New Albany council members are again asking Mayor Jeff Gahan to disclose what his administration has spent — and plans to spend — related to a low-head dam in Silver Creek.
The council recently voted to request the mayor present information on spending to preserve and litigate the Providence Mill Dam, also known as the Glenwood Park Dam.
The request comes as the council plans to finalize and pass the 2026 budget in the coming weeks.
Gahan’s administration has fought the dam’s removal for more than four years, after a contractor for River Heritage Conservancy — which is overseeing plans for nearby Origin Park — was granted a permit in 2021 to take it out.
It’s unclear how much the administration has spent of its budget on lawsuits related to the dam.
Scott Blair, who with council member Louise Gohmann brought forth the council action, said Monday he wants to hear what the administration’s plans are and see if they’re reasonable.
“It’s like any other department,” he said. “We understand how they’re spending money and how they’re using the money, and then we decide if that’s appropriate or not and we vote on it.”
Blair agrees the dam needed to be safer, but right now his best case scenario would be for the city to allow it to come down. He said council members asked for anything that can be public to be presented in a public meeting. Confidential information would be discussed in executive session.
Gahan declined to provide information on this spending to the council last year, saying in a letter to the board that “the premature disclosure of these costs could potentially compromise the City's legal position and hinder its ability to negotiate or litigate effectively.”
Multiple news outlets, including LPM News, have requested information on legal costs for the dam since last year. Gahan’s office has not released it publicly.
Gahan said in a statement last week that the administration has “been able to make our historic dam safe and fight the legal battle brought on by River Heritage and Origin Park without overspending a single penny.”
Years of litigation
The city has brought multiple legal challenges and appeals over the past four years to keep the dam in place.
The Indiana Court of Appeals recently ruled against the city in two cases. In one, New Albany wanted a judge to revisit a state decision upholding River Heritage Conservancy’s removal permit.
The organization said in a statement after those rulings they hope the city will drop the legal challenges, and that it would be “a complete waste of taxpayer money” to continue to fight removal of the dam. River Heritage said it has spent close to $1.2 million in privately raised legal fees.
“We hope the city will now decide to end these meritless legal actions and do what is right for the citizens of New Albany and the region,” it said in the statement.
Separate from the city’s lawsuits, other legal issues related to the dam still remain.
Resident Amanda Malott is suing the city and others for negligence after her 14-year-old son, A.J. Edwards Jr., drowned in the creek last May. She says the city encouraged recreation at the dam but didn’t have signs up warning of the dangers.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources filed a court complaint in August 2024 after Gahan had rocks placed in front of the dam to stop the hydraulic current. The department asked for injunctions to stop work there and for the city to remove the fill materials. Indiana DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers say he had the rocks placed without proper permitting. A bench trial is scheduled for December.
Gahan said in the statement last week that the “dam has been fixed, and the danger has been removed. We were able to preserve a 100 year old asset that, if removed, would cost the taxpayers over $2 million to replace.”
The city council wasn’t presented with plans to vote on ahead of Gahan ordering rocks be placed at the dam, and Blair said it’s the administration’s job to maintain infrastructure. Some members said they learned about it from news reports.
Gahan criticized River Heritage in the recent statement, saying the organization has refused to meet with the city for several years, and that they haven’t reached out to talk about potential increased traffic and pollution from the Origin Park development.
Gahan said he recently learned about “plans to create a profit-generating Amusement Park instead of the originally announced nature preservation park.”
River Heritage recently announced a proposed location for its whitewater attraction within an adventure park, which has been reported on for years, including in a 2021 LPM story about Origin Park’s projected economic impact.
Gahan said he has prioritized fighting for green spaces and protecting natural resources during his time as mayor.
“We know how important these assets are for the environment, as
well as the physical, mental, and economic health of our community,” he said. “When out-of-town private corporations attempt to seize New Albany’s public assets for private gain, we will always stand up for the people of New Albany.”
In response, River Heritage called the mayor’s statement part of the “continued misinformation” from the city about Origin Park.
It asked why New Albany’s leadership opposes investment to remove brownfields and junkyards near the Ohio River Greenway, and blamed the city for cutting off discussions by suing the conservancy.
“Why oppose the removing of a dam that has proven to be deadly, claiming it as an asset rather than a drowning machine,” River Heritage said in the statement.
It also criticized the administration for withholding information from the council and media, and for dumping “unauthorized fill” into the creek rather than allowing the dam to be removed.
Shifting rocks
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is assessing conditions at the dam, saying some of the rocks placed there last year have shifted. In a November 2024 letter to the city, Regulatory Division Chief Eric Reusch said The Corps had observed that rocks had moved downstream after rains.
“This is a concern, as these rain events have been relatively small and larger events could lead to much larger material displacement creating additional impacts to Silver Creek further downstream or potentially impacting the Ohio River,” Reusch said.
The agency also wants New Albany to submit restoration plans.
In a joint letter to Indiana DNR and the Corps in June, Gahan said the city “remains committed to complying with applicable federal and state regulations,” but said the current state of the dam, which it said is in line with early 20th century conditions, is safer.
He asked them to define “original condition” and said it would be “morally inexcusable and legally questionable” to require the city to recreate the hazardous conditions there before that.
A Corps spokesperson said they will meet with the city after the assessment.
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