EDGEWATER, Fla. — After hearing allegations from residents that Edgewater’s city engineer retaliated against certain people by shutting off two de-watering pumps that they say contributed to flooding their homes, the city council voted for a third-party investigation into his alleged actions.
Residents in Edgewater are urging city officials to get the ball rolling to address short-term and long-term plans for flood mitigation in their city.
They’re calling on city officials to address the ongoing problem which caused many houses there to flood during Hurricane Milton.
During Monday’s city council meeting, which was the first following hurricane Milton, residents claimed that City Engineer Randy Coslow retaliated against certain residents.
Multiple residents accused Coslow of shutting off two de-watering pumps, located West of Duck Lake and on 18th Street canal across Riverside Drive, hours before they were supposed to be turned off, which they say contributed to flooding in their homes.
In response to residents’ claims, Councilwoman for District 1 Charlotte Gillis called for a third-party investigation to be launched into Coslow’s actions.
Gilli made a motion during Monday’s city council meeting to launch an investigation into claims that Coslow was retaliating against residents. It was a consensus that city commissioners collectively agreed to vote on.
“The complaints that they feel that they were targeted is very concerning and I think that full transparence would be to have a third party and investigate that,” says Gillis.
This follows claims from multiple residents that Coslow was responsible for shutting off two de-watering pumps, located West of Duck Lake and on 18th Street canal across Riverside Drive, hours before they were supposed to be turned off.
Many residents told city commissioners that they believe this contributed to flooding of their homes during Hurricane Milton.
Edgewater’s Public Information Officer, Jill Danigel told Spectrum News in a written statement that “Environmental Services suspended pumping Duck Lake prior to the severe weather to allow the downstream collection system time to effectively recover enough to serve the oncoming event.”
The city also adding that “widespread flooding occurred in the area around Duck Lake, which required until Friday afternoon to recede. Once the streets were passable in the surrounding area, crews resumed pumping Duck Lake to relieve the flooding in Gaslight Square on Friday afternoon 10/11. This was discontinued on Saturday night 10/12 as the roads in Gaslight Square were dry and passable. Crews resumed pumping Duck Lake on Monday 10/14 to help bring a more timely end to the ongoing sanitary sewer overflows that were occurring in the neighborhood due to flooded yards generating inflow into the sewers. Pumping ended on Wednesday 10/16 after no further storm impacts were observed.”
As for the second de-watering pump located on 18th Street canal across Riverside Drive, Danigel says crews began pumping “on Thursday 10/10 to expedite recovery from flooded homes and impassable streets in the canal's service area. Crews discontinued pumping on Friday 10/11 when all streets within the service area (except Gaslight Square) were dry and passable.”
On Monday, Interim City Manager Jeffrey Thurman told Spectrum News that when it comes to the de-watering pumps, the city was learning from its mistakes.
“This is the first time the city has pumped stormwater prior to a storm so we learned a lot of things,” said Thurman.
But Wellendorf says that if the city doesn’t make drastic changes, then he fears it could become a case of us versus them down the line.
“It’s the little people that are trying to live their lives and enjoy it and work and have something that are losing their stuff against the people that don’t care because all they look forward to is the money,” explains Wellendorf, an Edgewater resident for the past 28 years.
Danigel wants residents to know that many city officials are also in the same boat when it comes to flooding.
She says she wants people to know that city officials truly care about its residents and is doing the best it can to find permanent solutions to this ongoing issue.
The next city council meeting in Edgewater is set to take place on Monday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m.
A family history gone
Before Hurricane Ian, Edgewater resident Mike Wellendorf says his garage was completely empty.
Now, most of his belongings are stacked up on shelves in his garage to protect them from flooding, since the inside of his home was completely damaged after Ian.
“Every time somebody in the family would pass away, I’d make sure that I’d get all the history stuff and bring it home because I knew if I didn’t, it’d disappear. Now guess what, it’s all gone anyway. The flood, Ian, took all of that,” says Wellendorf.
Wellendorf is nearing retirement and among many residents in Edgewater, he is putting up a fight because he doesn’t want to spend his golden years living in these circumstances any longer.
“These developments are killing us. You can’t continue to do the development at the expense of other people that they don’t care about,” adds Wellendorf.
He says the only reason the inside of his home did not flood during Milton was because of the collective cleanup efforts from both neighbors and certain city council members before the storm.