Now is the time to revisit your personal emergency preparedness plans for the upcoming "ice season."

In the past, the Island has seen closures that have lasted several days or longer, depending on the ice conditions and Coast Guard activity in the area.

Taking responsibility for ourselves and having a viable plan in place will go a long way in making an inconvenient situation a much more tolerable one. Hope for the best; plan for the worst!

Below is a list of suggestions compiled by some of our most experienced “veterans” of ice jams. We hope it helps you establish your own plan.

WORK/SCHOOL EQUIPMENT: If you work from home and there is high risk of an ice jam, take your computer with you going off island so you can keep working.  And don't forget your battery and chargers.

OVERNIGHT BAG: keep an overnight bag in your car at all times if leaving the Island for more than a few hours. Be sure to include medications if possible.

FOOD: keep enough food in the house to last at least one week, and don’t forget pet foods.

MEDICATIONS: be diligent with keeping refills current for everyone in the household.

HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES: keep extra stock of laundry supplies, toilet paper, and other frequently used household items.

LODGING: make alternate plans in advance for the mainland – friend/relative/hotel.

DEPENDENTS: have a backup plan in place for caring for dependents, pets, and even your home should your return to the Island be delayed, or plans for the mainland if you get stuck on the Island and separated from them.

FUEL: make a habit of filling up your vehicle before returning to the Island, and have enough fuel for your generator, snow removal equipment, etc. available for immediate use.

EQUIPMENT: make sure your generator, snow removal equipment, etc. is tuned up and ready to run.

NON-RESCHEDULABLE APPOINTMENTS: if you have an upcoming vacation, medical procedure, meeting, etc. that you absolutely must attend, get off the Island when you can and wait it out at a friend/relative’s house or at a hotel. If you wait and assume the ferry will be running the day you are scheduled to leave, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The Harsen's Island St. Clair Flat's Association board does not meet in December. 

The HISCFA board meets every second Saturday of the month at the Harsen’s Island Lions Hall. Meetings start at 9:00 a.m. May through November, and at 9:30 a.m. January through April.

Members and non-members are always welcome to attend.

It's that time of year again where we need to winterize the water stations. This means that the Bates Cut water station will be closed on November 1, and will re-open some time in the Spring. And the exterior valves at the North Channel water station will be shut off. Please read the sign on the door at the North Channel water station for instructions on accessing water throughout the winter months.

Thank you for your understanding and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Raffle ticket winners were drawn at the Music in the Park event at Browne’s Field on Harsen’s Island, Saturday September 12, at 7:00 pm. 

1st prize ($750): Ruth Roth
2nd prize ($300): Jeff Radjewski
3rd prize (YETI cooler): E.J. McKnight

Watch the video of the winners being drawn:
https://www.facebook.com/HISCFA/videos/2724800777791476/

Thank you to everyone for your continued support of the Harsen's Island St. Clair Flats Association!  If you aren't a member yet, please consider joining HISCFA today.

Due to the ongoing healthcare crisis, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel Field Day this year for the safety of our members, island residents, and guests. 

While this saddens us to have to cancel this wonderful family event, we're still selling HISCFA fund-raising raffle tickets with great prizes: 

$750 First   |    $300 Second   |   YETI Cooler Third

Winners will be announced at 
Music in the Park, at Browne's Field
Saturday September 12

Tickets were mailed to members, but they are also being handed out at Jane’s Sans Souci Market. Please fill in the ticket stub and include them with your money in a sealed envelope. Jane’s SSM will also collect these sealed envelopes. Any remaining available tickets will be sold at the Music in the Park event (starts at 6:00 pm) with the drawing taking place at 7:00 pm. Good luck!

We know that COVID-19 has impacted all of our lives in many ways, but the HISCFA is doing their best to continue to provide services to our Island community.

Please accept our apologies that 2020's calendar of events and activities won’t include our normal programs, but we hope that members will continue to support the Harsen's Island St. Clair Flat Association until we can see each other face-to-face in 2021.

If you did not pick up your copy of The Delta News at the Trunk-to-Trunk Sale on Saturday, August 1st, your copy will be mailed to you by the end of August.

We hope you enjoy this 75th Anniversary Edition! Our all-volunteer team put forth a lot of effort to make this year’s edition very special.

Please consider any additional donation towards the printing of this publication or you can contribute by publishing an advertisement in next year's edition!

Please get involved!

If you aren't affected by the high water situation in and around Harsen’s Island, you or someone you know will be at some point in the coming months.

We're urging all HISCFA members to come together as a force and write to our elected officials who have the ability to influence the decision on Michigan House Bill 5401 (2020) and Michigan House Bill 5402 (2020).

These bills were introduced by Representative Gary Eisen on January 23, 2020 and can be viewed at the links below.

For your convenience, we've provided a template below of a letter that you can edit (or not) to meet your personal situation.  Photos of any damage by high water is also encouraged.  Below you'll also find the contact information for all the lawmakers.

Thank you for taking action!

Form Letter:  Letter-for-HB-5401-and-5402 1-2020.doc

List of Contacts: Gov.-Contact-List 1-2020.doc

Michigan Bills:

http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2020-HB-5401

http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2020-HB-5402

Dear Islanders,

At the last meeting of the Harsen's Island Saint Clair Flats Association (HISCFA), a vote was taken to assist in the formation of a new board of directors for the Harsens Island Transportation Authority, HITA. To that end I am asking for your assistance in that effort.

If you or someone you know would be interested in being a part of HITA, please email me at address shown below.

The purpose of HITA is to effect a reliable, safe and affordable connection to the mainland. This is very important and your sincere consideration will be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully requested,

George Covalle
President of HISCFA
GeorgeC@hiscfa.org

The Harsen’s Island St. Clair Flats Association (HISCFA) participates in the Great Lakes Islands Alliance (GLIA).  One of the main focuses of GLIA as an organization is to get representatives from islands within the Great Lakes to discuss island-related topics, and this year a huge focus was high water. This topic affects our mainland waterfront neighbors as well.

It is highly recommended that you read the article below from the International Joint Commission (IJC) and PLEASE COMPLETE THEIR QUESTIONNAIRE.

There are many photos and examples of the types of information they are looking for, with their goal being to document and better understand the impacts associated with these high water levels. You can also share some of your own photos with them.

“Information provided by shoreline properties owners is critical for ensuring that scientific and engineering tools used to evaluate regulation plans under a range of wet and dry conditions accurately reflect the high water impacts that have been experienced.”

If You Experienced High Water Impacts in 2019, We Need to Hear from You!

FULL ARTICLE:
https://ijc.org/en/if-you-experienced-high-water-impacts-2019-we-need-hear-you

QUESTIONNAIRE:
https://ijc.org/en/glam/watershed/questionnaire/high-water-levels-2019

If you would like to see an overview of the type of information collected, please click the link below to see a fact sheet of similar information that was collected for 2017 by shoreline property owners on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River:

https://ijc.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Final_QuestionnaireFactSheet_20190815.pdf

There are many links contained within these websites, so take some time to browse through the site and explore all the articles and links. 

Making our voices heard is extremely important!

Dear HISCFA Members,

I would like to inform you about a conversation I had on Tuesday December 3 with Jessica Kines. Jessica is the contact person for the Department of State Police, DSP, who have control over ferry rates. Jessica is new to her position and has only been there for four months. She and her associates are empowered under Act No. 240 and House bill No.4807 to review the rates of water carriers such as Champion Auto Ferry. This legislation was sponsored by then Representative Dan Lauwers, now Senator Lauwers, and was enacted into law in 2017. It is important to recognize that they haven’t been regulating water ferry rates for very long and may not have faced challenges to their approval of rate increases before the current increase of our rates.

Jessica was very helpful and understanding of our situation. She also freely admits that this is all new to her and the DSP. They recognize that House bill No. 4807 leaves a lot to be desired and greatly favors the carrier. They are however bound to act in manner that follows that bill, they are after all the State Police.

The items we covered in our conversation included:

The fact that we are dealing with a private corporation that has a monopoly.

The fact that we have at this time no alternative means of getting from the mainland to the island and see no chance of one in the near future.

The fact that we are not involved in rate changes and aren’t made aware of them until after they are approved by the DSP. A very uphill process.

Our only resort is to appeal these rate increases to the DSP under Sec. 4 of HB 4807. We have been asked to file these complaints with the Attorney Generals office thereby involving another State agency in the process who will also have to become involved and informed.

Our current rates.

The increase in those rates both on a dollar basis, $2.00/trip and a percentage basis, 28% for ticket holders and $2.00/trip and 20% for day trippers.

The impact these new rates would have on our residents and our businesses.

The dollar increases in addition to the money paid currently for a working family of two: $2 x 30 days x 2 people =$120/mo.

The fact that many of our island residents are retired and living on a fixed income that doesn’t increase annually at 28%.

Other rate increases have been made that effect commercial trucking thereby increasing the cost of building and doing business on the island.

The fact that many of our elderly residents are frequently off the island for routine medical care.

The condition of the current infrastructure of the docks and boats.

Only one of two docks are in service on the mainland side and two of three docks on the island side. The third dock on the island side collapsed.

If the one dock on the mainland side fails, we will have no connection to the mainland.

There is no schedule of when repairs of the docks will be completed.

The reduction of load limits and type of vehicles that are permitted to use the ferry.

The impact these restrictions are having, with no change in site, on ongoing and new construction projects and other services to the island. Trucks are restricted to one rear axle and trailers to no more than two axles.

I asked if the $2/$2 fair increase could be changed to a $1 increase for ticket book holders and $3 increase for day trippers. Jessica said she would run the idea by her people.

I asked if she would summarize our discussion since at the time of our conversation I was driving to an appointment and couldn’t take any notes. Jessica said she would do that.

Jessica offered the following:

“The Michigan State Police (MSP) reviewed, vetted and approved Champion Auto Ferry’s proposed tariff based on section 460.207 of Act 246. The MSP also completed an onsite evaluation and has required Champion’s to submit a timeline for repairs and will be actively monitoring their progress.”

I was hoping for more but I understand the situation she is in. The above comments are therefore my recollection of our conversation.

The good news is that many islanders, in addition to HISFCA have reached out to the DSP, Senator Lauwers and others. We have their attention and I believe, based on other conversations I have had recently, that things will improve. The dialog has begun and the pertinent parties are working on solutions. For now, we are stuck with these increases. If there is a silver lining to this situation it is that these increases will witness to others, who might be interested in providing service to the island, that it will be more feasible for them to do so.

In the meantime, I urge everyone, to continue to RESPECTFULLY contact our representatives, these are the people we will have to work with in the future to solve our issues. If you choose to do so you may file a formal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office (link below). It is an election year and our 800 members and their families are voters and we have power.

Respectfully submitted,

George Covalle, President

https://secure.ag.state.mi.us/complaints/consumer.aspx