It’s not necessarily because they are right, but because they are loud, consistent in message and sometimes the only mouthpiece. “When you think about what the tornado victims suffered,” Susan Ruta said, “we don’t have it so bad.Vocal minorities tend to lead perception. Still others are taking a philosophical approach. Several residents said they are praying for dry weather, but with spring rains around the corner, they don’t hold out much hope.
“With the lakes high, the water table high and the ground saturated, there’s just so much we can do,” Bernier said. State laws protecting the pristine Butler Chain of Lakes prevent any new drainage into any of the lakes that surround the town.
With spring rains just around the corner, town officials acknowledge this will be an ongoing task. Opened up clogged drainage pipes, created swales and installed a culvert under a driveway to redirect some of the standing water on the Sprint United telephone company property. Built a swale between Second and Third avenues to keep water routed past residences. Installed a swale – a depression – to divert water flow and slow it down. Created a shell berm to redirect storm water. *Southeast corner of Main Street and 12th Avenue. Also cleaned out a culvert to increase water flow. Installed an asphalt berm at the end of a driveway to protect property owners from street water flowing into the drive. Installed a berm and opened up a passage so that street water will bypass properties and be diverted into an existing drainage system. So far, the following projects have been started or completed: Meanwhile, town maintenance workers are busily creating new berms – small inclines made out of soil, asphalt or shell – and other devices to reroute the extraordinary amount of storm water inundating the town. Homeowners association representatives did not return messages and could not be reached for comment. “It seems like they’re being sympathetic to the homeowners association, but not me.” “I guess the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” Robert Smith said. The Smiths say they are caught between the homeowners association, which they believe should rightfully fix the drainage problems in the subdivision, and the wishes of town officials. Town Attorney John Rodgers said the proposed injunction could take months before going into effect. The council voted unanimously to seek an injunction to prohibit the Smiths from dumping their water onto the street. Smith knows what needs to be done, his next-door neighbors know what needs to be done so does the homeowners association.” “We’ve been round and round for three years on this,” Bernier told the Town Council at its March 10 meeting. But complaints from neighbors and failure of the homeowners association to correct the problem pushed the officials’ patience to the limit. In the past, town officials let the Smiths tunnel through a landscaped berm behind their house to release water onto the street. Now three homes on Whaler Way drain onto the Smiths’ property. Those plans called for a swale system that would reroute runoff. After all, Bernier says, if the original plans for the subdivision had been followed, the Smiths wouldn’t be knee-deep in water. Town Manager Cecilia Bernier said she sympathizes with the Smiths’ problem.
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