Lee County’s new recreational cabins are getting plenty of use.
The two cabins along Wilson Lake were opened in August 2011.
Conservation Director Tom Buckley says they have been rented for 191 nights, which has generated $12,355.
He says the popularity of the cabins is apparent from the guest books.
“The people who have been using it obviously just love the stay that they can have there,” said Buckley. “Families talk about how they have got their kids away from the video games and just got them outside, doing some fishing or walking around the park. The kids and the parents both seem to enjoy that part of it.”
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Buckley’s report to the Board of Supervisors did not include a breakdown of expenses, but he estimates utilities cost about $900 annually plus cleaning and upkeep.
Buckley says the longest extended stay in one cabin has been 10 days. He says they are most popular during hunting season.
Buckley says use at Wilson Lake has quadrupled in the last year due to the cabins and recent fishing enhancements at the lake.
He says that has led to talk of adding cabins to Chatfield or Pollmiller Parks.
SEWER STUDY
Some rural Lee County residents could soon learn their options when it comes to a proposed sanitary sewer system.
Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS) Executive Director Bruce Hudson said an engineering firm is developing a study for Mooar/Powdertown.
He said it should be completed early next year.
“There are several different types of systems they are looking at,” said Hudson. “Looking at the topography and the layout of the community (to determine) what types of systems are feasible.”
Hudson says the plan will first be presented to the Lee County Board of Supervisors.
It would then to go the residents of Mooar/Powdertown within two weeks.
HIGHWAY TRANSFER
Lee County will wait to take control of a stretch of old Highway 61 from the Iowa State Penitentiary to the new bypass around Fort Madison.
County Engineer Ernie Steffensmeier says the delay will give the Iowa Department of Transportation time to complete repairs need after a hillside collapse near the road.
He says the agency wants to hand off control of the road since the bypass is now open.