Firm calls for detention pond

A civil engineering firm hired by the county believes it has found a way to decrease flooding in Portland.

Mark Chmeliwskyj and John Speidel Jr. of Butler, Fairman & Seufert told the Jay County Commissioners at their Monday meeting that building a detention pond in Industrial Park would help mitigate the city’s frequent problems with high water.

The commissioners also heard an update on construction of Bluff Point Wind Energy Center.

Chmeliwskyj and Speidel were hired to study Millers Branch, a waterway that begins northeast of Portland and flows into the city’s sewer system. When there is too much water flowing through the system, it can back up and flood city streets.

“The watershed upstream of the Millers Branch is about 1,100 acres, and that is to the north on Pearl (Street) and that’s where it goes into a tile or a culvert storm system that goes through the city, so our task was to look at everything north of that,” Chmeliwskyj said.

The firm focused on ways to slow down that water flow, and has proposed a detention base in Industrial Park to catch the water before it can flow into the city.

The presentation was the first of three meetings planned by the commissioners to review the flood plan for the county. Members of the public filled the commissioners room to share their concerns.

At the meeting, audience members expressed their frustration that the flooding problems in the city have not been resolved yet. Several business owners cited water flowing into their shops and the number of floods that have occurred over the past few years.

Downtown Portland was under water three times in a span of about six weeks in 2015. The worst of those was in mid July when downtown was inaccessible and Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman declared a state of emergency.

That continued what has become a trend following a 50-year flood that caused millions of dollars in damage in 2011. The downtown area was flooded again in December 2013, and there have been a variety of less severe issues in between.

But Chmeliwskyj pointed out that while Millers Branch does cause minor flooding in the city, it is not the main culprit when the large floods hit.

“The magnitude of the Millers Branch watershed is almost insignificant when you look at the whole river watershed,” Chmeliwskyj said. “What we were finding was no matter what we did on the Millers Branch, we’re not really going to do much to the river. However, there are ways to maybe reduce the impact, but you’d still have some flooding … the river drives the whole issue.”

The commissioners had to end the discussion, but reminded audience members that there will be two more sessions to discuss the city’s flood plan at 9 a.m. on Aug. 14 and 28.

The commissioners also heard from county engineer Dan Watson, who told them work is progressing on Bluff Point Wind Energy Center. West of U.S. 27, all the concrete work has been done and several of the turbines have all the components delivered. Construction crews can begin putting up the turbines when the first base pieces arrive, which Watson said should be in the next few days.

In other news, commissioners Barry Hudson, Chuck Huffman and Mike Leonhard:

•Approved an invoice for $18,438 for upgrades to emergency management agency radios. Director Ralph Frazee told the commissioners that 64 radios needed to be upgraded to the P25 radio system, which is being implemented statewide.

•Heard from Heath Butz that the health department is planning to retire an old spraying vehicle. The department previously used a 1998 Sonoma, but it has broken down several times and it is becoming too expensive to fix. The sprayer will be moved to another vehicle the department uses. The commissioners voted to let the health department sell the car at its discretion.  

•Scheduled a special budget meeting. They will meet at 9 a.m. Aug. 7 to work on the commissioners budget. The first reading is scheduled for Sept. 25.