Flooding problem plagues residents
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 17, 2015 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Bobby Mathis demonstrates the path rain takes on his street that causes flooding in his driveway due to the lack of curb and gutter.
Bobby and Della Mathis, of 104 Powers Court, in the Maplewood subdivision, have an erosion problem.
And a flooding problem.
A bad one.
Every time it rains, water pools up in front of their driveway and in their front yard, eroding the terrain until only dirt and muck are left.
The flooding has been so severe over the years that the Mathises' lower concrete slab of driveway has cracked away from the rest of the driveway and tilted to the side.
As the problem worsened and the condition of the Mathis' yard deteriorated over the years, they approached members of city government to air complaints and seek a resolution to the issue.
But it would not be a quick fix.
•
Mathis, a disabled veteran, wants curb and gutter installed in front of his property to re-route rainwater coming down from the cul-de-sac at the end of the street into a drainage pipe that rests at their property line.
"Whenever it rains, the water comes right down through here," Mathis said, mapping the direction the water flows with his hands. "Look at how badly it's washed away my front yard. All we want is the curb and gutter installed to route the water out of the yard and into the pipe right here."
Public Works director Jose Martinez said the Mathises are more than welcome to have curb and gutter installed on their property. The city has even offered to be the project manager and to secure a contractor for the project who would install the curb and gutter to city standards, Martinez said.
But it will cost them more than $2,900, according to a quote for the work from Yard Bird Landscaping and Grading and e-mails between city employees obtained by the News-Argus.
And therein lies the issue.
The Mathises do not believe they should have to pay to have curb and gutter installed to prevent severe erosion from occurring in their front yard.
"They want us to pay for the repairs instead of using our tax dollars," Mathis said.
But, Martinez said, installing curb and gutter is not a service provided for free by the city for taxpayers. The reason is because there is not enough manpower to do so, he said.
"We don't have the manpower capacity to handle the workload of doing curb and gutter for citizens," Martinez said. "Do we have the expertise? Absolutely. But to do curb and gutter for citizens we would have to hire additional personnel, and that would mean increasing taxes in the city to pay for those personnel. If the city council decides one day that it is a service we need to provide, it'll be 'Yes, sir, we'll get right on that.' And we would hire the personnel and begin doing the work."
•
Goldsboro has offered the Mathises an alternative solution to their problem.
Martinez said the city has offered to dig a swale in their front yard, which is a ditch that is either lined with concrete or left barren.
The city does perform that service for taxpayers for free, Martinez said.
"Any solution that isn't curb and gutter (Mathis) doesn't want," Martinez said. "We offered to do the curb and gutter work and let them pay the cost back in installments. If he wants curb and gutter, we are not opposed to that happening. But he would pay for the work and we would provide project management for free."
Mathis said he does not feel as though this is the appropriate solution.
"I don't want a ditch dug in my front yard," Mathis said. "And if a ditch is dug out, the water is still flowing down my front yard and eroding it."
Martinez said that while the city cannot do the work for free, Mathis approached resolving the issue exactly as he should have.
"He followed the chain of command perfectly trying to get this sorted out," Martinez said. "Originally Terry Cox, the superintendent then, was called out and told him we couldn't do anything for him. Then he went to Neil Bartlett, former Public Works director, and was told no at this time. I believe it died then. Fast forward a few years later and Doug Henrickson, current ditch crew supervisor, was called out and told him again it was something the city didn't do. He then went up the chain to me, then Randy Guthrie, the assistant city manager, then Scott Stevens, the city manager, council member Gene Aycock and finally Mayor (Al) King. At every link in this chain of command, he was consistently told no."
•
Mathis said he felt he was being treated unfairly by the city, and said that city employees automatically had curb and gutter installed in front of their properties for free due to being employed by the city.
Assistant city manager Randy Guthrie said this is not the case.
"We do not do that for city employees," Guthrie said. "We do not have any policy like that."
Martinez verified this information through department supervisors.
"I talked with the supervisors, some of which have been employed by the city for more than a decade, and I told them to really thoroughly check to see if we had installed any curb and gutter at all in the city," Martinez said. "I told them reporters were involved with this case now and had access to all the same documents they do. One of the supervisors, who has been here for 12 years, said we haven't done curb and gutter work for any city resident during his time here."
Mathis points to two streets in his development -- Maplewood, where Martinez also lives -- where he believes curb and gutter work was done.
One of those areas, Stephens Place, which is approximately one block away from Mathises' house, had swale installed that was lined with concrete. This is the same service that was offered to Mathis, Martinez said.
The second area, Eleanor Place, did have curb and gutter work performed for no cost -- but there was a substantial reason behind doing the work, and it was not due to a citizen's request, Martinez said.
"Eleanor was had such severe stormwater issues that any time it rained heavily, firefighters had to come out and pull people out of the cul-de-sac because it was flooding so badly," Martinez said. "So we installed a short section of curb and gutter to fix that problem, but we only did that because it was so severe and people were being trapped in this area."
•
Mathis' subdivision was not designed to have curb and gutter installed in every area, Martinez said. It was originally installed at the discretion of the developer.
"This subdivision wasn't designed to have curb and gutter everywhere," Martinez said. "It was designed to have it in the cul-de-sac areas, and to have ditches everywhere else."
Mathis' house sits just at the entrance to a cul-de-sac, meaning the curb and gutter ends just before his property.
The best solution to resolving Mathis' issue, Martinez said, is to allow the city to install a swale in his front yard and route the stormwater to the drainage pipe that way.
Mathis, however, does not want a ditch in his front yard.
"I laid sod down for awhile, but it always eroded," Mathis said. "We've had the soil tested, and it isn't a soil problem. The soil doesn't erode because it's weak. I just want to see the issue resolved."
Martinez said the city stands by its original solutions, and that he feels what the city has recommended and is willing to do is the best solution to the problem.
"For what he deems unacceptable, we don't see as a problem," Martinez said. "I think in his heart-of-hearts he truly feels as though he's being mistreated by the city, and that's very unfortunate, because we are treating him just as consistently as we would any other citizen -- city employee or not."