No action taken on quest for flooding relief
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Jasper city council tabled any action on a request from a resident to replace small drains on Burch Street at the end of Rasberry Lane.

L.V. Rasberry spoke to the council following the October flooding on Rasberry Street. Rasberry had requested the city take some action to alleviate the flooding that hurts the neighborhood during hard rains.

"I think they were only looking at the cost and nothing else," Rasberry said. "They just don't want to spend the money or they just don't care."

Rasberry asked that the city replace a four to six foot drainage system "to give a more convenient escape for water that is running downhill to Rasberry Road causing homes to be flooded."

City Manager Alan Grindstaff presented council with four options to help alleviate the problem on Rasberry Road.

The first option would be a five-foot box culvert that would cost the city $16,385. A second option would be a thirty-inch culvert that would cost the city $5,588 and a third option would be to lower the existing road, so water would flow over the road, at a cost to the city of $60,214. A final option would be to take no action on the request.

Grindstaff pointed out that the homes on this street on located within the flood zone as provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"The existing structures that have been flooded and continue to have a potential of being flooded are in the floodway," Grindstaff said. "Even with action taken, these structures will remain in the flood way and most likely will flood again. Therefore, we recommend that no action be taken."

Rasberry admits she lives in a floodway but she said the last time she had water in her home before October of 2006 was 23 years ago.

"When that happened, we had the home raised eight inches and it hadn't happened since then," Rasberry said.

When council members asked Rasberry what she wanted the city to do for the situation, her response was simple.

"I want it fixed - whatever it takes," Rasberry said.

Jasper Mayor David Barber admitted he sympathized with Rasberry and her fellow residents' plight, but since the homes are in the flood way, there was not much the city could do.

"I don't think that anything we do will resolve this problem for you," Barber said. "The water has to go somewhere. I have to question if we do anything that can help alleviate the flooding."

Rasberry had sought bigger culverts that would require the city to place grates at the opening of the culverts. She said the problem with the existing small culverts on the street is that they become clogged with debris.

"We call the city to come out and clear the debris and they never come," Rasberry said. "If there were grates on the culverts, then (residents) could more easily clear the debris and help with the flooding."

She said normally when debris blocks up the culvert, neighbors get down in the water and unplug the culvert to allow water to flow again.

"We know it's dangerous but if you don't do it, then your house floods," Rasberry said. "Somebody has to do something."

She also is not buying the city's assertion is that the flooding is being caused by downed debris out of the city's limits.

"On the north side of the highway, they have four and six-inch culverts and that only makes the water run down to my neighborhood faster," Rasberry said. "We're at the bottom, in a flood area, with a 30-inch culvert."

Rasberry said every time she now hears about rain in the forecast, she has only option.

"You talk about praying," Rasberry said. "When I'm working and it starts to rain, I'm waiting for someone to call me and tell me that my house is about to flood."

Even though the city tabled the issue during the March 12 meeting, Rasberry is confident that something will be done to rectify her problem.

"If I say I don't expect them to do something, then it's like I am giving up too," Rasberry said. "I just want it fixed so that my house will not flood. I don't care if you have 18 inches in your home or five inches, it doesn't make my problem any less than anyone else."

In other council action:

The city agreed to amend a code on ordinances for firework stands in the city limits. The amendment would allow for an exemption to the requirement for removal of all fireworks and fireworks stands following a sales period.

City Marshal Stephen Williamson explained to council members that Joe Gardner, president of Joe's Hog Wild Fireworks, Inc. had sought to buy property in the city's limits to open a retail fireworks business and build a firework super center in Jasper.

Gardner currently operates similar firework stores in the Golden Triangle and Marshall areas. He explained that he intends to purchase some property in Jasper and build a 4,000- square foot permanent structure to operate a retail fireworks super center.

Council also approved the use of monies received from the Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency in the amount of $655,926.40 as a refund to offset the power cost to customers.