Dunkirk deals with flooding

DUNKIRK — Not surprisingly, flooding woes in city neighborhoods surfaced as matters of concern before the city council Monday.
Mayor Ron Hunt said heavy rain early Monday morning caused havoc for many residents, and led to a very long day for himself and city workers.
Hunt said he started receiving calls about basements and yards flooding at about 1:30 a.m. He said he went out to personally inspect the situation, and found flooding in his neighborhood as well as in the Leisure Lane apartment complex area and in the vicinity of Arlington Street and Walnut Avenue.
Hunt said that one of the problems he encountered in the latter area was linked to a screen a resident had placed over a large storm drain, slowing the flow of storm water and causing flooding.
“The screen idea might be well meaning, but it’s not the thing to do,” commented Chuck Rife, the councilman in charge of the sewer department.
On a related topic, councilman Eric Bowler said street department employees were called to assist the sewer workers during the emergency. Bowler said he was glad to see such interdepartmental cooperation, but he wanted to be assured that overtime pay would come from the sewer department’s budget, just like sewer worker’s overtime expenses were recently taken from the street department budget for snow removal work.
Bowler said he was concerned about street department funds not being adequate to meet roadway repair and paving needs later this summer.
It was agreed the street workers would be paid for sewer funds.
In other business at Monday night’s meeting, council members:
•Approved a request from Brenda Brumfield, representing The Dunkirk Foundation, to install a plague near the landscaping project at Main Street and Highland Avenue thanking former Dunkirk resident Dr. Donald Johnson. Johnson donated funds to the foundation for the beautification work.
“We’re really blessed to have someone like him. He has donated so much to the community,” Brumfield said.
•Approved a pre-treatment program assistance agreement with Commonwealth Engineering, Indianapolis. Commonwealth representative Brady Dryer explained this would focus on requirements at the city’s wastewater treatment plant in relation to handling industrial waste. Dryer said he would be working with city officials and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to complete the task. Dryer and council members agreed the cost of the project should not exceed $12,000.
•Listened to a proposal from Ailesia Franklin, representing the Dunkirk Improvement Committee, to participate in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 100th anniversary celebration and community decorating  contest project. She proposed that the city sponsor festival-related events and decorations in the downtown area with the opportunity to win a $25,000 prize.
However, councilman Rife pointed out that due to licensing provisions, the Speedway decorations would need to be purchased, making this an expensive contest to enter. Also he said the city would be competing for the prize against such communities as Speedway, Carmel, Broad Ripple and Fishers with only a “long shot chance” of winning.
Rife told Franklin that he would rather see some of the group’s festival event ideas incorporated into the Glass Days Festival plans to promote that event and make it better.
After further discussion, Hunt proposed tabling the matter, pending more study.
•Approved a partial payment of $292,221 to Robert E. Crosby Company for work already completed on the city’s new water treatment plant facility.
•Discussed personnel matters including the need to advertise to fill full-time positions, rather than simply promoting part-time employees to those posts.[[In-content Ad]]