Before the Next Storm

Let me first say I applaud the individuals who volunteered to work with the city and its professional contractors to develop a stormwater management plan. If you ever wondered what their duties and responsibilities are, read this:

From the public notice:

The public stakeholder committee will discuss a number of issues including:

Long-term financing without raising taxes through user fees

State mandated services the City must provide

Drainage and flood control services the City should provide

An acceptable balance of new costs and new fees

State mandated revised construction site runoff control ordinance

State mandated new illicit discharge elimination ordinance

State mandated new post-construction site runoff control ordinance

The committee will make a series of recommendations to the City of New Albany based on these discussions.

From the invitation letter:

The SWAC, composed of public stakeholders, staff and elected officials, will discuss goals, visions, needs and financial priorities for the City to address problems associated with flooding, new development, water quality and federal regulations. The SWAC will consider the public discussion and incorporate the comments into recommendations that will be given to the New Albany Sewer Board and elected officials for consideration and adoption.

Committee members will serve as representatives from groups interested in stormwater management, including homeowners, developers, business leaders, environmentalists, and related industry. New Albany has gone through great lengths to create this mix of membership to provide the technical basis for unbiased and sound recommendations from the community that will be communicated to the Sewer Board for action.