Why Officials Did What They Did During The Flood
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| Kevin Gribble |
| 3/31/2009 |
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| Now that the Missouri River water has receded from last week`s levels, some people in Bismarck and Mandan are questioning how city and county leaders handled the crisis. Some accuse officials of engaging in class warfare by giving extra help to the Fox Island and Southport areas because those houses are more expensive. Nonsense, officials say. "We do not make a selection of one neighborhood over another," says Bismarck City Commissioner Connie Sprynczynatyk. The city and county say the first priority is to make sure everyone is physically safe. Next up is trying to ensure the least amount of damage to property. Nothing else gets factored in. Once the waters receded, some accused officials of sending inspection crews to more affluent areas first instead of the mobile homes at Skyway Park. Without the okay from inspectors, residents could not return home. Officials say it was just a matter of accessibility. "We simply couldn`t get in, so our inspections crews simply went where they could get first," explains Sprynczynatyk. "And I concur with that because I took phone calls from Fox Island residents mad because they were in Southport first, but that`s just what opened up first," adds Burleigh County Commissioner Jim Peluso. Other residents from the Bridgeport area have accused the city of closing the floodgate to protect Fox Island and Southport while putting the Bridgeport area in danger. Bismarck City Administrator Bill Wocken notes, "Fox Island and Southport were flooded with river water, and that water never got to the inside of the city because of that flood gate." Officials say Bridgeport and Skyway Park were flooded because of melting snow and a backed-up storm water system. They say closing the flood gates prevented the problem from getting worse. "I think we all had better be realistic and understand that we cannot make everybody happy in this situation," says Sprynczynatyk. Officials say they plan to go back and study what happened last week to see what could be done differently if a similar situation ever happens again. |
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