Committee recommends $5,000 settlement for homeowner after water-main break flooded basement

The Judiciary & Legislation Committee recommended a $5,000 settlement on a $16,450 property-damage claim brought by Edward Holmes after a Jan. 20, 2025 water-main break flooded his basement at 3723 W. Stark St.

Sewer services manager Jason Sanders and city staff described the incident timeline: the department received a first citizen call at 7:36 p.m., supervisors were on scene within roughly 20 minutes, and crews faced frozen gate valves and icy conditions that slowed access to valve shutoffs. Sanders said the water pressure from the broken main forced water into the sanitary manhole and into the building lateral, which allowed water to back into Holmes’s basement before crews could isolate the break. City representatives said they responded within standard times given extreme winter conditions, and investigators found no evidence of negligence by the utility.

Holmes (represented at the hearing by his son, Carl Holmes) described damage that included three furnaces and three hot-water tanks and posted photographs supporting the claim. Committee members debated whether the city’s response time under extreme weather constituted negligence. One member argued that because the utility fund (water works) would pay any award from rates rather than the general fund, there was a stronger case to offer a settlement to a ratepayer who had demonstrable loss.

After a divided discussion, a motion to settle the claim for $5,000 passed (committee vote 3–1). The committee chair said the recommendation will be forwarded to the full Common Council on June 24, 2025 for final action; if the council approves the settlement, the city attorney’s office will contact the claimant for release paperwork.