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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Mr. Horvath stated, That would be an issue because that floor drain may have drainage on the backside that is connected. I would advise against that. They do have valves you can screw into floor drains that will completely block it so that it won't come up. Councilmember Scott followed up, With all the water that we had, there were also concerns from people about the check-value system you talked about. They had that in there but can those be damaged with back pressure from this much water? Mr. Fahey replied, With a good amount of pressure, it actually increased the seal on the valve. However, situations we have seen does suggest it finds a release somewhere. I also encourage residents to invest in as high end a system as they can afford. They should prefer metal over PVC. The cost associated with these jobs is for jackhammering the floor and what not,the actual pipe is not terribly expensive to upgrade. Councilmember Scott then stated, And the last one (1) I heard from several people was that we didn't have this issue until Elkhart opened their dam. But, every dam was open, correct? Mr. Horvath replied, We did contact AEP right away. We were trying to actually get some gates closed to protect South Bend and we were not able to get them to close any gates. That will be part of our conversation with the Army Corps. I think one (1) of the issues is if you own a private dam and your gates are open, and flooding occurs, you are not going to be responsible for anything. When you close those gates and create an issue that wasn't there, it creates an issue. I think one (1) thing we need to look at is the possibility to have the Army Corps come in and, for a short period of time have control of the dams, and try to mitigate the problems. There probably isn't a lot they can do with closing gates with 25,000 cubic feet per second going through. So it is really at least investigating to see what can happen in future events. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Several neighbors in the Northshore Triangle reported valve failures. I thought that was a short-term solution we would look at to bring some plumbers in and look at the quality of valves. Is that going to happen still? Mr. Fahey replied, Definitely. We will be drafting new plans for the basement valve program and bringing it to the Board. It is important, though, to not specify too much and to allow the homeowner to find the solution that is right for their home. Many are different. But, we will be in the process of contacting plumbers and will have them do these installations. If somebody has a valve and it doesn't work,they can get a replacement. Maintenance is essential in these cases,too. The valve program itself is only one (1) year and a half old so maintenance shouldn't be a huge issue at this point but it is important down the road. Councilmember Broden followed up,So if some individuals had valves through our program,there is a commitment to go back to those homes and to understand what has gone wrong? Mr. Fahey replied, By having a conversation with them first of all, that would help us find out exactly what happened and to see what needs to be done. One (1) of the main issues with the program is that it is still quite expensive even with the fifty percent(50%)matching program. That is unfortunate for many in our community. But, sometimes it might seem to somebody that a valve has failed, but it hasn't. It is important to talk with these individuals to understand what is going EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.91731 TM 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov 6