Town council talks floods

Insurance won’t cover a large amount of leftover damage from this summer’s flooding in Chapel Hill, members of the Town Council said at a meeting Monday night.

The estimated cost of repairs for the Chapel Hill Town Hall is $679,576 and insurance will pay $267,092.

The town has asked that the general fund and housing fund balances be used to pay the cost of the projects that will exceed the insurance settlement.

During the repair project, the town will improve to the Town Hall to make it more sustainable. The total cost of the energy efficiency and design improvements is $76,000. Insurance will not cover the costs of the sustainable improvements, which as of yet have not been specifically named.

The town also hopes to move the IT server room and reconfigure the customer service area.

“We are taking advantage of time to refit the Town Hall,” Mayor Mark Kleinschmidtsaid. “We hope to return to normal operations in six to 12 months from now.”

The total cost of repairing homes in the Airport Gardens public housing complex is $445,462 while insurance plans to pay $208,967. The Airport Gardens complex requires extensive repairs, mostly focused on mold remediation.

Hotel accommodations have been provided for families of the apartments affected by the flood, and they will begin to re-occupy apartments as certificates of occupancy are received.

The work at Airport Gardens is expected to be completed by Sept. 30.

Chapel Hill Town Manager Roger Stancil said the next step is to figure out what caused the flood damage. He said he plans to find ways to prevent future flood damage, which would require more funding.

Deputy Chief Robert Bosworth the town’s emergency management coordinator, said there was nothing the town could have done differently to handle the situation.

“One thing we are all shocked by is how long it has taken to recover from the tragedy,” Bosworth said. “It doesn’t solve itself within just a few months.”

Council member Donna Bell said she recognizes the hundreds of people who are dealing with the destruction and loss that happened because of the flood.

“But I am so happy that we are a town that is fiscally ready to take on this event and help citizens of Chapel Hill get their life back together,” Bell said.

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