COMMERCE FAMILY CONSIDERS FUTURE WITHOUT BUYOUT

COMMERCE -- When the Commerce City Council voted against a Federal Emergency Management Agency buyout earlier this month, resident David Mayberry was not surprised.

"There had been rumors floating around since the issue was first brought up that three out of the five council members were going to vote against the buyout," Mayberry said. "The vote just made the rumors into a truth."

Now Mayberry, who spent about a month this summer during the flood in a small camper with his wife, his son and his parents, has been sent back to square one.

Parts of the city of Commerce, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi River, have been bobbing above and below the water since March. Mayberry's home is in the middle of one of the worst flood zones.

When the flooding was at its worst, Mayberry was forced from his home. That not only disrupted his life, but caused him to take a few vacation days from his job at McDonald Concrete in Cape Girardeau to move his belongings to higher ground.

Floodwaters never actually touched his home, since Mayberry and a couple of his neighbors had their houses raised after the flooding in 1981.

"I had just moved into this area in 1981," Mayberry explained. "My wife and I started fixing up our house on Water Street when the water came knocking.

"We had to put everything up and start all over once the floodwaters receded," he said. "I said then that there was no way I was going through this again."

Last summer, floodwaters more than eight feet deep surrounded his home like a moat. Even though water never touched the house, the thought of its foundation collapsing sometime in the night kept the family from sleeping there for more than five weeks.

"We spent a solid week in a motel. Then we moved to a tiny camper parked on the church lot," he said. "The camper was just for sleeping -- there wasn't room to do much else."

Mayberry's 21-year-old daughter stayed with friends much of the time. His 13-year-old son stayed with his uncle.

"I don't know how to explain how we felt all those weeks," Mayberry said. "We were aggravated, frustrated and so stressed."

In August, Mayberry and other residents told the city council they wanted the city to apply for a FEMA/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers buyout.

At that meeting, Mayberry told the council he was leaving Commerce -- with or without FEMA assistance.

"This town already has some abandoned houses. What's a few more?" he asked of the council. "You're talking about costs to tear down houses and maintain property -- how much does a book of matches cost?"

On the night of the vote, Commerce Mayor Ann Huck said she felt the council did what was in the best interests of the majority of the town's residents.

"There really weren't that many people interested in the buyout in the first place," she said. "Only three or four homes in the city would actually qualify under the FEMA terms."

A week before the vote, more than a dozen Commerce residents -- including Mayberry -- asked FEMA representatives several questions about the buyout, which hinged on the council's approval.

They bluntly told the citizens that if their elected officials did not abide by their wishes and pass the buyout they should vote the council members and mayor out of office.

Now Mayberry thinks that is a pretty good idea.

"Maybe it's going to take me and some of the other young people in town running for city council positions and for mayor to improve things around here," he said. "All of our council members are old and none of them work.

"This did not affect them the same way it affected those of us with jobs and families," he continued. "I think their voting was kind of selfish -- they didn't think of the people the buyout could have helped."

One of the reasons cited for turning down the proposal was that there was not enough money in the city budget for upkeep of the abandoned lots, which would have been deeded over to the city after the federal buyout.

But now that the buyout has been turned down, Mayberry is just looking to relocate his home on higher ground.

"I've been looking at lots which are higher up around here, but no one wants to sell," he said. "I want to get a personal loan to move my house.

"I can't go through this again," he said. "But I also can't afford to just pack up and go. There has to be a solution."

For Huck, the decision-making process is over and it is time for the city to move on.

"I don't know what those people will do now," she said on the night of the vote. "They can repair their homes or move -- I would hope that they would stay in the area, but it's all up to them."