WARRENTON — The Skipanon Water Control District will not pursue mediation with Warrenton in a dispute over control of the Eighth Street Dam.

Last year, the two sides discussed the possibility of working with Portland State University’s National Policy Consensus Center. Informal talks were planned for December, but the water district withdrew because board members were not prepared for substantive negotiations given that the city had renewed a threat to sue.

The water district voted Wednesday to take no action on mediation. One board member, Robert Stricklin, dissented.

“We’re not looking at mediation now,” said Tessa Scheller, the chairwoman of the water district’s board.

Mayor Mark Kujala, who initially questioned the value of negotiations with the water district, has said the city is willing to consider mediation. “We’re open for mediation,” the mayor said.

The city declared an emergency over the dam in December and asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for guidance on whether the dam should be restored for flood control. The city has argued that the dam is an important component of the city’s levee system, which was built by the Army Corps.

The water district, which removed tide gates on the dam in 2015, believes the structure is no longer useful for flood control and should be removed. The water district maintains that the dam, built in the 1960s by an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is under its jurisdiction.