Congressman Joe Donnelly and Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter look over the property around Garro and River streets in downtown Plymouth. Pilot Photo/Carol Anders

By Carol Anders Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — Ironically, Congressman Joe Donnelly presented a check Monday to the city of Plymouth that is intended to aid in future flood mitigation efforts . Donnelly said the grant is not in reaction to the flooding that occurred over the last several days, but rather from an application submitted in October of 2007.
“As we saw last week, flooding can be disastrous. I support anything we can do to prevent it from happening in the future,” he said.
Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter accepted a check in the amount of $200,000 at a press conference.
“Donnelly contacted the city last year inquiring whether they might be interested in his seeking a FEMA Pre-disaster Mitigation Pro-gram grant on their behalf through the congressional appropriation process,” Senter said.
According to Donnelly, the $200,000 was authorized when President George Bush signed into law the Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriation Act last month.
Donnelly said, “Plymouth will use the funds to voluntarily purchase and move structures out of an area that regularly floods, thus reducing the likelihood of damage and high costs associated with future flooding of the Yellow River.”
Both Donnelly and Senter stressed that the purchase of any property would be at the will of the homeowner on a voluntary basis.
One of those working on completing and submitting the application for the grant was local architect Brent Martin. After the press conference, Martin said, “We were prepared to submit this grant because we spent money on master planning several years ago and are following those plans.” He said he was referring to studies performed by BDI and Andrews University among other endeavors.
A portion of the wording in the application from the city included the following: “Specifically, the city will acquire properties in close proximity to the historic central business district and provide relocation assistance to property owners.”
Senter ended the press conference saying, “My administration would like to thank Congressman Donnelly, the former administration of Mayor Cook, and Plymouth resident Brent Martin for all their hard work in putting together this grant.”