County officials said they have attempted to help her, but she put a stop to their work.
Georgia Bartek said she has spent the past nine years living in fear of water flooding her home, which is at the bottom of a hill on State Highway 53. Numerous pictures she has taken show water flooding her front and back yards as well as covering her driveway and flooding neighboring fields.
Mrs. Bartek, who has lived in her house for 38 years, contends the flooding began after the county built a low–water crossing in the Elm Creek subdivision behind her house.
“All of it comes directly toward my property,” Mrs. Bartek said about the runoff. “There’s nothing worse than when this monster comes at night.”
When that happens she said she remains awake in fear, worrying each time if the water would enter her house, as it has her garage and shed.
“I’ve dipped water out of this garage at 1 o’clock in the morning, 3 o’clock in the morning and 6 o’clock in the morning,” she said.
When her property floods, she said it can take a day for the water to drain off.
“I’m just tired of it, tired of it,” she said. “I’m scared even to live here, but I have no other place to go.”
County Engineer Richard Macchi said the flooding problems have remained the same for much longer than nine years.
“It’s the same problem they’ve always had,” he said. “They’re absolutely getting the same water they were getting in ’85 or ’87.”
The subdivision was built during the 1970s and accepted into the county road system in 1984. When it was built the developers didn’t have to file a drainage plan.
“Basically it’s a plat with a little bit of drainage showed on it,” Macchi said as he displayed the document showing lot and culvert locations. “Now, if they were doing the development above Mrs. Bartek, they would have to do a detention pond. Detention ponds weren’t even thought of in the ’70s. The idea was to let it drain naturally.”
In 1987, county officials decided to address flooding problems occurring in the subdivision and lower down the hill, including Mrs. Bartek’s property. As part of the drainage improvements, Macchi said the county did lower a low–water crossing but that wouldn’t have caused problems for the Barteks.
Mrs. Bartek’s husband signed a letter of permission and temporary easement on Feb. 11, 1987, to allow the county to excavate a shallow drainage ditch from Little Elm Loop to allow for better drainage in the area, including the Barteks’ property.
When county employees began work on Mrs. Bartek’s property, Macchi said she wouldn’t allow it and made them refill in their excavation work.
Mrs. Bartek said her husband was sick and she was not present when he signed the easement paperwork.
“If I’d been here he’d have not signed it - not until we come to an agreement money-wise,” she said.
Macchi said technically the county shouldn’t do the work on private land.
“It’s just another one of the things of trying to help somebody,” he said. “Back in ’87 when we tried to help them things were a little looser.”
In a Jan. 23, 2007, letter County Attorney Rick Miller wrote to Mrs. Bartek, he explained that the county couldn’t legally help.
“State law requires county commissioners to address drainage problems only when caused by a county–maintained road, which is not the situation here,” he wrote. “Your flooding is being created by land upstream, not the county–maintained road. Legally, it is questionable that the county can again construct a drainage ditch, since the Texas Constitution forbids a county from taking actions with taxpayer funding that benefit a private person.”
He suggested Mrs. Bartek seek private contractors to resolve the problem.
Macchi said the county has been in talks with the Texas Department of Transportation about what can be done for Mrs. Bartek.
“They agreed there’s nothing we can do except what we tried to do in ’87,” he said. “The state has agreed to enlarge the size of the culvert under her driveway to help the water flow better. If the state goes in and fixes the culvert and we don’t do anything water will still back up around her house.”
jsicking@temple-telegram.com
