GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – From last spring’s big thaw that sent the East River into homes and streets to torrential downpours that have damaged east side businesses and vehicles, city of Green Bay elected leaders and employees say they’re trying to find a fix for the recent flooding.
“They are looking at engineering studies,” said Alder Barbara Dorff. “They certainly understand what areas of the city need assistance.”
To focus on the issue, Mayor Eric Genrich tells FOX 11 he wants to create a job called the coordinator of city resilience. The salary hasn’t been determined, but it would be 75 percent funded through grants and 25 percent through the stormwater utility.
“(The employee) would have major responsibilities as far as making sure we are well equipped to fight the flooding that we have seen in recent days and also work on other related sustainability efforts.”
Dorff tells FOX 11 the position would also look for and write grant applications to provide the city more money to fight flooding.
“I think those are all things we really need and there is funding available because there’s been flooding in so many places.”
Many residents were critical of the city’s response when the major flooding hit last spring, forcing many people out of their homes.
Genrich says the new position will work with public works to ensure the city is proactive, hoping to have a better response if there’s ever a repeat event.
“A lot of forward-looking things, a lot of planning opportunities. We’ve talked a lot about green infrastructure planning. Just trying to get a handle on what our environment can actually do for us in terms of having green space work for us to reduce runoff and flooding.”
While the coordinator’s salary won’t affect the city tax levy, it will be voted on as part of the budget on November 5th.
