TRUMBULL COUNTY Council OKs plan to address flooding
The program won't help enough people, some council members say.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- City council finally passed legislation to address one aspect of flooding.
The legislation, passed by a 6-4 vote, establishes a program to install backup prevention valves and sump pumps at homes. It also calls for removal of footer drains from the city sanitary sewer system.
Councilwoman Virginia Bufano, D-1st, and councilmen John Homlitas, D-3rd, Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, and Gary Fonce, Robert L. Dean Jr. and Felipe M. Romain Jr., all D-at large, supported the legislation.
Councilmen Vincent Flask, D-5th, Robert Holmes III, D-4th, James A. "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, and Councilwoman Susan E. Hartman, D-7th, were opposed.
"Every member of this council had concerns about stopping flooding," Hartman said. "That's why we passed legislation for the engineering for the downtown sewer design."
But she said many people who have added sump pumps on their own haven't experienced relief from flooded basements. Hartman also said the measure in the legislation won't affect enough people.
"I don't like charging people for services they're not going to get," Hartman said.
Pugh and Holmes agreed.
"If we do 200 houses a year, it's going to take more than 50 years to get the whole thing done," Pugh said.
Holmes said the city needs to separate the combined sewers downtown to address the flooding.
Pleased by passage
Homlitas, who sponsored the legislation, said he's pleased the legislation finally came to a vote and passed. It lingered on the table for several months after being introduced in September 2003.
"It's a step to solving the problems of flooded basements," he said.
The money to pay for the work was to come from proceeds of a sewer rate increase passed last year. That increase took effect in December 2003.
The reimbursement from the city to residents would be based on income.
Tom Angelo, director of the city's water pollution control center, said that each ward has an area plagued with flooding problems and that those areas should be done first, starting at the top of the sewer system.
Because the money is authorized by council yearly, the number of houses done is up to council, Angelo said.
Fonce said flooding problems fall into the same category of city maladies as bad roads and dilapidated buildings -- the city has never had a plan in place to deal with them.
"Those of you who vote no, tell me what your plan is and where are we going to get the money to address the problem," he said.
Parkman Road project
In other business, Mayor Michael J. O'Brien said that the bonding company on the Parkman Road project has been in the city investigating the problems this week. The city removed the contractor, Rhino Milling and Excavating of Girard, earlier this month after it lost its insurance bond and work stopped.
The project was set for completion more than a year ago.
"We're going to contact the next bidder to see if they're willing to take on the project," O'Brien said.
Miller-Yount Paving Inc. of Cortland submitted the second-lowest bid when the project was advertised.