Boundary County’s Rock Point boat launch (located on the dike road along the river beyond the Fairgrounds) provides this community with a place for all sorts of outdoor activities, including boating and fishing. The problem? The docks at this launch are twenty years old and there are concerns about safety issues. Due to their width of eight feet, these docks are unstable. In addition, the pilings are too short for the high water levels that are often experienced. High water levels have actually pushed the docks over the pilings at times over the past five years. In a word, these docks have outlived themselves and have reached their “saturation point,” said Vern Wilson, the chair of the Boundary County Waterways Board.
In January, Mike Naumann, a Waterways Board member, brought this issue to the County Commissioners and was equipped with a plan that would provide a solution to this problem: replace every piece of dock at the boat launch. To fund this project, the Waterways Board applied for a grant through Idaho Parks and Recreation. The money that comes in from that grant will be matched using funds from Boundary County’s vessel account. This vessel account consists of money that was collected here in the county. When community members register their boats or buy fuel for their boats, a percentage of that money is dispersed back to the county's vessel fund for the maintenance and care of our waterways.
At
the January Commissioners’ meeting, it was
determined that the funds for this project would
be dispersed in June, and that the project would
be taking place shortly thereafter. However, to
find a company that will construct these docks,
the Waterways Board is currently having to go
through the bidding process again, due to the
way the bids were originally written. A request
for bids has now been annonced. These bids must
be submitted by August 1. Once the bids are
collected, the County Commissioners will
consider them and then will announce the company
to be awarded the project shortly thereafter.
After that, the Waterways Board would like to
get the project started as soon as possible.
Mr. Wilson and the Waterways Board are, as always, very concerned about people’s safety on and around the water. They want to provide “a safe, healthy atmosphere for everybody,” said Mr. Wilson. “We like to keep the boating public safe.” Toward this end, the Board works to provide educational opportunities to the people of this community. These opportunities help our county in many ways. “They give our boating public knowledge they didn’t have before,” said Mr. Wilson. Education like this also looks good when the Board goes to apply for grants. While safety on the water itself is important, being safe around the water is equally important. It is for this reason that so much work will be done on these new docks at the boat launch.
“As always, we are a county board and we welcome community input,” said Mr. Wilson. They welcome any questions that anyone may have. Each Waterways Board member is a volunteer and works hard to maintain this community’s waterways and docks so that everyone can continue to enjoy the beautiful waters Bonners Ferry has to offer.