It has been close to six months since I wrote a blog on the city council. A lot has happened in that period of time, but I will start with the last two city council meetings in August and September.
City Council Meeting – August 7, 2010
The council chambers were packed with upset residents who wanted to know what the city was going to do about the flooding of streets and the sand/mud in their basements. At that time, the river was still at a high level -- the flood gates for the storm sewers were closed and pumps were being used to pump the water over the levee into the river. One of the main concerns of the residents attending the meeting was that the storm sewers did not have the capacity to handle even a small amount of rain because they were filled with sand/mud that had been washed into the storm sewer system from the construction site of the slope on cemetery hill. But the city officials pooh-poohed this idea. The Mayor expressed his view that the problem was due to the ground being saturated and that the sewers were filled with ground water seeping into the system. Several residents found this explanation by the Mayor to be incredulous and they shouted-out that during the 2008 floods the water was clear and there was no mud in the streets or in their basements. The city officials responded that until the river has receded all they could do would be to install more pumps and try to pump the excess water over the levee at a faster pace; and once the river did recede, then they could check the sewer system. They advised residents who had suffered any damage from basement flooding to register the damage with FEMA.
City Council Meeting – September 7, 2010
There was another large gathering of concerned residents in attendance. Ron Welsch, a spokesman for the group, prefaced his comments by saying “Thank God, Mother Nature has backed off and the river is going down.” He then asked the city officials if there were any plans to have the Rotor-Rooter Company blast the sand/mud out of the sewers with their water jet equipment. The Mayor responded by saying that Rotor-Rooter’s equipment was too small for the job and that it would take larger equipment to clean-out the city’s storm sewers. When asked if the city had contacted anyone about cleaning out the sewers, the Mayor answered “no.” Someone suggested that a camera should be inserted into the storm sewers to see how much mud build-up there was in the sewer lines. The Mayor’s response was that a camera would be expensive. He said the city was going to contact FEMA for help with the sewers. He added that if the city did anything on its own, then FEMA might not pay for it.
Scott Greer asked what would happen if FEMA was not willing to help with the storm sewers. The Mayor said that the city would also be applying for a grant through Area 15. Greer then asked what would happen if FEMA would not help and the city was not able to obtain a grant; and the Mayor responded: “I don’t know.” Greer was not satisfied with that answer saying that the residents needed some relief from the flooding and they could not wait until next year for the city to fix the sewers.
A question was asked about the amount of money the city had in its sewer fund. The city clerk, Mickey Solano, answered that it was around $200,000. But Councilman Dwight Lobberecht added that the city would probably need an engineering study on the sewers before taking any action and $200,000 would not go very far. Someone suggested, once more, that the least the city could do would be to get a camera into the sewers to visually assess the damage. The Mahaska County Emergency Management Coordinator, who was in attendance at the meeting, said he thought that the city of Fremont may have a camera that Eddyville could use or he could check on other possibilities. But, again, the city officials were reluctant to take any action until they heard from FEMA or learned the results from their application for a grant. Scott Greer, said in exasperation, “We can’t keep sitting around waiting. It’s not going to get any better.” In reply, Lobberecht said that before we can do anything we will need to have a comprehensive engineering plan. Greer walked out of the meeting saying: “I have had enough of this [expletive].” Several other people walked out of the meeting a short time later.
One member of the audience said she noticed that the seeding of grass on the slope of cemetery hill was only partially successful and mud was still being washed down the hill when it rained. She asked if there were any plans to terrace the hill and to re-seed it. Councilman Lobberecht, who owns the company which had constructed the slope responded in an indignant manner that the hill would be done and that it would be done “out of my own pocket.” He added: “that is all I am going to say about it, but it will be done when there are dry conditions.”
Later in the meeting, the same member of the audience who had asked about the seeding on cemetery hill inquired if there were any city ordinances about keeping-up private property. She said there were too many dilapidated houses, junk in yards and vacant lots overgrown with tall grass and weeds. The initial response from the council was that if she wanted to check the ordinances, there was a City’s Code of Ordinance Book at the library. When it was pointed out that, indeed, there was an Ordinance on abandoned property, she asked if the ordinance was enforced. The answer was “no” because the city could not afford to take remedial action itself. (To be continued in my next blog).