Village ponders future of Latham Gauge in the Rock River

By Bob Balgemann
REPORTER
A combination of decisions made by Commonwealth Edison and Winnebago County has led the county to take the Latham Street Bridge Gauge out of operation in the Rock River.
The county had been paying the annual $5,700 cost of maintenance and upkeep of the gauge. When ComEd decided to stop reimbursing the county for that expense, the county decided river-related readings provided by that gauge weren’t important enough to keep the equipment functioning.
Parts of the river are located in Machesney Park and the village suffered a major flood in June 2008. Nine years later the village is still utilizing state and federal grants to buy properties, along and near the river, which were severely damaged during the flood.
Given the important of keeping up with river levels, the county’s decision promoted the matter to be introduced as a discussion item at the Jan. 17 meeting of village’s public safety and improvement committee (PISC).
Village Administrator Tim Savage did some research and provided the committee with what he learned. He utilized a chart to demonstrate the readings of river levels as supplied by the gauge.
Readings from the Latham Gauge, and the Rockton Gauge, were similar, he reported. From the emergency management standpoint, he said Machesney Park was comfortable with utilizing data from the Rockton Gauge “to plan any necessary flood event response.”
The Rockton Gauge is funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and he said if they decide to pull their funding, the village would have

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