Louisville District Deputy Commander Lt. Col. Latoya Manzey has been with the Louisville District since August 2020 and was welcomed with a national pandemic, downtown civil unrest and a lot of work that required her to be on her computer for district communication efforts, leaving very little time to visit field sites – a priority for district leadership.
That changed April 28-29, when Manzey visited the Louisville District’s Miami River Area lake projects: West Fork, Brookville, C.J. Brown Dam and Reservoir, Caesar Creek, and William Harsha lakes.
Manzey said she was excited to meet the lake staff, tour the project facilities and become more familiar with the project’s personnel and programs.
“I would like to thank all of our team members in the Miami River Area for your hospitality during my visits,” Manzey said. “It was great to get out, meet more of our team face-to-face and experience more of our district.”
During her visits, Manzey learned a lot about each of the projects’ history, employees and ongoing initiatives.
“West Fork Lake recently completed the emergency spillway work,” said Jim O’Boyle, project manager of Caesar Creek and West Fork lakes, during an overview brief to Manzey about onging work at the project.
Manzey was also able to observe the progress of the routine dam improvements at Brookville Lake.
“Brookville Lake is in the process of riprap work on the dam,” said Stephanie Ison, Brookville Lake Project Manager. “And we are currently planning for retreat channel riprap work, as well.”
While at Caesar Creek Lake in Waynesville, Ohio, Manzey toured the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division Regional Visitor Center, which is the division centerpiece for communicating the Corps’ mission to the public.
“We have an average of 70,000 people come here every year and about 30,000 are students,” said Kim Baker, Caesar Creek park ranger. “We about tripled our visitors during COVID.”
The deputy commander took this face-to-face time to recognize several employees with Louisville District coins.
Jason Harper, Brookville Lake maintenance mechanic was presented a commander’s coin for his work in refurbishing the maintenance building at Brookville Lake. O’Boyle and Caesar Creek Lake Lead Park Ranger Matthew Palmer were recognized for their work in the realignment of West Fork Lake.
“Just like there are no two districts that are the same in USACE, the same can be said for our lake projects,” Manzey said. “However, they are all very similar in their professionalism, passion, and expertise - and their investment in their respective projects is the embodiment of Louisville Proud!”
Manzey is looking forward to visiting other district field sites in the coming months.