A Bloomington attorney says he wants the City of Bloomington to pay $310,000 to 10 storm damage victims following early summer flooding or he will take them to court.
Will Mahrt has sent what he calls a proposed settlement to the city. Mahrt said the homeowners have faced financial losses of between $10,000 and $75,000 each, primarily due to raw sewage flooding their homes and basements following heavy rains June 25-26.
Mahrt said his settlement proposal only includes property damages and does not include secondary expenses, such as lost wages or pain and suffering. He suggested a lawsuit could cost the city much more. “I think that would be a reasonable inference,” Mahrt said.
Residents in several of the city’s older communities have voiced frustration to the city council and administration over its aging under-the-ground infrastructure, which includes miles of combined sewer lines that backed up following the storms.
Any settlement would have to be approved by the city council. The council has discussed financial relief to affected homeowners, but City Manager Tim Gleason has urged the council against such a response, calling it a “bad precedent” and suggesting the direct payments may not even be legal.
“The position the city is expected to take is we are in a defensible position, as I have communicated behind the scenes and publicly, really no difference,” Gleason said Tuesday.
The Bloomington City Council on Monday narrowly voted against a plan to provide direct local aid to affected residents and instead supported a plan to have residents exhaust all other funding options while the city further explores what a direct aid program might look like. All options city staff presented to the council say the city is not liable for any damages to residents’ properties.
When asked about Mahrt’s request for payment, Gleason told WGLT the city cannot be held responsible for damages following a natural disaster.
“As difficult as that might be to hear, I want to make sure I’m all but certain in what I am saying. More important than me is I want to make sure my elected officials are on firm ground when they’ve got their city managers based on staff recommendations is saying this,” Gleason said.
Mahrt said he believes the likelihood of any direct payments for damages from the city rests with the council, which to this point has split on the issue. “I don’t have a lot of hope for a staff recommendation to the council,” Mahrt said. “I’ve got a lot more hope that the council will take the reins and decide that a settlement is appropriate despite a staff recommendation.”
Mahrt said the residents’ legal claims bypasses the issue about whether direct payments can be made. He said the city has an obligation to pay legal claims from its residents. The city has resisted, arguing the storms that caused the damage are extremely rare and unavoidable.
Mahrt said residents’ flood damages have less to do with the heavy rains and more to do with the city’s infrastructure.
“That argument is based on this Act of God defense. The Act of God defense has nothing to do with sanitary sewage. There is no Act of God that produces sanitary sewage,” Mahrt said.
SBA loans
Some city residents have also explored emergency loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration. City council member Mollie Ward, who has led the campaign for direct aid, has said some property owners were denied because they don’t make enough money. The SBA’s deadline to apply for loans to cover physical damages has passed. Residents have until April 26, 2022, to apply for apply for economic recovery assistance.
SBA said it has approved nearly $1.4 million in loans to affected home and business owners. It approved 36 of 73 loan requests that have been processed so far, while three applicants are still being processed. SBA also approved one business loan for $23,400 from the eight applicants it received, according to SBA public affairs specialist Janel Finley.
Mahrt said he had talked with other Bloomington homeowners whose damages total several hundred thousand dollars. He said he is giving the city until Jan. 1 to respond to his request.
