The flooding mitigation subcommittee of the Local Emergency Planning Committee held its first meeting Thursday in Madison.  The 11-member committee chose Lake County Emergency Management Director Don Thomson as its chairperson.  The group discussed the May 5th flooding event, and talked about its goals and timeline for the committee.  Thomson said it was a good first meeting for the group.



Thomson told the committee that the May flooding did an estimated more than 225-thousand dollars in damages to Lake County as a whole.  He said the main difference in this year’s flooding event versus the flood of 1993 is that this year’s was a more isolated incident, while the 93 flood covered a six-county area. 
Thomson said that the group will meet more often to begin with as it works to put together a plan.



The committee met for nearly two hours Thursday and Thomson asked that the members bring ideas back to their next meeting in September on projects of all sizes that they feel need to be looked at to help with the flood mitigation efforts in the city and county.



Thomson told the group that he’d like to see them come up with some things that can be handled locally by the end of this year, with an end date of the committee set for the end of 2014.  He said funding options will be one of the biggest obstacles facing the group as it moves forward.



Thomson and City Engineer Chad Comes talked about a new program through the state that could offer technical assistance to the project, and that could possibly save money by having a state agency do some of the engineering and hydraulic study work. 
The next meeting of the flooding mitigation subcommittee will be September 20th at 7:00 a.m., also at the 2nd Street Diner in Madison.  Thomson said public input is welcomed.