By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

When it rains there’s one thing on a lot of Bucyrus residents’ minds: what’s going to be done about the sewer back-up issues in the city?

That is exactly what Dale Gingery asked in a letter address to the Bucyrus City Council Tuesday night. Gingery, who was unable to attend the meeting, lives on Prospect St., which is a notorious area for sewer back-up issues. His family purchased the house in 2006 with the intention to later sell it. Due to the difficult economy and falling property values, they couldn’t afford to move. He first had sewer back-up issues in 2007 and it has continued several times a year since then.

Gingery’s letter in its entirety can be found at the bottom of this article.

Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner said he has talked with Gingery about the issue. He added that they have gone out there to videotape the problem but there was no blockage and it had good flow at the time.

Wagner followed up on the issue by contacting the city’s insurance company, who then sent out a representative to look in to the problem. That representative, Wagner stated, recommended that Gingery put in a back flow valve to alleviate the issue.

“It isn’t that we ignored it but that was the direction I was told to take,” Wagner said. “The bigger issue as everything comes this way . . . it’s bringing more water to us every day.”

He added that a multitude of factors, from pipes that aren’t big enough to more hard and paved surfaces in the city, add up to a lot of different issues.

“It takes time and it takes money,” Wagner said.

The Buffalo Creek project will be underway soon but Wagner noted that it will be a 10-year project. Buffalo Creek runs under Prospect St. and will hopefully help matters in that area.

Councilman Steve Pifer asked if there was any way for the city to help out the residents in this matter and requested that the issue be put into the Platting Committee for further discussion.

Tuesday night was the first official day on the job for newly sworn in Mayor Jeff Reser (the corresponding swearing in story can be found on our website). Though he wasn’t faced with a barrage of questions from councilmembers, which he was thankful for, Reser was ready to tackle any problems that came his way.

“It is certainly an honor,” Reser said. “Lots of emotions have been flowing from me for quite a while.”

Reser pledged to have an open door and open phone for residents to contact him. He also started a mayoral Twitter account.

“I’m up to two followers already,” Reser said excitedly to a roomful of chuckles.

Reser said he will be using the account for announcements and breaking news. His Twitter handle is @MayorJeffReser.

Though four pieces of legislation were up for consideration Tuesday night, only three made it through. Those there pieces of legislation were:

  • Ordinance 24-2014, which establishes compensation for non-union employees.
  • Ordinance 26-2014, which creates a new Object General Government Category within the CDBG 2011 Fund subparagraph
  • Ordinance 27-2014, which appropriates $1,120 to Contractual Services within the General Government within the CDBG 2011 Fund

A manpower ordinance concerning compensation for non-union supervisors died on the floor. Councilman Bruce Truka requested that the ordinance be put back in to the Finance Committee for further discussion.

There will be a public meeting regarding gas aggregation for city residents at 4:30 p.m. on July 9 in Council Chambers of Bucyrus City Hall.

Below is a copy of the letter presented to Council (the letter was provided to Crawford County Now by Gingery).

Dear City Council,

I would like to start by saying I am sorry I cannot make it in person, due to the hours I work. I want to also say thank you for listening to my letter. I am writing in concern to the ongoing sewer back up in my basement and many others on Prospect Street. This has been an ongoing problem of mine since 2007. We had purchased the house in 2006 in the hopes to improve it and move on. But due to the economy that was not possible when house values went down. My wife and I have worked very hard to build a life we can both be proud of. We just had our first child in April, and we both want a city he can grow up and be proud to say he came from. At this point in time I’m ashamed to say I live in Bucyrus. Home values are very poor, people don’t work, and it seems that some of the people we voted into office have only run so you can tell others look at me.

With that said I will get to my point. In 2007 our house had sewer backup for the first time, Along with the better part of the city. I grew up on Prospect and in my years we never had water in our house.   The first time I understood that it was a major rain event. But after that it happened sever times a year every year since. Every time I call the Police department or the mayor’s office. With all the calls I keep hearing the same “thing it’s not our problem”, or “we are working to fix the problem”. I have been in contact with every mayor since Mr. Ross. Every time no one seems to care. I know that Mr. Ross and Mr. Seavers were trying to work to figure the problem out. Past that I have only been sent to the city insurance company. All I could get out of them is that the city cannot be held responsible.

I think as the elected people we have chosen you need to figure out the problem, and proved the tax payers with a date this can and will be completed. We as a community need to look at the areas with the biggest problem first. You need to ask the question where we have this happening the most. In my opinion its common sense to start in those areas and work your way down. If the elected cannot get this done we must find people who can. I will make it my point to make sure the community is informed of my feeling on this.

So I ask please stop wasting our tax money on things that are not fixing our problems, and start making a change in this community. We have taken huge steps in the right direction but it seems something’s have stalled under your leadership.

Thank you for your time:

Dale Gingery

PS. Please read at the council meeting. If anyone would like to contact me feel free too.