At the June 12 Anderson City Common Council meeting, residents and councilors said flooding tied to the Shady Run Creek retention pond at Eastside continues to cause property damage and pressed the city to fund an independent survey after the school system refused to pay.

The dispute centers on whether the pond — built to retain runoff from the school’s fields and surrounding development — is large enough. A council member reported that the school district “said no. They've got their own survey saying the retention pond is just fine.” A resident who described repeated flooding and personal property impacts told the council, “They're not gonna do it. We will we will write an ordinance. We will pull 6,400 out of whatever budget we can to pay for this survey. I guess we cannot do that.”

The estimated cost of the independent survey discussed at the meeting was $6,400. Councilors said they cannot reallocate city funds by ordinance and that any city payment would need to come from the administration. A council member outlined two options raised at the meeting: request that the mayor allocate funds during the August budget process, or pursue private fundraising such as a GoFundMe page to pay for the survey now.

Speakers and residents at the meeting also raised that the drainage issue overlaps jurisdictions: school property, county-owned athletic fields and city neighborhoods all route water toward the retention pond. One councilor warned the dispute would likely involve “finger pointing” among the school, county and city if the independent survey shows the pond is undersized.

No formal motion or vote to fund the survey was recorded; councilors said they would pursue further conversations with the mayor and other council members and attempt to identify funding. The council described the next fiscal-budget opportunity to seek funding as in August.

The discussion included detailed first-hand accounts of flooded yards and a resident saying neighbors had begun buying flood insurance or seeing falling property conditions. Councilors and staff said they would follow up with the mayor’s office and the city engineer to determine next steps and funding options.