NATCHEZ — A weekend meeting to resolve an issue about the ownership and responsibility of the dam on Robins Lake Road led to more questions than answers, according to some of those who attended.

After surveying damage to the dam on Robins Lake Road the day after an Aug. 18 flood, when 80 yards of the dam was covered, the Department of Environmental Quality ordered the Adams County Board of Supervisors to lower the water level of Robins Lake 17 feet below the top of the dam.

However, when the supervisors received those instructions in a letter from DEQ representative James MacLellan, a debate about who has legal responsibility for the lake ensued among the supervisors at an Oct. 4 board meeting.

The Saturday meeting was set up by the DEQ for an update on the situation. MacLellan’s letter ordered the county to begin lowering the water line by Oct. 15, which is Friday.

Questions about the safety of the dam, the ownership of the dam, who has responsibly for the dam, and how to fix a potentially dangerous problem identified after the flood were debated at the meeting.

Adams County District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus said the information delivered by James MacLellan, who represented the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality as the Drillers Licensing and Dam Safety Division Director, conflicted with his knowledge of the situation.

MacLellan believed the dam’s structural issues to be the responsibility of the county, but Lazarus and board attorney Bobby Cox said they remain unsure whether that is the case.

Since the county sponsored the dam in for a soil conservation project last year and other times in the past, the county may be responsible for the dam, Lazarus said.

However, the county did not build the dam, which was built by the late Bill Beane in the 1970s, and Lazarus and Cox said they are not sure if the county should be responsible for possibly millions of dollars in repairs to it.

Lazarus said if the county is responsible, the DEQ orders reflect an unfunded mandate, in a way.

In addition to pumping water out of the lake, Lazarus said MacLellan also suggested at the meeting the county hire an engineer to conduct a breach analysis.

The breach analysis would determine whether the dam was a “low hazard,” “significant hazard” or a “high hazard.”

Lazarus said only a handful of engineers in the state are qualified to perform a breech analysis, which can cost $5,000 to $10,000.

Last year, after a joint project to repair the dam was undertaken by the board of supervisors, Mississippi Soil Water Conservation Commission and the Natural Resources Conservation Service — the dam was considered low hazard.

MacLellan said in his letter to the supervisors that the dam is now considered a significant or high hazard dam since the August flood.

Some residents near Robins Lake are frustrated with the county’s flip-flop tendencies when debating whether it has responsibility for the dam.

After the August flood, residents prompted the supervisors to get an order banning the commercial traffic on the dam due to safety issues when a logger, Roy Beech, used it shortly after the flood.

The order stopped all commercial traffic and heavy trucks on the road for a 24-hour period, pending the outcome of a hearing that day.

The supervisors voted to reopen the dam to traffic following a 4-1 vote by the board to not continue the emergency order. Lazarus voted against reopening the dam.

Robins Lake Road resident Fran Brellenthin said if the county can declare the road public and allow access to commercial vehicles against the wishes of residents who use it daily — then it should be the responsibility of the supervisors to fix it.

“People out here were very upset when log trucks were going over (the dam), but the county said it’s a public road and it’s a public dam.

“So OK, so go right ahead, and fix it,” Brellenthin said.

Brellenthin, whose father built the dam, said if the county had the authority to open the unstable road to loggers, it should have the responsibility to maintain its costs.

Some residents are also concerned about the water level of the lake.

Chris Landers, whose Deer Lake Road property touches and possibly includes parts of Robins Lake, said he is worried about the impact draining the lake would have on the fish in it.

Landers said he has spent approximately $2,000 to restock the lake with fish from Oklahoma, at the suggestion of Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation.

Landers said he has also added fertilizer the lake and spent money hiring heavy equipment operators to smooth out his bank to make a good area for fishing.

Chris’s wife, Denise, said the lake contains perch, bass, catfish, bream and more. She said before the flood, someone was likely to be fishing on the lake nearly every day.

Landers said he is not sure who is responsible for the lake and what will be changed, but he intends to stay abreast of the situation because he has lived on his property for 35 years and treasures the lake as a recreational activity.

Brellenthin and Denise Landers both said they estimate the water level of Robins Lake is currently 10 feet below the top of the dam, which would require only seven feet of drainage. Brellenthin and Lazarus said MacLellan’s report at the meeting on the lake was five feet below the top of the dam, which would require 12 feet of drainage.

Lazarus said Monday no plans have been made to drain the lake. MacLellan is scheduled to appear at the supervisors’ next meeting Oct. 18.