Letter writers inaccurate about city decisions

This letter is in response to two recent letters to the editor regarding levee maintenance.

Those letters failed to provide adequate context and contained a number of inaccurate statements. The levees in the city of Bonners Ferry were largely constructed prior to Libby Dam.

The levee construction was a cooperative agreement between the city of Bonners Ferry, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) and the property owners. T

he purpose of the levees is to protect all of the citizens in the low-lying areas of Bonners Ferry from direct flooding.

Many of these levees were constructed on private property with an agreement, documented in easements, that the city would construct and maintain a levee and the property owner would provide access for maintenance, would not install structures on the levee, and allow the city to remove any trees and vegetation on the levees appropriate for maintenance of these levees.

The levees in Bonners Ferry are maintained under a cost-share program with USACE whereby the city performs the routine maintenance to national standards and receives technical assistance and hundreds of thousands of dollars of assistance from USACE.

The national levee maintenance standards are designed to maximize the safety of communities.

Following are the issues that the city has with letters to the editor in the Nov. 1 edition of the Herald:

The dikes in the city limits are in the Army Corps of Engineers PL-84-99 program, which dictates dike maintenance standards.

The city has received hundreds of thousands of dollars of assistance from the Corps over the last decade from this program to maintain the dikes; assistance that benefits all of the citizens of Bonners Ferry.

In 2011, the Army Corps notified the city that the tree house built by Mr. Albright and Ms. Dancer was in violation of those standards.

The Corps requested that the tree be removed unless an alternative proposal that was acceptable to the Corps was submitted by Mr. Albright.

The Corps required that the proposal be developed by an engineer. Mr. Albright never submitted such a proposal to the city or the Corps.

The Army Corps never approved the treehouse to be “moved to poles.” They said they would consider it if an adequate written proposal was submitted.

No such proposal was ever submitted by Mr. Albright.

There are two dike easements on Mr. Albright and Ms Dancer’s property.

Structures on the dike are prohibited and the city has the right to remove any vegetation on the dike and to perform dike maintenance.

The city had the lot line surveyed and found that the treehouse tree was on the city street right- of-way.

Additionally, Mr. Albright’s fence and garage also encroach on the street right-of-way.

The city had the treehouse and trees removed to remain in the Army Corps maintenance program and to reduce the risk of a levee failure.

The city’s interest is to all of our citizens and that must be balanced with the desires of an individual property owner.

The cost to the city taxpayer to have Mr. Albright’s treehouse and trees removed exceeded $2,500. Additionally, city staff spent more than 100 hours over the last year on the issue, time that could have been put to more productive uses.

Mr. Albright’s assertion that the city employees and attorney at a recent Planning and Zoning hearing have combined salaries of $400,000 is absolutely false.

The statement that due to city mismanagement, there was $79,000 debt incurred in 2011 is absolutely false.

In 2011 expenditures exceeded revenues by $79,000.

This was accounted for in the fund balance, but no debt was incurred and, as documented in the annual audit, there was no mismanagement of funds.

The Army Corps’ dike maintenance program does not dictate the height of the levees.

The appropriate height of the levees is not a simple answer.

A levee constructed without adequate height is obviously bad, but a levee constructed at too great a height can reduce the stability of a levee. The optimum height is location dependent and ultimately a judgment decision based on the best current information.

Currently the 500-year flood level is 1,775 feet, most of the levees are constructed to 1,785 feet, and the historic peak river level prior to Libby Dam in 1961 and 1956 was 1,780 feet.

Currently the lowest point protecting the area around the Fry Auditorium is Arizona Street at a minimum elevation of 1,777 feet.

The Albright’s tree house did pose a risk to the integrity of the levees, based on the Army Corps dike maintenance standards and on two separate inspections by Army Corps engineers.

Levee heights and other levee issues have been part of the city’s discussion for over a century and they been discussed numerous times over the past year during city council meetings.

The letter referred to by Ms. Dancer in her letter is available on the city’s web site (http://bonnersferry.id.gov/) as part of the information packet for the October 22, 2012 Council meeting.

Finally, all of the matters discussed in the letters were policies determined by the myself and city council after deliberations in public session and city staff implemented those policies as directed.