Girard residents air flood gripes to council

One resident suggested withholding paying sewer bills.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
GIRARD -- City residents packed council chambers Monday evening to complain about basement flooding and sewage backup during heavy rains, and the mayor assured them their concerns are being addressed.
"It was up to the rafters," an emotionally shaken Joseph Kren of Gary Avenue said of the water in his basement. "Everything that was down there was destroyed," said Kren, who vowed to rebuild and pleaded for the city's help in solving flood problems quickly.
"There is a runoff problem. This has to be addressed now," said Mary Lou McKinney, also of Gary Avenue, who added that her basement caved in.
"I've got a sanitary sewer problem and a storm sewer problem," said Greg Kenyon of Otis Court.
Flooding destroyed his swimming pool and put sewage in his cellar, he said, adding that his basement has been flooded seven times, four times in the last 21/2 weeks.
Don Kovacs of Gary Avenue suggested city residents with sewage backup in their basements should pay only for water and withhold their sewer bill payments.
"We've been treating our own sewage. We're sick of it," he observed.
Mayor James Melfi said recent flooding is a disaster that is unprecedented in the city. "We will support our citizens every step of the way," he said, promising to meet with residents of hard-hit areas.
The mayor said storm damage "touched every street and every neighborhood.''
Melfi said he wrote to President Bush seeking the disaster declaration, which President Bush granted, and took U.S. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, on a tour of all four city wards after the flooding.
According to Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates, the city had $2.5 million in damage to city property, including its sewage treatment plant, streets, sewers and parks.
Mary Kadvan, emergency services director for the American Red Cross, Mahoning Chapter, announced the Red Cross will provide free flood cleanup kits and other assistance.
Financial situation
In the finance committee meeting that preceded the full council meeting, Kathleen O'Connell Sauline, D-2nd, committee chairwoman, announced she got a call earlier in the day from Eunice Smith of the state auditor's office, saying the state plans to impose a 3 percent spending cut on the city.
Council imposed a 3 percent cut in appropriations in June, but the state auditor's office believes that the administration has been spending above the levels council authorized, Sauline said.
The city is in fiscal emergency.
She said the city would seek FEMA and other help in paying for flood-related overtime.
By a 3-3 city council vote, with council President Lou Adovasio breaking the tie, Council voted against putting on its agenda a 3.5-mill, five-year police and fire levy.