SCOTT CITY TO EMBARK UPON CITYWIDE DRAINAGE STUDY

SCOTT CITY -- Members of a committee will conduct a citywide drainage study in Scott City to help solve flooding problems.

At Monday's meeting of the City Council, what started as a suggestion to study poor drainage in the Country Club Estates subdivision turned into a motion to survey flooding problems in the entire town.

"We've got to do something," said Council member LaDonna Phelps. "This problem isn't going to get better, it's going to get worse."

Resident Kenneth Cassout asked the council to study flooding problems in Country Club Estates, where he lives, because heavy rains often cause roads and driveways in the subdivision to flood. He said he and other residents want the city to find out how much improvements in the drainage system there would cost.

Public Works Director Harold Uelsmann said to his knowledge there has never been a study done on a citywide drainage problem.

Phelps said if the drainage problem is fixed in Country Club Estates, it may result in flood water being forced into the city's business district, which is at a lower elevation and west of the subdivision. Phelps also lives in the subdivision.

Councilman John Rogers agreed. "If you're going to study it, you're going to have to make it a city-wide project," Rogers said.

When asked to estimate the cost of fixing drainage problems in the Country Club neighborhood, Uelsmann said it would be an expensive project but couldn't pinpoint a likely cost. Cassout urged the council to consult an engineer for the project to ensure that preventing flooding in one area won't promote flooding in another.

The council decided that the city's public works committee, made up of council members, should conduct the flood control study. Rogers recommended that residents be included on the committee.

Cassout also told council members that roads in the subdivision are in poor condition. Rogers said roads all over town are in need of improvement, but the city lacks money to pay for them.

"I live on a road that hasn't been touched in 17 years," Rogers said. "We tried to pass a tax that would pay for street improvements twice, and the people of this town voted it down."

In other business, Edith Davidson, president of the town's Community Betterment Association, recommended the city start up a Neighborhood Watch program.

She said members of Community Betterment and the town's Garden Club have been working to beautify the city by planting trees and flowers, and have noticed several incidents of vandalism.

"This is ridiculous that we spend all of our time trying to make our town better, then letting these people get away with this," Davidson said.

She said in some instances, flower pots had been damaged or used as trash cans. She said a Neighborhood Watch may help curb vandalism and make citizens feel safer. The council took no action on the recommendation.