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4 Lakes Task Force leader describes deal with Boyce Hydro: $40,000 monthly payments, purchase terms and a contested permit
Summary
David Kepler testified that 4 Lakes Task Force negotiated to pay Boyce Hydro roughly $40,000 per month to maintain lake levels in 2019–20, applied toward a $9.4 million purchase agreement, and that an indemnity letter helped secure an April 9, 2020 EGLE permit to raise Wixom Lake.
David Kepler, president of the 4 Lakes Task Force, told the Court of Claims on Jan. 27 that his nonprofit negotiated both an interim operating stipend to Boyce Hydro and a staged purchase agreement intended to move four regional dams from private to public stewardship.
Kepler said the Task Force arranged a series of agreements in 2019, including a letter of understanding and a December 2019 operating/purchase package that contemplated a multi‑year transition and a total purchase price of about $9.4 million. To keep operations running while the larger deal and county court order were in process, Kepler said the Task Force agreed to pay approximately $40,000 a month to Boyce Hydro for operator staffing and maintenance, and that those monthly payments would be applied to the eventual purchase price.
On permitting, Kepler said 4 Lakes prepared a joint permit application listing the Task Force as agent (his contact information appears on the application). In early April 2020, communications with the owner, Lee Mueller, raised objections to a draft permit. Kepler testified he prepared an indemnity letter for Mueller to sign in order to clear the draft permit; Mueller signed on April 8, and EGLE issued the permit on April 9, 2020. Kepler described the indemnity as limited to a handful of peripheral points and said the indemnity did not relieve the owner of continuing obligations under the permit or court orders.
Kepler also described the part 307 process used to create legal lake levels and special assessment districts, noting extensive public meetings, county resolutions in Gladwin and Midland counties, and work by Spicer Group and other consultants on lake‑level studies and potential funding scenarios. He said the Task Force and counties planned a special assessment to fund needed repairs and that community support was mixed: many lake residents wanted the lakes restored but were less willing to accept the potential assessment costs.
Kepler confirmed conversations with EGLE staff, the use of Spicer and GEI consultants for technical studies, and the Task Force’s outreach to counties for bonding and public acquisition options. He said the Task Force sought a county‑driven part 307 court order so the state regulator could then be in a position to permit lake‑level changes.
The court continued to other testimony after Kepler’s cross‑examination; Kepler’s account lays out the financing, permit and contractual steps that preceded the May 2020 events now at issue in multiple claims.
