The June 1 South Whitehall commissioners’ meeting appeared to come to a quick conclusion with a light agenda and board members Glenn Block and David Bond, and township Manager Howard Kutzler absent.

However, during Courtesy of the Floor toward the end of the evening, William Wehr stepped forward to raise the issue of the proposed Wehr’s Dam referendum, opening another intense discussion on the matter.

Wehr, whose grandfather built Wehr’s Dam in 1904 to supply power for a mill, is determined to save the 190-foot-long structure from demolition.

Wehr and a group of like-minded supporters established the Friends of Wehr’s Dam organization and set up a non-profit 501(c)(3) to gather funds for the dam’s preservation.

Although commissioners voted to save the dam from imminent destruction in March 2015, that wasn’t the end of the issue.

Board members knew the dam needed repairs to comply with a state inspection due next year, plus there was concern about ongoing maintenance and the overall longterm stability of the concrete structure.

The township hired the Michael Baker engineering firm to investigate the viability of the dam and assess its needs and costs for the future.

In April, Baker representatives provided options for the dam’s well-being and recommended partial replacement at a cost of $588,500.

Full replacement at $1.9 million was considered too costly, while crack and spill repair, which would have been less expensive, was ruled out because damage is too far gone for that method.

At the April meeting, after hearing the amount of money which would be needed for the Wehr’s Dam restoration, board members voted 5-0 to place a referendum on the Nov. 2016 ballot.

Voters will be able to grant their approval, or disapproval, for the township to borrow a specific amount of money to finance the Wehr’s Dam improvements.

Board President Christina “Tori” Morgan said commissioners will know how to proceed on the Wehr’s Dam project after receiving the opinions of voters expressed through the referendum.