Meeting with City Council and the Army Corps of Engineering

Concerning the meeting held Tuesday, May 9th, at City Hall: A representative from the Army Corp of Engineers attended and gave some insight into a study that may be done on the flooding and answered questions from citizens. He brought forth some ideas that may be looked into. I'm proud to say that there was standing room only, because so many concerned citizens showed up. There was also staff from other partner agencies such as Storm Water Management and County / Road Engineering present. The floor was opened for citizens to ask questions and voice concerns. At least 20 citizens spoke, and you could feel the heart-felt passion in the room, as so many have suffered. It felt like it was a very beneficial meeting, brought up many ideas for the municipalities to dig into, and provided the people's voice to our local government that the citizens demand that something be done. The proposed study itself will be brought to a vote by the council, and if approved, would need to be held in the next fiscal year's budget. This study would not be a "205 Study", but a study that requires commitment from the city, as it would be handled to completion. This is unlike a "205 Study", where these can be abandoned once it is deemed that cost of the project would outweigh the benefit to the citizens. The actual study proposed would be a published study, and could then take a year or two to complete. The published study could then be used in a variety of ways depending on the outcome. Al Shirey of the Corps did mention some ideas in passing as to potential solutions. One idea he mentioned was a flap gate at the bridge on Murray, which I found interesting. What the meeting produced was the idea that there are always engineering solutions. Sometimes they are not economical. Sometimes they are not beneficial to the larger group and so the few must suffer. But that's the purpose of a study. We hope that the city will pass the vote. The costs for the study seemed to range most likely from $200k-$250k, and would require a 50/50 match by the city. Federal Grants (such as the FMA grant within this petition) could likely help the city's 50% match, and there are other funding avenues that Administrator Johnny Cribb mentioned that he would like to investigate, such as storm water management. All-in-all, it felt like a productive meeting. I urge all citizens to continue supporting the community by attending council meetings and making our voices heard!