At the Tuesday, April 2 Rushford Village Council meeting, discussion centered around the same issue that’s been highlighted at other recent meetings: water. Significant snowfall depths and spring thawing has been a pain in the side of the city for weeks, particularly in the south Rushford residential area. The area has identified for years as one needing some hefty drainage solutions, but financial cost has been a barrier.
Residents Yvonne McElmury and Douglas and Donna Fowler brought forth their concerns at the meeting, noting erosion and flooding issues. “We want to fortify our support that we do something with that south Rushford water system,” said Douglas Fowler. He further clarified that he wasn’t initially home when it recently flooded, but that the ditches were clear at noon. Mayor Gordon Johnson noted flooding was happening on Goodrich Street by 1:30 that afternoon and that by 2:30 it was running across adjacent Sherwood Street.
“The water can’t flow from west to east, and it is. It needs to flow east to west,” added Fowler. “It was fairly clean water, which was a godsend.” He also expressed gratitude at the volunteers that assisted, particularly the Rushford Fire Department.
“It caught us a lot off guard with the depth of snow and retention of water,” responded Johnson. “When it moved, it moved way faster than we expected. We know there’s something that needs to be done, but it’s bigger than something we can put our arms around. Unfortunately, there was damage and we recognize that there was loss. We tried to mitigate it as well as we could.”
Johnson, along with Councilor Mike Ebner and Public Works Supervisor Travis Scheck, plan to meet April 5 with engineer Derek Olinger, of Bolton & Menk, to discuss the issues and review mitigation options. Community Economic Development Associates is aware of the issues and may be of assistance to the city as it seeks possible grant funding.
“My concern is it can’t happen again,” added Fowler. “It could have been a lot worse, but it could have been a lot better, too.”
“Just give us some time. We all on council know it has to be addressed,” added Councilor Rich Smith who resides in the neighborhood that flooded.
In other news, the council debated the merits of installing remote readers for water meters in south Rushford. City Treasurer Judy Graham noted she’d made a water adjustment of two units, not a substantial amount, and that a dozen readers need to be replaced. Largely, these were damaged unknowingly by the property owner, as opposed to being non-functional for mechanical reasons. Two properties have pits with readers on a post, which shouldn’t be allowed, according to Graham.
There was some issue over whether or not the city or the property owner maintains and owns the readers and who should foot the bill for replacements. “If we need to address it, we can do that. If the homeowner is involved, they need to address or work with city to find resolution. If we don’t own them, we can’t replace them. We can’t be fixing something that’s not ours,” said Johnson.
Graham initially stated that the property owners paid for and therefore own the meter and reader,. “According to our ordinance, everything from the property line in, belongs to them,” she said.
Through further discussion it was eventually clarified that the city owns them, just as the electric utility does electric meters. Smith questioned whether or not the city needs to state in writing the ownership of the devices. He further suggested that due to cost and the loss of a dozen units annually, the city should consider investing in remotely read devices.
Badger Meter gave a quote on Orion readers for $170 per unit in 2016. In addition to the cost of replacing the typical readers annually, there are additional costs in having Public Works read meters and dealing with issues. “I imagine there’s software built in so you could easily monitor each household,” added Smith. “There’s a lot of value in this.”
The city will contact the company again for current pricing before moving forward with ordering replacement readers.
In Old Business, the council unanimously approved renewal of an Interim Use Permit for Featherstone Farm for 2019-2020. They also approved the farm to make repairs to one high wind tunnel, replacing the exterior plastic which shattered during severe cold temperatures, and to construct another tunnel.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Tuesday, April 16, at 7 p.m., at the Village Hall. The public is encouraged to attend.
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