SWAN-Elgin

ELGIN — With many residents still battling the aftermath of sewer backups into their homes, the city council has approved more money to be funneled into the city’s overhead sewer and backwater valve assistance program.

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By Harry Hitzeman | Daily Herald Staff

Elgin leaders on Wednesday tweaked a program to help homeowners improve their basements to hopefully avoid flooding and sewer backups, but residents said they expected more.

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I have had Hans and Sons Plumbing and Bero Plumbing over to examine my basement flooding problem. Here are the options presented to me. 1)Repair the innards of my backwater value (replace flapper & seals) $600-$800. 2)Install a new backwater valve $2200. 3)Install a basement floor drain plug that will allow water to drain out but not back up. <$200. 4) In conjunction with 3 install a shut off value for the laundry tub drain. My washing machine hose drains into this tub. I will have to open this valve every time I do laundry. <$200. 5) Install a pit with a sump pump to pump the floor drain and laundry tub contents up to an overhead sewer line. Only laundry would be electrically dependent. $3500. There is a difference of opinion about the size of vent pipe necessary. I might have to go to the 4 inch vent pipe in the bathroom which means walls would have to be torn out upstairs. It is an open question if the 2 inch vent pipe for the kitchen sink would work. If you put anything else on it besides laundry it definitely would not work. The potential cost could be alot more then $3500 and I don’t think the city would pay for tearing out walls and replacing them. Depending on the size of the pump needed a replacement pump may cost $250 or $500.

Overhead sewers are not a slam dunk answer. Neither plumber recommended them as the best solution but that is the only solution the city is willing to help with. One plumber had some horror stories about overhead sewers. One house has become dependent on electricity for ANY plumbing to work. This goes against a basic principle that plumbing should work due to gravity. Flushing your toliet should not depend on whether you have electricity or not. One homeowner who participated in the city’s overhead sewer has had numerous plumbing problems as a result and has spent around $20000 of his own money on this. Because of geography one homeowners pit had to go down 14 feet in an outside yard and things still are not right. One woman had to have such a large vent put it that the vent fills with water when it rains and she gets backup from the sump pit and nothing can be done about it. One guy didn’t go with the overhead sewer and opted for a floor drain plug and he had a 4 foot gyser of sewer water spurting out his laundry tub and there was no flood in the street. It was just there was so much pressure the sewer backup did that. I guess his next step is a laundry tub shut off valve. He lives where South street and Walnut street join. The answer is separate the sewers. PERIOD. If you aren’t going to do that then pay for other cheaper solutions like floor drain plugs, laundry tub shut offs, new backflow values, new innards for backflow valves. I heard a figure of 200 people have problems. If everyone got a new $2000 backflow valve and the city maintained the valves the cost 2000 x 200 is $200,000. So we are not worthy enough citizens to have $200,000 spent on us? Is this a class issue? Is this a case of snobbery? I hope not. Grand Victorian houses should get financial assistance. But if the $200,000 should go to porches or backflow valves my vote is for the valves. Insisting on overhead sewers will make sure very few people are helped and the city does not have to spend any money. I would not be surprised if in 20 years the city says it needs another 20 years to solve the problem. There is a crisis in leadership at city hall among city staff and politicians.

If $40 million fixes the pipes and $100 million replaces the curbs and street. DO THIS – Put in the pipes first and put in the curbs later when the city has the money. Some streets in Elgin STILL don’t have curbs but life goes on just fine. Don’t let curb replacement be an excuse for the city to drag its feet. Six to Eight years for permits? Come on. That can be expidited. Everyone knows that. If it can’t then the time to apply for them was yesterday. Please City of Elgin, stop dragging your feet and apply common sense.

State Representative Keith Farnham:  Has agreed to try to find opportunities for state funding to help.  Given the state’s financial crisis he seems to think that opportunities will not present themselves at least for the next couple of years.  Representative Farnham’s house also suffers from flooding issues related to storm water so he is genuinely interested in new ways to try to resolve the issue.

State Senator Michael Noland:  I had a lengthy meeting with Senator Noland.  He provided me with a number of resources that may help our neighborhood or that may even appoint free legal council to our neighborhood association.  He has encouraged me to come back to him for additional help whenever it is needed.

US Senator Roland Burris:  I have talked to Senator Burris’ staff and convinced them to come to Elgin and talk to Mayor Schock.  Senator Burris is also trying to find federal funding for us.

Mayor Schock:  The mayor came to my house and offered affected residents a 50/50 grant and in conjunction with a 5 year zero interest loan.  He later withdrew the offer and appeared to support the city staff’s recommendation of a 50/50 grant with a three year loan with interest accruing the final two years.

Councilman Prigge:  I invited Councilman Prigge to attend a meeting at my home with other affected individuals to discuss this matter.  He seems genuinely concerned.  I believe that he will be instrumental in helping SWAN

Councilman Warren:  I talked with Councilman Warren the other day and expressed my frustration with the city’s grant programs.  I told him “to keep in mind that a household on Douglas Street can obtain a 75/25 grant to put up a new porch, which adds value to the house; however, currently in SWAN we are expected to pay 50% of the cost of an overhead sewer line, which will not add any additional value to our home”.

Councilman Kaptain:  Councilman Kaptain presented at SWAN’s July meeting.  He proposed that SWAN should become a storm water district.  By better managing our storm water we can immediately reduce flooding incidents and potentially even eliminate them.  I have contacted Councilman Kaptain to discuss the details of the storm water district.  He wanted to brief the other city officials on the matter before discussing it with me.  I just contacted him again and hope to meet with him and Councilman Steffen to discuss the details of the storm water district so that I can have a better understanding of what it entails.

Scientist Travis Bistodeau:  I have talked extensively with my friend Travis who is essentially an EPA consultant for Dakota County in Minnesota.  He is the most practical person that I know and he has worked on reducing flashfloods in his county.  His county has successfully used rain gardens and other ‘green’ options to help reduce pollution and flooding of local rivers.  He was surprised as to how effective rain gardens were.

City Manager Sean Stegall:  I contacted Mr. Stegall through email several times.  We were supposed to meet to discuss the budget but he has become unwilling.  You can obtain copies of our correspondence by filing a freedom of information request.

 Public Works:  I have submitted the list of affected homes to public works.  I have also requested and obtained a complete history of the city’s DMR reports.  The Lord Basin currently dumps more untreated sewage into the river than any other basin.

Serve.gov:  The city continues to refuse to help residents with cleanup.  I have established an account on serve.gov to get volunteers to help with sewage cleanup for the elderly and disabled.  I currently have two volunteers.

Bank of America:  I contacted my mortgage company about my home and other vacant homes in our area, but little came of it.

EPA:  I have contacted both the federal and state EPA to formally file a grievance against the city of Elgin.  The state EPA contacted the city and “gave them a hard time”. 

ACLU:  I contacted the ACLU looking for legal advice, but they directed me to the CDC.

CDC:  The CDC feigned interested and directed me from one office to the next before telling me that we are not a priority for their organization.

Sustainable City Master Plan: Phase 1 Summary:  I have read the 55 page summary.  It recommends that the city provide many more incentives for reducing storm water discharge.  Reducing storm water discharge will help to eliminate both street flooding and sewage backups.

Budget:  I have obtained a copy of the Proposed 2009 Budget.  I am using the information from this budget to show city officials how money is disproportionately spent.  We are seeing great ‘progress’ in some areas of the city because all other areas have been overlooked.

SWAN’s Current Position:  Not every affected resident has the same demands from the city, but I have noticed that generally speaking our residents want the city to do the following:

1. Fix the sewage problem:  Some individuals are content with pursuing the overhead sewer grant.  Most want to see the city actually separate our sewage lines.  I have been told that getting the permits in place to fix the problem will require 6-8 years.  The mayor told me that the city won’t be able to afford to separate our lines for “20 or 30 years”.  I am trying to convince the city that some of their current expenditures are of secondary importance to solving our sewage issues.  Given the current sewage separation timeframe, the storm water district that Councilman Kaptain has suggested may be a reasonable immediate solution.  Storm water management has proved to be very successful and cost effective in other areas of the country.  I believe that SWAN residents should remain open to the idea.  (I will try to provide the details of what a storm water district would entail as they become available).
2. Cleanup:  As far as I know, ALL SWAN residents expect the city to cleanup any future sewage backups.  This is something that I want to work with the city on.  It is a health issue and a human rights (dignity) issue. 
3. Reimbursement:  Many SWAN residents expect the city to reimburse them for damaged property.  I will always encourage city officials to accept our claims for damaged property.  The very spirit of the U.S. Constitution is designed to protect private property against the malice of just or unjust government.  Unfortunately, such a reimbursement may require law suits or a class action suit.  I can help to provide resources for obtaining a lawyer, but it will require the group to decide if it is in our best interest to do so. 

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING AGENDA

AUGUST 12, 2009

6:00 P.M.

CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

CITY OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS Call to Order

Lake County officials have announced that financial assistance is available to residents affected by the heavy rain of June 18 to June 20.

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Uninhabitable houses slated for demolition

SOUTH ELGIN — Nearly two years after river flooding left two South Elgin houses uninhabitable, the village and Kane County have agreed to buy those properties from their owners.

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ELGIN — There’s an old photograph of Elgin in the 1920s that shows a panoramic view of the downtown area. It’s one of Councilman Dave Kaptain’s favorites.

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Elgin offers to share the pain of upgrading systems — but residents say it’s not enough

By Amanda Marrazzo | Special to the Tribune

July 15, 2009