Have you been flooded? Then Campbell needs you

The city narrowly missed securing state assistance for the project last year.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- The city wants to hear from 2nd Ward residents who have experienced flooding problems.
City officials plan to take another shot at securing state grant funds to make storm water improvements to alleviate those problems but needs to document its case first, said Mayor John Dill.
To do that, the city will host at town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at city hall, 351 Tenney Ave.
Second Ward flooding wasn't as serious this year as in year's past, but it is a continuing problem the city needs to address, Dill said.
Numerous residents have had basements flooded and one even had an in-ground pool come out of the ground because of flooding, he said. Roads have flooded so much that even emergency vehicles can't get through, he added.
New housing construction in that area didn't include drains big enough to handle the runoff of storm water, and that's the biggest problem, he said.
Drains in the 2nd Ward run through the 1st and 4th wards on their way to the Mahoning River, and the flow becomes so great that the lines back up, he said.
Missed out on funding
Campbell tried to get state assistance last year to build a retention pond off state Route 616 and to improve storm sewers but narrowly missed out on funding, Dill said.
The Issue 1 constitutional amendment on this November's election ballot would allow the state to raise money by selling up to $1.35 billion in bonds over a 10-year period with a big chunk of that money allocated to local infrastructure improvements.
Campbell wants to be ready to take advantage of the competitive grant program that Issue 1 will finance, Dill said.
People should come
People need to come to the town hall meeting to tell their stories about past flooding so the city consultant can document the need for storm-water control improvements and determine the size of the grant to be sought, he said.
The city will have to file its grant application by Dec. 1, he said.
gwin@vindy.com