It s a long road from budget to reality

Any city's budget is a major document that needs to be studied and scrutinized. The conversations and comments by Council Members and citizens alike at the well-attended budget meeting on Oct 13, 2009 was proof of that. And this was just one of many throughout the month of October. The culmination is tentatively scheduled for Oct 29th.

It seems that the administration and City Council did hear the pleas of, not only the 8th Ward residents, but also, their city-wide constituencies, about flooding issues throughout the city. So is this a done deal? Not likely. Discussions and comments by Alderman and city engineers are implying that the shovels will not hit the dirt until 2011. So what is the time line and milestones between now and then? Here is what I believe to be the short story:

• Oct 29th - final approval of budget
• What to watch for
1. Was the Stormwater Management Master Plan accelerated to move the start of problem areas 8 and 9 to 2010?
2. Was the revenue to support the acceleration approved at sufficient levels?

• Bidding the work (Survey Request for proposals sent scheduled for completion Dec 2009)
• What to watch for
1. Bid notices in the papers and on the Des Plaines web site.
2. Dates for Bid opening and acceptance.

• Design Phase of Problem areas 8 and 9 (Scheduled for winter - spring 2010)
  
• What to watch for
1. Has design work started by winter of 2010?
2. Is design work completed by Spring of 2010?
3. Activity of engineers and design teams on Marshall and Pennsylvania throughout this time frame.

• The work is beginning on Marshall and Pennsylvania (Fall 2010- Winter 2011)
• What to watch for
1. Notices to residents of traffic inconveniences in the vicinity
   
2. "Julie" markings and flags in the vicinity of the construction
   
3. Appearance of heavy equipment and porta-potties on and near Marshall and Pennsylvania

There is a long road between talking about this type of project and seeing it come to fruition. It would behoove us to continue to ask questions and learn more about how and when Problem areas 8 and 9 of the Stormwater management Master plan will be complete.
Updated 10/23/2009 -- scheduling information (in red); courtesy of Jon Duddles, Asst. Dir. of Public Works and Engineering

A plea to the Mayor and City Council at the October 13, 2009 Budget Meeting

Mayor Moylan and City Council Members,

My name is Halina Kraszewski, and I have resided at 685 Devonshire Drive in Des Plaines for 16 years.
As a resident of the 8^th Ward and as a Realtor with over 19 years of experience in the Real Estate industry, I am requesting that you approve the acceleration of the Storm Water Master Plan. Due to frequent floods our City has a stigma attached to it - “Des Plaines floods” - and some buyers would never consider looking for properties in our town, knowing that flooding also occurs in areas that are not even designated as flood zones.

Some of our residents in the 8^th Ward have exhausted their insurance claims and their insurance companies have canceled their coverage. At this time, those people do not have any protection against losses due to storm and sanitary sewer back up.

In order to be in compliance with the law, every Seller has to disclose to a potential Buyer any problems with flooding or leakage in the basement or crawlspace and explain it to a potential buyer in writing. A potential buyer has the right to check the CLUE report: this is a national insurance industry database that contains personal claims. A CLUE report is the equivalent of a credit report for a house, which examines all claims reported to the insurance company in a given period for five years. When a potential buyer learns about the extent of our flooding problems, he or she walks away from the purchase.

Banks have the right to check the CLUE report prior to approving a mortgage. Due to the tightening of lending requirements, financial institutions may deny issuing a mortgage because they do not want to get stuck with a high risk or uninsurable property.

When Sellers cannot sell, they walk away from the property and the home eventually ends up in foreclosure, thus bringing the value down for the neighboring properties. When property values decrease, the City of Des Plaines collects less revenue in transfer taxes. It should be in the best interest of our City to keep the value of the properties up and invest in our infrastructure.

Our 8^th Ward consists of middle class residents. Our homes are our biggest investments which we have to protect. Our property comes with a bundle of legal rights. One of those rights is enjoyment. Due to frequent floods, we cannot enjoy our homes. We are worried about our homes being invaded by water or sewage even though our homes are not located in the flood zone. We are worried when we go to work, when we go away for the weekend or when we go away on vacation. We are worried about the potential risk of disease from the contaminated water that sewage leaves in our homes. Our homes are not being used the way we intended to use them. Our family rooms in the lower level are left without carpets due to frequent water and sewer invasions. Again, I am talking about homes that are located in a NO FLOOD ZONE.

I am asking that you please help us by approving the acceleration of the Storm Water Master Plan and formulating an interim flood protection plan while residents await construction.

Thank you for your support!

For access to the CLUE database point your browser to
http://www.choicepoint.com/products/risk_reports.html?l2=homesellers_disclosure&bc=c&sb=c

Accelerating the Stormwater Management Master Plan -- Dollars and Votes

On October 13, Rosemary Argus will propose that the Stormwater Management Master Plan be accelerated to be completed by 2013 as opposed to the current schedule of 2017 completion. So as I see it, the issue will come down to Dollars and Votes.
Let's talk Dollars.
During a meeting (Oct. 1, 2009) attended by over 100 8th Ward residents, Councilman Argus attempted to facilitate a discussion about the Dollars issue, "can we raise revenue via a water bill or property tax increase?" She did not have the "how much" at hand; but if she did, I believe it would have been a non-issue. So how much revenue are we talking about?

• There are approximately 23,000 households (comments welcomed from authoritative sources on this number. )
• A presentation delivered (City of Des Plaines Jon Duddles P.E.) at this Oct 1 meeting estimated that the city will need $6,603,881 over 4 Fiscal Years (2010-2013) to accelerate the Flood Control CIP. Doing the math, that is:
  
• $287/household (over 4 years)
• $72/household/year

Note that the above amounts will actually be lower because the businesses in our community will bear some of the expense.

These dollars do not seem exorbitant to improve our flooding infrastructure. So raising this kind of revenue per household seems, I think, very doable -- $72/tax bill; or on a bi-monthly water bill, $12/bill. (Comments and math corrections welcomed).

Now let's talk Votes.
Looking at a table of the Stormwater Management Master Plan that lays out the yearly expenditures to complete the Plan in 4 rather than 8 years, the plan would have improvements in five out of the eight wards (Wards 2,3,5,7,8). All of a sudden there should be five out of eight Councilmen voting YES, since it positively affects their constituency.

A$72/ year increase to either my tax bill or water bill to help Des Plaines mitigate the flooding risk is a worthwhile investment with far-reaching implications.

October 1 -- 8th Ward Flood Meeting Organized by Alderman Rosemary Argus

Back on July 28, 2009, 8th Ward Councilman Rosemary Argus held a "Flood Meeting" to gather feedback for flooding issues in her ward. She is having a followup meeting as noted below at the Friendship Conservatory on October 1, 2009. Mayor Moylan, Jon Duddles, and Tim Oakley are scheduled to attend.
The text of her flyer follows:

City of Des Plaines Flooding Crisis - An Appeal for Intervention by State Officials

After the September 13, 2008 flood, Alderman Rosemary Argus made a motion for the City Council to accelerate the flood work for the 8th Ward. This work is focused on two streets - Marshall Drive and Pennsylvania Avenue and is referred to as Problem Area #12 in the City's 2002 Storm Water Master Plan. The motion was not seconded by anyone and died. After this happened, I asked the City Council for an interim plan, while we await construction slated for 2011 (assuming there is money available). I received no answer to my question.

Following is a link to the trail of my appearances at City Council meetings. My most recent attendance was at the budget meeting mentioned above. More people need to start attending these types of meetings and make their presence known, or we will never get action!

Documentation of appearances before the former City Council of Des Plaines

Because there has not been any response from our Mayor or City Council to the August 28, 2009 Chicago Tribune article on flooding in the 8th Ward, I decided to step up this effort by writing a letter to Congressman Peter Roskam, with a copy to Governor Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and District Representative Kitty Weiner. I also sent a second letter to Director of Insurance Michael McRaith to try to obtain data on flooding associated with back up of sewer and sump pumps so that we can get some information on where Des Plaines ranks among communities. We already know the City of Des Plaines is at the top of list for claim payments made for flood insurance policies, but how do they look when we put all of the pieces together? The insurance data will tell us the story.

These letters and the original Tribune article can be viewed through the links below:

Letter to Congressman Peter Roskam

Letter to Director of Insurance Michael T. McRaith

August 28, 2009 Chicago Tribune Article

City of Des Plaines is #1 - At the Wrong Thing!!

Sometimes it is nice for a community to be at the top of the list and sometimes it is not!
Being a math guy, I always gravitate toward numbers, and because the No Flood Zone folks in the 8th Ward of Des Plaines are concerned about flooding, I decided to do some research and found some interesting Illinois statistics by city on FEMA' s website. The data only includes people who have flood insurance, so it's missing a significant amount of losses due to backup of sewer and sump pump coverage, which is only available through an insurer, because flood insurance only covers you for losses due to overland flooding (i.e., surface water).

I have posted a Google Spreadsheet exhibit from the source data. It shows open and closed claims, the number of claims without payment, and total payments, sorted in descending order of payments, for the period January 1, 1978 through April 30, 2009. Guess which community had the worst experience? You guessed it - Des Plaines - "The City of Destiny" - destined to become "The City of the Destitute" if our public officials do not make flood prevention a top priority. From January 1, 1978 through April 30, 2009, insured losses for the City of Des Plaines totaled a staggering $18.1 million at an average payment of $22,000.

You have to go pretty far down the list to get to Mount Prospect (#121), so the idea of seceding from Des Plaines and becoming part of Mount Prospect is becoming more and more appealing to folks on the west end of town in the 8th Ward.

I have requested similar data from the Department of Insurance, but just for losses due to sewer and sump pump coverage. I am confident that those numbers will be very alarming and place Des Plaines close to the top once again.

Spreadsheet from the the FEMA statistics.

Hey, it's nice to be number one - at the right thing!!

FELLOW RESIDENTS OF DES PLAINES - DO WE REALLY WANT THIS REPUTATION?

CALL THE MAYOR MOYLAN, CALL ALL OF THE ALDERMEN, AND CALL THE CITY MANAGER AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

FEMA for Floodies

OK, so your insurance company has canceled your backup of sewer and sump pump coverage. Now what do you do? Well, you could convert your basement into an outdoor patio, or you could ask your insurance agent for a quote on a flood insurance policy, which will provide at least some basic coverage for you if you experience overland flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determines the premium rates and coverage limits for flood insurance policies. FEMA does not provide coverage for:

1. Back ups through sewers or drains
2. Discharges or overflows from a sump pump or related equipment
3. Seepage or leaks on or through the covered property

A backup of sewer or sump pump coverage endorsement covers the first two items above, so if you don't have this coverage through your insurer, or your insurer cancels your coverage, a FEMA policy will not protect you for these risks. Your only option is proactively work to get your municipality to update its drainage infrastructure so that you do not have to live with this risk (that's what the No Flood Zone group is all about!). But be prepared for a battle because municipalities have a great deal of discretion over the design of their sewer and sanitary systems. However, municipalities are periodically required to run various tests to make sure the systems are working properly. Failure to perform these ministerial duties can be judged to be an act of negligence.

But back to FEMA flood insurance. First of all, you have to live in a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and Des Plaines does. However, you might wonder if you can still purchase this coverage because 8th Ward residents are not in a flood plain. However, the good news is that you do not have to be in a flood plain to purchase this insurance, and if you are not, you can get a "Preferred Risk Policy", which is significantly cheaper (basic can be as low as $119 per year). The second piece of good news is that, as long as your community is participating in the NFIP program, your coverage can never be canceled.

There are various coverage limits you can purchase for both structure and contents (there are separate limits for these), but there are coverage restrictions for basements, which are below grade. If you are getting coverage for a basement, personal property, like furniture or electronic devices, will not be covered. The only contents covered are your washer, dryer, food freezer, and portable air conditioner. Big ticket items like furnaces and hot water tanks are insured under the structure coverage. For basements, the cost for drywall material is covered, but not the cost to tape and plaster. Finished walls (e.g., paneling or painted walls) are not covered. If you have damage to the first floor of your home, the restrictions for basements do not apply, but again, it has to be surface water entering your home in order to have an insurable loss.

One thing to note is that sometimes isolating the cause of loss is not very easy. For example, if you have a raised ranch with a below grade garage, you may experience overland flooding and sewer backup. How would a claims adjuster separate the two when evaluating your loss? This may a good question to ask when you purchase coverage because you do not want to be surprised when you have a loss and then discover the loss was not insurable.

If you have any questions about this coverage, contact Mr. David Schein by phone at 312-408-5539 or by e-mail at David.Schein@dhs.gov, or call your insurance agent. Insurance agents get a commission to sell flood insurance policies, but according to Mr. Schein, are not very proactive in letting their policyholders know about this option.

Click on this link to get more detail about flood insurance polices.