At the Tuesday, July 16 Rushford Village Council meeting, the city received word from Bolton & Menk Engineer Derek Olinger regarding a drainage analysis of south Rushford. The area has been inundated with water several times this year including one event that led to scrambling of services to pump water.
Olinger noted that the analysis is not a final report and additional surveying of culverts and grades of ditches must be done. However, hydraulic modeling of the area has allowed Bolton & Menk to construct a map of potential flooding impacts. While one graphic highlighted known issues that have been discussed, a second graphic presented was a plot map from hydraulic analysis that portrayed rainwater events over the area. Three events were examined: a 3-inch, two-year rain event, a 4.50-inch, 10-year event, and a 7-inch, 100-year rain.
Several on the council quickly agreed that the mapping was very consistent of recent flooding. The city has already seen water over the road this spring with water running south to north and west to east, despite culverts being installed to pull water in the opposite direction. “I’d say it’s really spot on,” noted Councilor Mike Ebner. An inundation map will be put together once additional information is gathered on culverts and the accuracy of current information can be further verified.
The city is aware that two culverts on South Sherwood Street are in poor condition and undersized. “It’s probably the primary driver for all the flooding in here — culverts,” said Olinger. He added that determination of changes to any culvert must include looking at upstream culverts as well. Lower grading may help provide some relief, but it’s unclear how to tackle that issue. “Ideally it’s at 2% grade and we wouldn’t have ponding. But, we’re lucky if we get half a percent,” added Olinger. Current modeling is looking at 30-inch culverts to replace one 23×14-inch culvert and another 18” culvert. It’s highly likely that the current culverts are collapsed as well as silted in. “It’s not taking full capacity of original design. We’re looking at arch culvert for additional capacity and lowering the invert.”
Mayor Gordon Johnson admitted that regrading ditches to allow east to west flow has been difficult. “There’s been a feud over too much grade so they couldn’t mow it. It gets to be too steep.”
“It’s going to affect people’s yards in order to get positive drainage,” responded Olinger.
Other poor drainage areas discussed included backfeeding from river flooding around Meadow Avenue and in the backyards on the west side of South Whitmore Street, from West Prospect to West Goodrich Streets. Further discusssion included talk of ponding and conveyance ditches. “Deep ditches isn’t going to sit well with homeowners. Are there other options?” asked Ebner.
Onlinger indicated the alternative gets into traditional storm sewers and curb and gutters of urban streets. “It gets quite expensive,” he suggested. “You’d be talking about rebuilding the road.”
Early modeling indicates the options discussed could offer significant improvement to the area. Bolton & Menk will be looking at working cooperatively with the state on the portions on Highway 43 and Highway 16, but it’s unclear whether or not state standards will determine the culverts on those roads are adequate or not. Highway 43 is scheduled to see work in 2020 or 2021, according to Councilor Chad Rasmussen, so it may be an opportunity for the city to both get the work done and find possible financial help from the state in doing so. Early estimates for doing all work currently detailed is in the $250,000-400,000 range, if no grants or state assistance are found.
Talk turned to the possibility of flood mitigation money, but Olinger indicated that those types of funds are traditionally given for damage recovery. “Occasionally for mitigation, but they’ll only go so far,” he added.
Councilor Dennis Overland cited statistical data which indicates for every $1 spent on mitigation, $20 is saved on flood recovery. Still, it’s a long shot.
“There’s just not a lot of grants for storm water,” responded Olinger. “There are more robust things we could do, but I’m guessing that’s not something you’re looking at. I think we could look at a phased approach to it, with priorities in areas with high impacts.”
In other news, while he has not officially tendered his resignation, the council discussed Councilor Rich Smith’s recent move out of the Village. This would make Smith’s remaining tenure on the council up for grabs. Mayor Johnson stated the city will wait for Smith’s letter of resignation to make any determination on filling the vacancy. When Smith was originally seated to the council, the city advertised for interested persons, asked for a letter of why they wanted to serve, and voted on filling the seat. It was noted that there are already some individuals interested.
Lastly, while not part of the agenda, Clerk Mary Miner brought up some concerns over a semi parked at the south Rushford Park. At the last meeting, resident Jonas Sublett came to the council requesting to park his semi at the bottom end of the park. At the time, he offered up several additional measures he could take to ensure safety and awareness. The council permitted the parking based on these measures.
Miner noted to the council that the semi was parked at the top end of the park so it could be hooked up to Sublett’s home security system. In addition, she noted the wheels were not chalked and no safety cones were placed around the rig. She indicated Sublett was unsure if they were needed. She further stated that a review of minutes indicated that’s what he’d offered and agreed to and that in a conversation with him, he was fine with doing what was initially discussed.
Ebner questioned whether or not a letter needed to be sent so the matter could be verified. Miner indicated she’d talk with Sublett and send a letter only if it becomes a problem. “I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” she added.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, August 6, at 7 p.m., at the Village Hall. The public is encouraged to attend.
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