Published: August 21, 2008 11:50 pm      

No resolution reached in mediation over Watson-area stormwater damage

FAIRMONT — A mediation session between the city and two Watson-area residents was held earlier this week to discuss legal matters concerning flooding that occurred at their homes last summer.

Fairfield Lane neighbors Stormy and Rodd Brotosky and Johnny Nestor are seeking legal restitution from the City of Fairmont to cover damages that resulted from a severe rainstorm that blew through the area in July 2007.

The property owners claim that the stormwater system installed in the area was faulty and caused their basements to flood during the storm, creating significant damages to their homes and possessions.

City Utilities Manager Dave Sago said during the sanitary sewer board’s monthly meeting Thursday that 1.77 inches of rain fell in less than an hour during the storm, and about 30 homes in the Watson area were affected.

Only Brotosky and Nestor are seeking compensation, though, and Sago said the city’s insurance carrier, St. Paul Traveler’s, is handling the cases. Sago said the first mediation session was held Tuesday and lasted about six or seven hours, but no resolution was reached.

And while Sago and members of the sanitary sewer board sympathize with the residents affected by the storm, they do not believe there is a lot the city can do for them.

“We can’t solve everyone’s problems and pay everyone’s damages on everything that happens,” City Manager Jim Snider said.

Sago added that the city has not received any complaints about the stormwater system in the area since that storm and that it seemed to have been working properly when the severe weather hit.

“It is tough to design stormwater systems with that type of flow,” Sago said. “There is no indication that the system didn’t work well.”

Sago said discussions on the cases are ongoing and that additional mediation will likely be scheduled in the future to come to a resolution with the property owners.

E-mail Mallory Panuska at mpanuska@timeswv.com.