City of Keithsburg Flood Preparation Committee met March 28.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
Mayor Henshaw opened the Meeting at 6:30 PM
Alderman Physically Present: Gary Fues, Bill Pinger, Donnie Cox, Ronnie Brock, and Don Truitt. Lisa Wessels was absent. Also present: Treasurer-Cindy Diehl; Clerk-Terri Gibson; Maintenance-George Lyle and Campground-Carolyn Wuerzburger.
Mayor Henshaw explained the National Weather Service send a warning out regarding the risk of flooding and he also mentioned there is a strong chance of it getting worse in April, but the risk is out there until May.
There is another meeting in Aledo on Monday in which Mayor Henshaw and Bill Pinger will be attending, plus anyone else that is invited to go as well.
Mayor Henshaw explained there has been a lot of sand hauled to the Pope Street levee (along Jackson) with the help of New Boston and Kenny Tharp. Ronnie and the city council thanked Kenny Tharp for donating his time and equipment to haul and place sand on the levee. Mayor Henshaw mentioned the latest prediction is 2 feet higher than 2008 which was 24.49 feet and it will cost a lot of money to continue to raise the levee 2 feet. Then after the threat of flooding subsides all the added material must be removed. Both placing the sand and removing it is a very costly expense.
Fire Chief Jeremy Malcom explained Mercer County High School has let the kids come to fill sandbags twice, however they will no longer be available. At this time, he figured they have filled 20,000 sandbags. They are stockpiled at the city shed and boat club area. There was some discussion about asking for volunteers to fill more sandbags this weekend.
Mayor Henshaw explained the DNR informed him it is totally illegal for us to be hauling sand on the levee without permits but they are not going to do anything about it. However, he was mentioned it would all have to be removed after the flood risk is over. Ronnie explained we are still awaiting one property owners signature on an easement that must be acquired or they could make us take an additional 2 feet back off which will put us 2 feet lower than it was before.
Matthew Downey from the Viola Presbyterian Church and Dan Mildren owner of the Slammer in Aledo were present, and they would like to help in anyway possible. Matt cell phone number is (309) 337-5347 They are calling Scott Smith from the Tastee Freez to see if he wants to move stuff out of the building to higher ground. Matt explained during our major flooding in the past he realized Keithsburg citizens would go to Aledo and everything was business as usual and he doesn’t want that to happen again. They would like to help before, during and after flooding. They will come with support, food, man power, prepacked snacks and any other items we need. They will also assist with pets/animals. He would like input on what is needed such as: bleach, mops, cleaning supplies, etc. He assured the citizens and city council that Mercer County would be available to help with anything that we need.
The engineers have assured the city that the river levee is better than it was before the breach was made.
Ronnie asked Matt if someone has a small dozer that could push sand and any one axle trucks for hauling? Ronnie and Matt are going to meet with each other tomorrow to discuss this matter. Jeremy Malcom explained after the additional sand is hauled and leveled, we will need volunteers to lay plastic and sandbags. Matt explained he can get 20-30 people to volunteer we just need to let him know when we are ready. In addition, they will assist us in removing everything after the threat of flooding is over.
Mayor Henshaw asked the council how high they want the levee raised? George Lyle explained the elevation of the levee is 546 feet and in 2008 it was 548 feet. Right now, we are 1 1⁄2 - 2 feet short. There was discussion whether the city could handle the expense of raising and lowering the levee.
Matt suggested filling big 4’ X 4” sandbags in which he has 200-300, in addition he will get on Facebook and see if any of the farmers around the area has some. Jeremey explained it would take 440 bags for the mile levee. Dan asked if it would be more feasible to spend the money on cleanup after flooding rather than spending the funds trying to raise the levee to hold it back. Kathy Tweed asked if we could contact the prisoners, they were a big help in the past. She also suggested having the sandbags filled now and stockpile them for later.
Tim Shoemaker suggested using concrete KBeams to construct a wall instead of sand. Contact Selco who rents them. Gary works for Hon Ready Mix and they make them. He will check into the price of the beams, plus he will see about a boom truck to place them.
There was much discussion about sandbagging along the low areas by the bridge in hopes to keep the highway open longer.
Matt mentioned if showers became an issue we could go to the YMCA, business side of the Slammer or even individual residents. He also explained they would bring generators in case of power outages, plus he has a friend that will possibly be able to work on our big generator at city hall.
After much discussion Gary made a motion to raise the levee to the 2008 level, Donnie seconded. Motion carried with all “Yes” votes.
Jeremey will be setting up sandbaggers and the fire station will be used for emergency.
Bill made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Donnie seconded; Motion carried with all “Yes” votes
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c8c066_374570d82a3a442aa4a1f3422d59af0f.pdf
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