02-26-18 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING February 26, 2018 outstanding job with regards to communicating road closures and keeping people up to date. I do have questions, though. With regard to the known damage areas versus what is reported, is there any sense of whether or not the one hundred and eighty (180) known reports is a good reporting percentage? A follow up to that would be the importance of those individuals reporting to us but then following through the most extensive filing through the EMA. I thank the media for their coverage of the event and their willingness to share some of these points. My next question is about the several individuals who had electricity shut off. What is our Building Department doing to make sure all the requirements are met to get that electricity online? My last piece is thank god for the amnesty on the debris removal so thanks so much for that. Mr. Horvath replied, I don't have any percentage you were asking for. In fact, those were more calls than I thought we would have gotten. It was pretty much anticipated and most of the reports were basement damage. Most of them were little enough water that we wouldn't expect any structural damage. There are about ten (10)to fifteen(15) along the Emerson Drive area that may be total losses. We will continue to follow up on those. We had thirty (30) electric shut offs. We will work with the Building Department to get those turned back on as soon as possible. Councilmember Sharon L. McBride stated, Thank you for your swift response, especially for the flooding. I had the privilege of working over at the wastewater treatment plant and inspected it for a few years and they have always been a state-of-the-art facility. This could have been a lot worse but it had no effect on our drinking water so I appreciate the swiftness of everyone's actions.Kudos to everyone. Councilmember Regina Williams-Preston stated, Thank you. As much as everyone else appreciates it, I absolutely do too. I have a question for you. With regard to potholes, do you have a reporting system for those? Mr. Horvath replied, Yes, in fact we should have that online and available to everyone. That wouldn't be all that difficult. My only concern is making sure we do it in a way that it doesn't slow down the crews filling potholes by marking ones they've already filled in. That is a good point. If you call into 311, that will get to the Street Department and they will get out there and fix them. Under normal conditions, that can happen within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours. In conditions like this, they are just trying to go as fast as they can. Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Again, thank the crews. I do know that by talking to Code Enforcement today,they are actually helping the Building Department to inspect the five hundred (500) houses they need to inspect. Code said they will help with about one hundred (100). The interesting thing is that there were people fifty (50) or one hundred (100) feet from the river and they weren't eligible for flood insurance because it is based on the one hundred(100) year record flood. Thank you for coming. Mr. Horvath replied, That is a really good point. What happened in 2016 is SBA came and they did a loan program. They set up and anyone could apply and find out almost instantly whether you could get a loan. You can do additional stuff with low interest so it was a hugely helpful program. Those who didn't meet the requirements for that were then given grants. They gave out about, I think, $500,000 total to one hundred(100) homes. RESOLVE INTO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE At 7:26 p.m. Councilmember Oliver Davis made a motion to resolve into the Committee of the Whole. Councilmember Dr. David Varner seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic, Chairperson, presiding. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic explained the procedures to be followed for tonight's meeting in accordance with Article 1, Section 2-11 of the South Bend Municipal Code. 4