July 1, 2015: In all
fairness, the recent water problems are not entirely the fault of the current
administration. The responses to it and going forward will be and will
absolutely be under a microscope. There are ways to do right by the people that
feel they have been failed. Going forward I hope administration can be humble
enough to take the advice of the constituents and be honest, become creative,
search for grant money, step up their methods of communication and do whatever
it takes to keep our taxpayers happy and to protect our property values.
Here are some resident stories and comments from Monday’s
meeting in addition to what I posted yesterday. Get comfy and your beverage of
choice. Stay dry my friends!
Resident stories: A polite soft-spoken Wolf Rd. resident
approached council with topography photos of his property. Since 2008 he has
had 5 devastating floods, 2 last week. He lost his swimming pool this time. He
pays 5 figures in taxes and nothing has been done. He has approached the city
before and he’s not seen any help. Leaving his number “Could I hear back from
someone shortly?”
An E. Oakland resident has been flooding for 30 years. No
one contacts him or returns his phone calls though he has called the sewer
department, his council and the mayor. There are people on his street that are
senior citizens and have heart issues. “If the sewers can’t handle what we
already have why are we building more houses and adding stress to the present
drain system? No one has the courtesy to return calls.” His neighbors won’t
come to meetings; they are disgusted and have come to terms with living with
water in their basements. He suggested maybe we should get a discount on our
taxes. The mayor assured him they are definitely looking at it and he shot back
“Yeah you’ve been looking at it for 30 years.”
A Wolf Rd. resident has been calling the city for over 4
weeks – prior to the recent rains. He wanted them to come out because the sewer
in front of his house is clogged. It is a city sewer and every time it rains,
it floods. No one from the city will call back. Now they have water back up in
the basement and have to foot the bill.
A Nantucket resident stated some neighbors dump mulch using
an inch or more for landscaping. It ends up clogging drains. The law director
said the city can address the landscaping.
A Carlton Rd. resident said that everyone on Carlton
flooded. He was happy with the way the city helped him 2 years ago. They did an
excellent job finding a blockage in his sewer system. He dug everything up and
fixed it and still had water.
A Carlton Rd. resident believes it cannot be a coincidence
that they were under water while the state of the art pumping station was being
worked on. He has talked to 3 people that have lived there for 25 and 35 years.
No one has had water and all of a sudden under the new technology, the pumping
station, crews arguing, crews coming back, the neighbors are aware that
something is fishy. Is there a problem there or not because if there is not
then you should not have crews there all day Saturday and again on Saturday
night. Bob Greytak said the sanitary sewer pumping station has got nothing to
do with the storm water. Not a drop of storm water goes into that station. The
flooding on the street had nothing to do with that station.
A Lincoln Rd. resident noted that there are problems
throughout the city with storm water getting into sanitary sewers.
A resident wanted to know if all the sewers before the rains
were completely cleaned out and efficient so they could handle the water coming
through. The mayor responded they undertake regular maintenance but do not have
the equipment or manpower to make a pass through the entire city prior to a
storm.
A resident wanted to know if the layoffs prior to the
election were service people that could have helped with the situation. The
mayor responded that the layoffs were internal janitorial. The city went from
140 to 92 employees but no one from the sewer crew was involved.
A Lane Drive resident on the western border found the Avon
Lake Hunt Club Development retention basin draining into our Bay Village sewer
system. His councilman and sewer crews as well as the Avon Lake service
director came to his area to investigate. He says the pipe is not supposed to
be there. He says this requires a quick resolution. The mayor said this is part
of that whole Walker Rd. system that feeds into that basin. It is designed to
go north at a low rate so it does not swamp the system but they will look at
it.
A Kenilworth resident suggested the mayor didn’t need to
take calls to get an idea where flooding occurred but to drive around instead.
She assured him she has but a call to register your address will help to figure
out if it’s a neighborhood issue or a private property issue.
A resident asked in light of the $7.4 million invested why
aren’t we building bigger storm drains. The mayor responded that we live in a
mature community where the infrastructure was put in 40, 50, 60 years ago.
We’ve got 2 separate systems: the sanitary system and the storm system.
A resident asked if the sanitary and storm sewers are
separated and the storm sewers are already backing up, won’t the separation
make it worse. The mayor said it is not a one size fits all solution. It may
not be the best idea to put clean water from the sanitary to the storm sewer.
A Lincoln Rd. resident asked if someone was looking at the
situation in a comprehensive manner. Since everyone’s problem is unique – some
in how they drain into the sewer and some with combined sewers. You can’t just
solve one problem here and create another in another location. Is it being
addressed and who is studying this issue, is it the engineer or do we have
specialized firms? Bob Greytak from CT Consultants gave the company background
and what they have been working on with Bay. They have the specific target area
of Bruce, Douglas and Russell with about 140 homes and are doing a
comprehensive model in that area. How much storm water can we get out of the
sanitary sewer and conversely, how does it affect the storm sewer. The study
should be completed by years end. The resident is hoping for a comprehensive
strategy if we all pitch in some small way to help save our property and our
property values. The mayor has information from Rocky River that will be on the
website. It will discuss what the homeowner’s responsibility is, what the
city’s responsibility is and what you can do to help.
One resident expressed stress about the city’s lack of
creativity to solve these problems. When rain barrels were mentioned the mayor
said they might have to tweak an ordinance first.
One suggested a citizen committee to help get the word out
and for various insights on how to best manage their own personal property.
A resident asked if the pump stations are sufficient, would
4 be better instead of 2. Greytak said he is not hearing that the pump station
is causing problems. There are no storm pump stations and to try and pump
surface flow is not advantageous.
Mayor Sutherland said at one point: All I can tell you is
that we did not have blockages in the system. We found some quirks but we have
not found blockages.
The good news: If there is feces in your basement it’s
probably from your own house.
Someone said there were 8 sewer department employees,
someone else said 6 – in any event it is not a lot.
The place to begin is with residents doing what they can for
their individual property. Once the reason for back up is identified, there are
options for what a resident can do. There were no solutions for those that have
done all they could and still had water or sewage back up. These people in
particular are the ones that feel the city bears responsibility. Many residents
did take time to agree that “none of these sewers are designed to handle any of
these storms” - which comes back to the city rebuilding with money we do not
have. All proper reporting will be done with the EPA.
Understand these are my notes. I was there writing as fast
as I could and listening to a mediocre recording of this night. If some
thoughts seem incomplete to you, please listen to the entire recording for more
information.
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