City Council discusses flooding issues

Monday, June 17, 2013 - Posted 9:23:55 PM

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The Minonk City Council was given a presentation on the flooding issues facing the City by the engineering firm Farnsworth and Associates. Maps identifying the areas where flooding occurred during the record rains this spring were given to the council. Some of the flooding area were due to broken drainage tile while others were due to farm field floods which encroached on adjoining residential property. Many of the areas, however, were flooded due to surcharging of combined sewer systems.

Much of the flooding on the east side of the city was due to the expansion of the Fieldcrest High School parking lot which increased runoff considerably to areas east of the high school and affected Mary and Thomas streets. Flooding on north Jefferson and Washington streets was due to an overload on the 6th Street lift pump.

A schedule of infrastructure projects, which include upgrading the sewer system were given to the council to be reviewed and prioritized. Farnsworth representative Bob Kohlhase said the City will never be done fixing the waste water problem. What needs to be done according to Kohlhase is to address the next critical path to solve the flooding issue. He said without the recent improvements to the City's storm drainage system, the recent rains would have caused much more serious flooding.

The storm sewers & drainage projects being considered are (1) 4th Street tile separation in the fall of 2013, and (2) City drainage projects and Elm Court/Thomas Street drainage project which do not have a specific date set. Also, upgrades to the waste water treatment plant and sanitary sewer are to be addressed in the future.

In other news, the council heard a presentation from Mediacom representative Esther Viles. She said that she will arrange to have an open house to introduce the new cable converter that will replace the older cable converter now used by Mediacom customers. The new converter is much smaller and has many more options available than the old converter. Viles said there is no limit or restriction on the number of cable providers in an areas. However, she said it is not economically feasible to have more than one provider in a community as each would have to provide their own infrastructure and they would be 'splitting the pie' in regards to potential customer revenue.

City Administrator Gary Brennan said Heartland Cable is presently installing cable lines in the city and offered to run a fiber optic line from City Hall to the Filger Library which would enable them to get high speed internet. The cost would be $9000. Heartland Cable was to make a presentation on the proposal but didn't show and the item was tabled.

City Administrator thanked Durre Bros. for the new ramps they installed by the recycling bins behind City Hall. Below are the new ramps.