HAVERHILL — A massive flood downtown would have little or no effect on the city's drinking water. But if the Merrimack River jumped its banks and covered the area with water, that would devastate municipal sewer and storm water systems, city officials said last night.
That's the rationale behind a compromise struck last night between Mayor James Fiorentini and the City Council over how to pay for a federally mandated study of the 76-year-old flood wall that protects downtown from the river.
Regulators have warned they will not certify the flood wall if the city does not complete the study and any required repairs or improvements by May 20. That could cause huge increases in insurance for about 40 property owners, mainly merchants with businesses on the riverbank, city officials have said.
The agreement reached last night calls for using $44,000 from an account funded primarily by residential and commercial sewer bills to pay for the study. The find is used to renovate pipes that carry both sewage and storm water. Regulations require separate pipes for sewage and storm water.
Councilors initially wanted to use money from an account reserved for drinking water projects for the study, but city lawyers said that would be illegal because the structure is not integral to the city's drinking water system. The lawyers said the wall does protect sewer infrastructure, however.
The mayor and council have been haggling over how to pay for the study for months. Fiorentini wanted to borrow money for the work, while the council has insisted the city pay cash.
After last night's vote, public works Director Michael Stankovich said the study might begin as soon as today. He said the city is already behind schedule, but Fiorentini recently said the firm doing the work is confident it can finish the study by the deadline as long as it begins it this week.
The study will determine whether the structure is sound and whether it needs to be raised with flashboards that would be installed on top of the concrete structure, Stankovich said. Inspectors will begin by examining "every inch of the flood wall by boat," he said.
The study is only the first step in meeting the federal directive. Fiorentini said regulators will likely force the city to make up to $300,000 in improvements by the same May deadline.
Prior to the vote last night, Councilor David Hall, who led the fight against the mayor's proposal to borrow money for the study, fired back at Fiorentini for his prior comments that Hall and Councilor Michael Young "put the city and downtown property owners at needless risk" by delaying the study.
"I didn't play political games," Hall said. "(Councilor) Young showed me how we could do the study without (borrowing) so I voted to postpone to find out if we could pay for it in another way. ... He's a politician, and I'm a public servant," Hall said of the mayor.
Young blamed Fiorentini for the delay, but he also gave the mayor some credit for finally compromising.
Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien said the council played its role in the matter.
"The council is elected to balance what the mayor wants to do," she said. "People expect us to weigh in on public safety and how public money is being spent. It takes all nine of us and negotiations and compromise. I never take it personally."
The mayor said the Army Corps of Engineers will probably require the city to add 2 or 3 feet of flashboards to the flood wall so that its height will be well above that of a 100-year flood. That will cost $200,000 to $300,000, he said.
Fiorentini said he met last week with federal officials who told him the flood wall's condition is "minimally acceptable." He said he will seek help from the federal government to cover the cost, but that for now, Haverhill must begin the study.
The wall extends for 2,200 feet along the Merrimack River, between the Basiliere and Comeau bridges. It has an average height of 18 feet, according to Stankovich, and is about 3 feet wide.
The structure was built after the flood of 1936 put downtown under water.
• • •
Join the discussion. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.
Details in terror plot revealed
Red Sox players, fans react to the epic collapse
Buy Shonda Schilling's clothes for a good cause
Sox fans feeling let down again
