Fishing and boating aficionados can thank Eagle Scout James Flood for the ramp at Hope Lake reservoir on Nells Rock Road.
Earlier this month the 18-year-old Shelton High School senior received an official thank you in City Hall as Mayor Mark A. Lauretti and the Board of Aldermen gave him a trophy and proclamation.
“Thanks very much,” Flood said after the ceremony, witnessed by his parents, Mike and Patricia, and his siblings.
Flood was promoted to Eagle Scout, the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America, on June 6 for the ramp construction. A service project meeting numerous scouting standards is required to earn the badge.
He organized volunteers to lay the foundation for two large granite slabs, Lauretti said. They also created a walkway from the parking lot to the ramp and the scouts cleaned up the surrounding area.
Following the ceremony, Mike Flood said he was proud of his son.
The promotion was “a long time coming” because the project took about three months to complete, Flood said.
One of the challenges was navigating the planning process, such as the town’s Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands commissions, he said.
The lake project is not the first large-scale task the senior has undertaken.
In addition to earning 29 merit badges over his scouting career, he organized a relief drive for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, raising more than $2,000 that went to the American Red Cross, Lauretti said. The drive also took in more than 200 cases of water, and toiletries, diapers and dry goods, enough to fill a dump truck, he added.
At school, Flood is a member of the Cross Country and Indoor and Outdoor Track teams. He is the secretary of the Green Tees club, which helps maintain the high school grounds.
He will attend the University of New Hampshire to major in environmental engineering.
