until a project to dredge and straighten Indiana’s portion of the river began in the 19th century, the Kankakee meandered through the nation’s second-largest freshwater wetland, second only to the Florida Everglades.

“We didn’t learn how valuable our wetlands were until the Clean Water Act came along (in 1972),” Aylesworth said.[Most read] Labor and delivery units are closing at Chicago-area hospitals. Here’s why. »

Now, he added, “We need to preserve and protect our soil, and also protect our water.”

The dredging project’s completion in 1918 gave Indiana thousands of acres of fertile farmland, but it left the Kankakee prone to flooding.

Much of the flooding is due to sand drifting into the Kankakee from the Yellow River, Pelath said. The sand, which gives the Yellow River its name, is a remnant of an Ice Age series of floods about 19,000 years ago.

“As sediment builds up in the (Kankakee) River, the same water flow gets higher and higher,” Lake County Surveyor Bill Emerson said. “If we don’t do anything, we’ll get more flooding.”

Other problems that need to be addressed, Pelath and others have said, include stabilizing the river’s banks, which have been prone to collapsing during floods, and creating areas to store water before it reaches the river. Some areas also could be restored to their pre-dredging condition.[Most read] 11-year-old ‘Yummy’ Sandifer was on the run for killing a teenage girl. Then he was killed by his own gang in a Chicago story that shocked the nation 25 years ago. »

“It’s very complex, and it’s not quick,” Pelath said of the work along the river and its tributaries.

The Christopher B. Burke engineering firm and Bob Barr, an IUPUI research scientist, began working last year on a long-range plan to address the Kankakee River’s issues, and their final report is expected at the next – and probably final – Kankakee River Basin Commission meeting in June, Pelath said.

The new commission, to be called the Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission, will take office in July. The new name acknowledges the Yellow River’s importance to the overall Kankakee River basin, Pelath said.

The original commission has had 24 members – three from each of the river basin’s eight Indiana counties.

The new one will have nine members – one from each county, appointed by the county commissioners, and one from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Tim Zorn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-kankakee-river-commission-st-0423-story.html

• Submitted
• Dec 11, 2018

The Kankakee River Basin Commission (KRBC), which serves the water resource planning needs of eight Northwest Indiana counties, has selected Scott Pelath as its new executive director. Pelath replaces longtime director Jody Melton, who is retiring after nearly 40 years of KRBC leadership.

Pelath joins the KRBC after twenty years of representing portions of LaPorte and Porter County in the Indiana House of Representatives. During that time, he frequently focused on natural resource issues in positions of senior legislative and fiscal leadership, including five years as minority leader. Among his numerous legislative accomplishments was sponsorship of the Great Lakes Water Use Compact, which is now law in every Great Lakes state and Canadian province, and authorship of the current structure of the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

“I am elated by the opportunity to forge consensus for the future of the Kankakee River Basin,” said Pelath. “Throughout my years of public service, I always held a particular passion for natural resources and the careful stewardship of our waters.

“Our future economic prosperity, our food supply, and our health and quality of life depend on careful water resource planning and a shared sense of purpose. This unique challenge of improving our Northern Indiana region is one I find deeply invigorating, and I cannot thank the KRBC enough for their confidence.”

The KRBC coordinates the water resources and water-related land resources of the basin through flood control projects, drainage maintenance, and initiatives to enhance the environment for both conservation and recreational development. Through its work, the commission seeks to promote and sustain surface and ground water for agricultural, residential, recreational, and commercial needs. The KRBC’s long-term goals directly pertain to overall water quality, fishery restoration, wetlands and aquatic habitats, and the future availability of the region’s water supply.

KRBC Chairman and Newton County Surveyor Chris Knochel said the commission looked for a new director with a history of working with diverse stakeholders, significant public policy experience, and proven communication leadership.

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“As impossible as it is to replace Jody Melton’s decades of outstanding service, we believe Scott’s own unique skillsets will serve our goals well,” said Knochel.

“The KRBC serves eight different counties, their local governments, and stakeholders ranging from farmers, businesses, homeowners, and conservationists. Just about every citizen has an interest in improving our water, and it takes someone like Scott to be able to hear everyone while keeping an eye on the greater good. We could not be more optimistic about the future.”

The Kankakee River Basin Commission was created in 1977, and represents eight Northwest Indiana counties: Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Marshall, Newton, Porter, Starke, and St. Joseph. Its twenty-four members includes a representative of each county’s commissioners, the eight county surveyors, and a supervisor from each of the basin’s soil and water districts. The Kankakee Basin comprises 1.9 million acres, of which almost 1.6 million acres has been used as cropland.

Nick Fiala

http://www.newsbug.info/rensselaer_republican/news/local/pelath-named-executive-director-of-kankakee-river-basin-commission/article_fe0a2c4c-7bed-562a-b5e8-5c70a7b3cc97.html

• Melanie Csepiga Times Correspondent
• Dec 11, 2018

PORTAGE — Scott Pelath, with two decades serving in the Indiana House of Representatives, will be the executive director to the Kankakee River Basin Commission beginning in January.

Jody Melton, who has held the position for 37 years, will retire at the end of the year.

“As impossible as it is to replace Jody Melton’s decades of outstanding service, we believe Scott’s own unique skill sets will serve our goals well,” Chris Knochel, the commission’s chairman and Newton County surveyor, said Monday.

The commission is charged with the planning and coordination of water resources through flood control and drainage management and initiatives in recreational and environmental areas in the eight counties of Northwest Indiana which lie in the watershed.

During his tenure downstate, Pelath led in fiscal and legislative initiatives and served five years as minority leader in the House, often focusing on natural resources. He sponsored the Great Lakes Compact, which is now law in every Great Lakes state and Canadian province. He authored the current structure of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

“I am elated by the opportunity to forge consensus for the future of the Kankakee River Basin. Throughout my years of public service, I always held a particular passion for natural resources and the careful stewardship of our waters,” Pelath said. “Our future economic prosperity, our food supply and our health and quality of life depend on careful water resource planning and a shared sense of purpose.”

Knochel said the commission looked for someone with public policy experience, a history of working with diverse stakeholders and proven communication leadership.

“The KRBC serves eight different counties, their local governments and stakeholders ranging from farmers, businesses, homeowners and conservations. Just about every citizen has an interest in improving our water, and it takes someone like Scott to be able to hear everyone while keeping an eye on the greater good,” Knochel said. “We could not be more optimistic about the future.”

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/pelath-to-lead-kankakee-river-basin-commission/article_eaff49db-deba-58ff-9729-16f354fdb882.html

Members of the eight-county Kankakee River Basin Commission of Indiana recently agreed to fund a $250,000 study for flood control purposes on the Kankakee River that also will seek $25,000 each from Kankakee and Iroquois counties in Illinois.

The Indiana counties would pay $200,000 of the cost.

After the meeting, Kankakee County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler made a verbal commitment to the plan.

“They approved it. Now it’s our turn to join the team,” he told the Daily Journal. “The county is much better off financially. We’re still in a hole financially, but we’ll be better off next year. If we have money to spend $26,000 for an X-ray machine for the courthouse (for security purposes), I think we can get $25,000 for this. It is for the whole county.”

The study would extend to Aroma Park, where the Iroquois River joins the Kankakee after flowing through Iroquois County and Newton County, Ind. The study also would take in the Singleton Ditch, a major drainage system for northeast Kankakee County and much of Lake County, Ind., which enters the Kankakee River east of Momence, said Jody Melton, executive director of the KRBC.

Through the eight counties of Indiana, it would extend nearly to South Bend, as did the former Grand Kankakee Marsh that decades of dredging drained beginning in the late 1800s.

Talks with Indiana officials “started about 4 1/2 months ago,” Wheeler said. Indiana officials came earlier to a meeting he set up where he works in Momence “where we reached cohesion,” he said. “Indianapolis and Springfield need to know we’re unified.”

Iroquois County Board Chairman John Schure, of Buckley, also was at the meeting, along with state Rep. Tom Bennett, of Gibson City.

“It’s something that needs to come together. It’s all linked together,” Schure said. “We obviously have to work together for a solution.”

He said that, like Wheeler, “I will have to go to the county board” for funding, adding: “I think they will be proactive.”

Bennett had scheduled a meeting of Iroquois River area officials for the next day at Forrest, Ill. “The watersheds are huge,” he said. “We’ve got to think broadly. We’ve got to think of ways to work with mother nature.”

Bennett noted that Watseka has been hit by major floods three of the last four years.

“It’s been great to have Gov. Rauner know where Watseka is, but we have to get government funding,” he said.

Bennett said he has been talking with Illinois officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency officials about funding. “Further on down the road we may have pre-disaster mitigation funding and FEMA told us interstate coordination is right on the top of their list for funding.”

He got a laugh by telling the commission that “my cohorts in Indiana told me there is a fireworks tax that will go to flood abatement” and that he responded that “most of their fireworks are bought by Illinois people.”

In an interview after the meeting, Melton said: “What I see that is just fantastic is that Indiana and Illinois are going to work together on a common problem.”

When Melton joined the KRBC staff in 1981, hostility reigned between the two states. Indiana had a “clearing and snagging” plan to remove trees and log snags from the banks and the river itself. Illinois filed a federal lawsuit on the grounds that the proposal would increase flooding and the sand load on the river here — and that the river was subject to federal control as a historically navigable river due to historic uses. Illinois prevailed, the river was ruled navigable and projects were subject to approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Now we’re actually doing a work plan that is going to do good for both of us,” Melton said.

The plan is to hire Christopher B. Burke Engineering, a multi-state firm which specializes in planning and design of infrastructure projects for storm-water and flood control, among many other activities.

The firm has done many projects in northeast Illinois and has an excellent reputation, said Paul Osman, floodplain management program director with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

A version of this story appeared in the Friday digital edition of the Daily Journal.

https://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/illinois-indiana-agree-on-river-plan/article_fae13eac-8b45-11e8-84df-e7261bde0f41.html