Kirklin resident details worsening flooding as council OKs stormwater grant application

Jeff Dennis, a Capstone property owner, told the Kirklin Town Council on June 2 that a section of streets in his East Monroe mobile home park has experienced recurrent flooding that intensified in late 2024 and 2025. "My name is Jeff Dennis. My wife Connie and I built a mobile home park on East Monroe in '99," he said, describing floods that left standing water for days — ‘‘in April the street flooded and the water didn't drain away for five days,’’ and in June water stood for nine days and later persisted for more than 50 days in one stretch.

Dennis said a detention pond at the park entrance no longer drains as it once did, leaving stagnant, insect-infested water and flooding yards up to home foundations. He told the council the community complied with county stormwater requirements when it was built and has already given up a lot to accommodate the pond, but now faces repeated disruptions and safety concerns for residents.

Council members and residents discussed prior county diagnostic work. Speakers said a county camera inspection encountered conditions that obscured the line and that the county had instructed its surveyor to diagnose problems but had not completed visible follow-up work. Dennis and others described historical dye tests and possible obstructions or collapsed tile in the county line downstream; they also raised concerns that county maintenance budgets prioritize agricultural drainage and leave limited funds for other town areas.

The council moved and passed Resolution 2026-6-1 to authorize submission of an Office of Community and Rural Affairs Storm Water Grant Planning Program application, which the town said would fund a comprehensive study to produce as-built plans, elevations and flow data for known storm structures. Council members emphasized the study is intended to clarify which segments are town responsibility and which belong to the county; several speakers noted that the $35,000 county contribution discussed at prior meetings was for planning and mapping rather than repairs.

Dennis said he had submitted a letter to the town and urged the council to press the county to ensure that funds and diagnostic work benefit Kirklin residents. Council members asked staff to follow up with county drainage officials and to include the town's as-built findings in any grant application. The council did not authorize repairs under the grant; members said the study would identify needed fixes and responsibilities.

Next steps: the town will submit the planning grant application and await the state program's decision; the study would produce maps and recommendations that could guide future repair funding and actions.