By Marcus McClain
NEA Town Courier
The Blytheville public works committee addressed flooding following recent heavy rains in their Monday meeting. Bobby Pugh, a resident in the Dogwood area, presented questions to director Mark Key on resolving the issues in the neighborhood.
“Nobody wants to open the drainage pipe in front of their house and everything back up over there,” Pugh said.
Key noted that the department blew out the storm drawing in Dogwood approximately five months ago, but are still searching for a long-term solution.
I know I’ve been promising you guys this stuff for about three years. We try to come down there and put a band-aid on it and I’m sorry about that,” Key said. “But we are looking at getting an engineer to come in because the drainage over there really needs to be addressed,” Key said.
Key later added, “Again, I sound like we’re making excuses but in that area behind the houses on the southwest side, there's a lot of utility that runs through there. It may need to be drained, but we can only dig it so much. I'm hearing you all’s plea, I really am. Hopefully now with Mayor [Melisa] Logan’s attention on it and John Callen’s attention, we can come up with something to help you guys.”
Logan stated that she is currently seeking funding from the state to provide a solution, and she has had Key visit the area to ensure all of the neighborhoods' measurements.
“I asked for $300,000 to address the Dogwood area specifically,” Logan said. “The granting terms are not certain, but it’s an ongoing and open-ended grant. We are allowed to apply for funding once annually. We have all the measurements needed for the streets on Dogwood. You guys are my primary focus. If I can help any area, I want to start there.”
Councilwoman Barbara McAdoo-Brothers questioned if the issue arose due to the quality of the development. To this, Key replied, “As long as I’ve been here, that area has held water. That middle section, they kind of throwed it in and none of them have drainage.” He later added, “We can go out there and drain the ditches, but also once the farmers drain their farm land, all that sand and silt goes into our storm drain.” He also added that similar issues are present in other areas in the city.
In other business, airport and utilities committee director Gary Carr informed the council about repairs needed for the Byrum Road force main. He stated that he expects the costs to range between $300,000 and $350,000. The project would include 425 ft of 30 inch piping. He also added that the force main has been repaired on three separate occasions in the past 10 years.
Logan stated she is seeking to fund this project with a grant made available by the county made to address infrastructure issues such as these.
“It’s a reimbursement program, so we would have to do the work and apply for funds as we expend them,” Logan said. “Depending on the critical nature of this project, and it seems to be pretty critical, I would like to move forward with this as soon as possible. Because we’re talking about the integrity of the road right there at Kipp School. So the safety of our children and school buses are going to be an issue if we allow this to go longer than a granting process might allow.”
The issue was sent forward to the full council to begin the bid process and will then need approval from the finance committee.