Local donations to disaster relief fund tops $80,000 - Mulholland to head up committe with

By Pepper Parr

August 14^th,  2014

BURLINGTON, ON.

It is official!    

Besides being the Best mid-sized city in Canada – Burlington is also a disaster area in the eyes of city council.

A motion, unanimously passed by council Thursday morning,  asks the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to declare the City of Burlington a “disaster area” for the purposes of public and private components of the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP)

Passing that motion was the first step to getting funds into the hands of citizens who have suffered extremely serious flood damage particularly in wards 4 and 5.

The Special Session of city council was called to pass this motion and two others; one asking the Region to give immediate priority and attention to address the sanitary sewage issues of those residents who have experienced flooding and significant property loss and damage on multiple occasions including May 14 and August 4.

Following this assessment, Regional Council be requested to review the current level of financial assistance available as part of the Regional Basement Flooding Prevention Subsidy, which is currently set at $1,000.

City staff were instructed to expedite any local approval processes and waive any related fees.

A third motion was passed to assist homeowners with the cost of building permits payable under the Building Permit Bylaw.  Mayor Goldring made a big deal out of leaving the council chamber while that debate took place – his house was flooded and he would benefit directly from any waiving of fees.

The public fund raising is underway.  The United Way announced Thursday afternoon at 5:00 pm that $80,828. had been raised.  United Way is serving as the “banker” for the local fund raising.  It is going to take a mammoth give on the part of the public.  You can donate on line at the following secure web site.  A tax receipt is issued almost immediately.

Before council members got to passing bylaws they heard from three delegations: Maui Groff, Joanne Karaiskakis and Michelle Peronne-Bonavita; all ward 5 residents, wanted both the city and the Region to look much harder into the sewage problems.  The three women, part of a community coalition that has grown to more than 40 people who want inspections and assessment of “chronic sewage backup” in homes.  One delegate spoke of their being six sewage backups in one building.  Another said that she had insurance and her claim is going to be paid this time – but she can no longer get insurance.

The delegations wanted:

Inspection and assessment of chronically sewage back up homes.

Careful monitoring of water flow during heavy storms and subsequent emergency roll – out.

100% subsidy for purchase and installation of recommended back-flow valves and sump pumps.  These things come up to close to $6000 installed.

Retroactive payments for residents who have already taken the above measures.

The community wants to hear a lot more from the Region’s Medical Officer of Health – there was no one commenting at all publicly on the health risks.  Where the algae rate in Lake Ontario water reaches a certain level the Region puts out a bulletin.  Where are those people when there is a crisis?

The delegations wanted someone to tell them if certain areas are deemed “sewage back up/flood risks.  There are parts of ward 5 particularly where property owners have come to the conclusion they are not going to be able to sell their homes because of the flooding history.

Mayor Rick Goldring said he had visited more than 100 homes in the past week and reported that more than 2000 homes were reported to the Region`s 311 line.

There is a report that 1052 homes in the city had significant to serious flooding.

Mayor Goldring said about 2% – maybe a bit more of the Burlington population was damaged by the flooding; Councillor Sharman said 650 – 700 of the damaged homes south of the QEW  were in his ward.

The Red Cross is doing a door to door survey of the city and leaving information packages behind.  They will have identification and be wearing red vests.

“Most people have insurance”, said the Mayor “but they don`t have the appropriate insurance.”  As disastrous as the situation is the basement cleanup are going quite quickly.  Goldring said that earlier in the week he could see 11 dumpsters in the line of site from his from door; this morning there were just two.

The Mayors asks everyone – How can we help?   The answer of course is to get funds into the hands of those people who have to buy new refrigerators, new furnaces and freezers plus washers and dryers.

Everyone seems to want to agree that no amount of infrastructure could have handled the rain that fell on the city and everyone agreed that we have not seen the last of the catastrophic weather – but that didn’t do much for the ward 5 residents who believe there is something wrong with the way sewage and storm sewer pipes seem to all run into basements rather than out.

Mention was made of the young pregnant Mother who had to leave the house they lived in because the basement floor was cracking and the structure was deemed to be unsound.  They bought the house two years ago.

Michelle Peronne-Bonavita spoke of the nurse with an autistic child that could not handle the terrible disruption.  “We have found the Region, which is responsible for water and waste treatment to be very dismissive.  We are known as the floodies and we don’t feel the Region has given our problem the recognition we deserve. Bonavita maintains that if the infrastructure was sound and properly put together we wouldn’t have had this kind of damage.

She added that she should get paid by the Region for being a sewage holding tank.  “This is public waste on private property and the problem is worsening.”  Bonavita says she pays the Region $823 a year and wants her money back.

Burlington MPP, Eleanor McMahon talks to media after a Special city council meeting which asked the province to declare the city a disaster area so that provincial funds can flow to the city.

The community that has suffered severe flooding began to be developed 50 years ago and those still around will tell you there have always been flooding problems.  Allan Magi, Director Capital Investment said that some municipalities tie their sewage and storm water pipes together but Burlington doesn’t do that.

Burlington MPP Eleanor McMahon, spoke to city council explaining the procedure the province would follow in getting funds to the city and its citizens.

Counsellor Lancaster wanted to know if the Region had done any upgrades in the community.  There was no one in the room from the Region – they had been invited but didn’t appear.

Joanne Karaiskakis wondered why there could not be some form of “social triage” that looked at every situation on the spot, assessed the damage and made decisions.  During the worst of the storm the city ran a Command Centre and had all the right people close to telephone, but there was no one out in the streets.  The fire department and the gas company tricks were seen when a gas line was left exposed and the smell of gas in the air.

People wanted boots on the ground – and they just didn’t seem to be available.

Boots are beginning to appear at door steps.  The Red Cross has people going door to door collecting information: were you flooded – how bad was the damage and where do you need help?

Mayor Goldring explained that with the motion on its way to the Minister of Municipalities and Housing the city can turn to its next stage which is to get the local Disaster Relief Committee set up.  Collen Mulholland, Executive Director of the Burlington Community Foundation is going to head up that local committee; names of Ron Foxcroft and Keith Strong are being tossed around as members of the committee.  If Strong is on deck – bet on Jim Frizzle being there with him.

It is this committee that will evaluate the need at the really local level – no one better than Mulholland to do this job; smart, sensitive and connected.  She was one of the homes flooded.

The BCF was quick to put $15,000 on the table from the get go – so far though the corporate community hasn’t exactly surpassed itself with generosity.  When Strong is onside – then watch what happens.

Everyone wants to know if enough is being done.  Councillor Sharman asked the Mayor if he could assure him that what is being done now does not constrain what the city can do in the near future.  “No, I cannot” said the Mayor.  The Sandra O’Reilly, Controller and Manager of Financial Services piped in with “the city can do something additional.”

This being an election year – watch for situations where members of council will think of ways to move as much city money as possible to people in their wards – especially four and five.

With the paper work on becoming a disaster area done by the city – people wanted to know: How soon does the province report back?  Acting city manager Scott Stewart explained that it is really important to quantify everything – and we are 98% there.

But no one was able to say with any degree of certainty that there would be cheques in people’s hands by Labour Day?