EC County hears flood claim

Sept. 21--Frustrated they couldn't do more to help a town of Washington family recover from basement flooding that followed a nearby road project, Eau Claire County Board supervisors opted to give the Adkinses as much time as legally possible to sue the county.

Apparently without the ability to pay the claim brought by Brandon and Desiree Adkins on Tuesday night, supervisors voted 17-9 to give the couple up to six years to file a lawsuit instead of six months.

"I can't believe we're forcing our individual citizens to personally sue the county for something we did to their property," Supervisor Heather DeLuka said.

She was among supervisors who visited Brandon and Desiree Adkins' home, and DeLuka said the roadway now appears higher than the home's first floor and a culvert had been filled in.

"We basically put them in a hole," she said.

After Deerfield Road, also called Highway II, was raised and a culvert filled next to their home, their yard and basement flooded on April 1 and June 15. Brandon Adkins estimated water was gushing into the house at a rate of 60 gallons per hour.

"We feel very strongly that our situation is a very clear cause-and-effect situation," Desiree Adkins told the County Board. "We've never had any flooding in our basement for 40-plus years."

The Adkinses bought the home in January 2015, but previous owners told them that flooding had not been a problem.

The couple recently retained attorney Jessica Polakowski of Milwaukee-based law firm Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, who told the County Board that settling the claim would be cheaper than going to court.

"If you act to disallow the claim, there will almost certainly be a lawsuit," she said, adding that would add attorney's fees and potentially other costs.

County attorney Keith Zehms said that regardless of how supervisors voted Tuesday night, there still could be negotiations between the county, its insurance carrier and the Adkins family.

"Either option does not preclude any negotiation between the parties regarding settlement of the claim," he said.

Several supervisors expressed a desire Tuesday to pay the Adkinses' claim for $66,800 for costs tied to flooding damage to their home and measures to prevent future flooding.

"In my opinion you can't, and the reason is you don't have a process to do that," Zehms said.

He noted that the County Board has no procedure in place for holding a due process hearing.

Supervisor Brandon Buchanan also advised his colleagues that they should not get into quasi-judicial hearings, citing his experience with one as a former Eau Claire city councilman as "cumbersome."

"This body should not become a judicial body," he said.

Vice Chairwoman Colleen Bates said a court hearing would be the best place for the Adkins family to present their case.

"I'm in favor of letting the discovery take place to make sure this family will have the opportunity to present their damages, their case and their expert witnesses in order to prepare not just for what's happened now, but for what's to come," she said.

Numerous supervisors voiced frustration because they felt their hands were tied and wanted to help the family more.

"This is really strange and unsatisfying," Supervisor Mike Conlin said. "It's really unfortunate we can't make them whole as soon as we can."

--County staff are meeting with contractors in coming weeks to prepare for the Jan. 1 start of a living wage ordinance that requires them to pay their employees at least $11.68 an hour for services done on behalf of the county.

Contact: 715-833-9204, andrew.dowd@ecpc.com, @ADowd_LT on Twitter

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