Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County is accepting no legal liability but it has offered residents of a Murray subdivision hit with flash flood last month 50 cents on dollar as a consideration for their losses.
The County Council voted Tuesday to appropriate $180,000 to pay homeowners as well as cover the cost of hiring an adjuster to review residents' claims. Any person who receives the money would be required to sign a document releasing Salt Lake County from any further claims.
The county's legal counsel believes ... the county is not legally liable for damage experienced by residents of the Walden Glen subdivision. However, the council felt a moral obligation to attempt to assist the residents.
Councilman David Wilde said the county's legal counsel believes that under governmental immunity laws, the county is not legally liable for damage experienced by residents of the Walden Glen subdivision. However, the council felt a moral obligation to attempt to assist the residents.
"We're trying to balance how to do that," Wilde said.
Some Walden Glen residents seemed pleased with the outcome although some are concerned that the full scope of the damages is not yet known.
"Six (homeowners) haven't done their claims yet," said resident Cheryl Leithead, a spokeswoman for the residents.
Damage to some homes had exceeded $75,000, she said.
"If the total amount ends up being significantly less than that (the money appropriated by the county council) and they drop that down to 30 to 40 percent, I think people will have a problem with that," said Doug Hut, another resident and group spokesman.
Patrick Leary, the county's public works director, said residents have until Aug. 24 to file claims and until Aug. 31 to file supplemental information.
Some of the residents asked Leary whether the County Council would revisit the issue once the final claims have been submitted. "I don't think so. I think they made their decision on this. I think the council was pretty clear about saying this is what the deal is," Leary said.
Wilde said the offer would also be extended to people who have flood insurance, who were few in number. "The idea is, we don't want to penalize people for having insurance," he said.
Earlier, the County Council had approved one-time grants of $2,000 each to assist the residents, whose homes, autos and personal property were hit with a wall of water and debris during a flash flood on July 26. The storm occurred as the contractor hired by the county was in the finishing stages of repairs to a nearby culvert, which meant the pipe did not function to capacity.
Some residents have claimed that the county's response to repair to storm drain was slow. According to the county's timeline of events, the initial telephone call to the county reporting that water was coming out the storm drain was placed May 29.
----
Written by Marjorie Cortez with contributions from Alex Cabrero.
