Posted on January 30, 2018
By Karen Butterfield, emissourian.com
City Administrator Russell Rost and City Engineer Jonathan Zimmermann have been tapped to serve on a lower Meramec Basin flood plain management plan committee.
Rost said that after the 2017 flood, he attended several meetings in Jefferson City with the Army Corps of Engineers, the State Emergency Management Agency and others regarding mitigation to reduce damage from future floods.
At that time, Rost explained, the Bourbeuse River was not to be a part of the plan but has since been added.
Zimmermann said representatives from Franklin County and the city of Union were requested now that the Bourbeuse River is included in the study. The committee will be composed of 25 members.
According to a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Corps has been working with its headquarters and congressional offices to get federal funding to assist in a management plan.
Now, the interagency proposal has been selected and federal funding received to proceed with the study.
Officials with expertise in several key areas were requested, including those with experience in: building department/code enforcement, engineering, land use planning/zoning, public works, emergency management/public safety, public information, environmental protection/public health, parks/recreation, city manager or council member and housing/community development.
Shawn Sullivan, a strategic planning coordinator with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in a letter to officials the plan is important because it provides the region with a flood risk assessment and reduction strategies that consider all possible mitigation alternatives to reduce future flood hazards and the consequences of such flooding.
Additionally, the plan will assist in identifying and prioritizing resources to reduce flood risk and where those resources might come from.
The plan will involve an interactive process with stakeholders, the public and community leaders and will help build public and political support for activities and projects and a consistuency that wants to see the plan’s recommendations implemented.
The board of aldermen will be asked to approve a resolution establishing participation and committee members.
Source: emissourian.com
