City receives $61,000 in FEMA funds for 2018 flood

The City of Port Washington has received $61,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay for some of its expenses after the Aug. 28, 2018, flooding.

The money, which was received by the city last week, is reimbursement for debris removal following the flooding, Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said.

Vanden Noven recommended the money be put toward sidewalk maintenance, but the Finance and License Committee suggested putting the money toward flood mitigation efforts, particularly work on the Larabee Street stormwater retention pond, Ald. Jonathan Pleitner said.

“We thought it was premature to allocate the money for sidewalk maintenance,” he said.

Vanden Noven said the idea of allocating the money for flood mitigation measures is a good one, but he asked that the Common Council not make a decision on the funds until the cost of the projects is in.

He also asked that the council consider putting at least $10,000 toward sidewalk maintenance to restart the program.

Ald. Mike Gasper told the council that the $61,000 is “the amount we should be spending annually on sidewalk maintenance. In the last three or four years, we haven’t spent a penny.”

Vanden Noven disagreed, noting that the city has been spending between $20,000 and $100,000 annually through the street replacement program. 

Mayor Marty Becker, however, drew a distinction between sidewalk maintenance and the city’s policy of adding sidewalks where there is none when streets in the city are rebuilt.

“If sidewalks are so important, we should be spending money on fixing them,” he said. “But there’s a difference between maintenance and ... construction.”

Aldermen took no action on how to spend the money.