Sunday, February 24, 2008

City approves extension of option to purchase Section Six

Sunday, February 24, 2008 - Posted 3:15:55 PM
The Minonk City Council approved a motion to extend for one more year the option to purchase Section 6 from Waste Management for an additional fee of $10,000. The option is due March 31, 2008 of every calendar year and needed Council approval to extend the option agreement.

The agreement was originally designed to allow the City to purchase the land as a "pass through" for the development of the I-39 Raceway. However, that development has been put on hold and the City is now holding the option in hopes of attracting other commercial investment in the property.

Citizen complains of water in basement

Denise Kline, 1015 Washington Street,  said for over the last 8 years she has experienced backup in her basement each time there is a heavy rain and it gets more severe each time and now sewage is coming in.

Kline said with the upcoming spring rains she is reluctant to continue submitting bills to her insurance company as they may eventually deny her claims. She said she wanted to submit her damage claims to the city but was told that the flooding is an act of God and the City cannot be held responsible.

Kline said that she does agree that the rain is an act of God, but that the sewage problem is neglect from the City not taking care of this problem.

Mayor Bill Koos said every community is suffering some of the same problems that Minonk is suffering as a result of a combined sewer system.  Expanded growth has led to more water being dumped onto the sewer system than what was originally intended. This system was built in the 1950’s according to regulations, but today it is not the same regulations and you have to separate the two systems.

Koos said, the City can only do so much so fast because roughly it is costing the City in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $50,000 per block to eradicate the problem completely or fix the problem. The Mayor said the city will be floating a bond a year early to run a storm water extension from 7th Street to the north edge of town that is going to take some of the storm water pressure off all of these lines. He said, "Will it solve the problem completely, no it will not. We are moving as quickly as we can and we know your area is a major problem."

Kline said that she understood the City’s plan, but that is unacceptable to her. She said she needs a temporary solution now and wants to know why only she is getting sewage in her basement. She said that she is looking to the City to find a temporary solution.

Koos told Denise Kline the City can go to the nearest manhole and put a camera down and run it up into the sewer and see if there is any blockage in the City’s line. If there is no blockage in our line, then you will have to research your own line on your property.

Kline said that if you start looking for a problem in the line that will be helpful, but I do not think that it is acceptable that we have to put up with sewage in our home until you plan goes into effect this fall.

Alderman Cunningham said that the City started upgrading the storm water system in 1999 and has spent $400,000 starting the process and the project this year will cost almost $500,000. He said, "We have been working on this and we are not forgetting about people. We cannot raise taxes to replace the entire system and we are doing the best we can." Cunningham said "that since you have been experiencing this for 8 years, you need to talk to legal counsel about this as your beef should be with the previous home owners and their disclosure on the bill of sale."

Mayor Koos closed in saying that the City would be back in contact with Denise as soon as they can camera the line and know what is going on.

Council Comments

Alderman Cunningham said he had a conversation with a member of the school board and his understanding was they have not been able to locate a copy of the lease of the athletic field at Veterans Park with the City either. Cunningham said they (the school) are willing to negotiate a new lease if they cannot furnish the one they have.
                        Viewer comments on this article

Need to check wrote on 2/25/2008 at 09:29:52

That your house doe not still have a septic a lot of the older houses in town do and what happens is they ran a pipe from the septic to the sewer instead of by passing the septic. The septic then fills to fast and backs up into the house, during heavy rains, especially if your sump pump dumps into the septic.

Concerned wrote on 2/25/2008 at 08:07:52

After everything that was said in this update about the water issues and the poor people dealing with sewage in their basements, why aren't more people interested in finding ways to help our neighbors? I admit that lots of money goes to the school from taxpayers, but lots of our money goes to the up-keep of our town's infrastructure. Individually, we may not be able to do much for those in the flooding areas. At the very least, we can all come together to support these people. So many our quick to slam the school or offer suggestions for improvement- how about a little help for our neighbors?? I feel terrible for you all in the flooding areas. Though I can't do much for you, I can speak out and agree that the city should provide you with some relief whether monetary or by fixing the problem. Good Luck! I hope you get the help you need.

Sewage backups... wrote on 2/25/2008 at 07:42:38

In case Denise Kline is reading this...We back up too, but we back up after the water goes down. For some reason, I have an elbow in my line, so when the water goes down, the street debris (and other nasty stuff) ends up getting stuck in that elbow. Another problem we have is that our line is a good 18" to 24" deeper than it should be (not sure if the requirements were different back then). I consider this to be a cost of living in a small community with a low tax base. The city will not allow me to redo my line correctly due to the main being across the street and the other option would have me tearing out my driveway, so I'm stuck. I budget my once or twice a year (depending on how much rain we get) drain cleaning as a maintenance item. I really hope that this "plan" will help! One can hope, right?

School wrote on 2/25/2008 at 04:44:53

The school will not move anything else, the stirred things up just enough. They know that minonk provides about 3/4 of the schools tax base including the majority of the vote. Make minonk upset enough we might just come together for once

me thinks wrote on 2/24/2008 at 20:48:24

that the all the booha will only cause the school to up and move all games to greener pastures.....and this town will lose out once again.

Hmmmmmmm wrote on 2/24/2008 at 18:08:24

b/c one does not exist and they know it. More games !!!

hmmmmm wrote on 2/24/2008 at 16:59:02

Why doesn't the city have a copy of the lease with the school??

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