FELLSMERE, Fla. — About 75 people packed into a room for Thursday's Water Control District meeting. Many of them airing their grievances.
This comes after 13 inches of rain last November left much of the Fellsmere community under water.
“We had livestock dying, we had crops that were completely ruined, we had homes that were flooded,” said resident Karen Ledford.
Since then residents have been pushing for changes.
Finally they’re seeing some through a $1.2 million effort to clean three main canals.
Region Indian River County
Fellsmere residents still frustrated after flooding, looking for 'transparency'
It's work that Greg Nelson, president of the board of supervisors, says should be complete in the next seven weeks.
However, there is more to be done.
“We have a lot of work to do in cleaning ditches, sub-laterals to get the water flowing better,” said Nelson. “We’re going to have to contract with more contractors to be able to really speed this up.”
Tonight’s meeting also welcomed Mark Mathes, previous Fellsmere city manager, as the new Fellsmere Water Control district manager. His salary is $100,000.
“He is the person on the job every day and he knows the area very well here,” Nelson explained. “We needed the manpower there to be out there and see where the priority spots are to address first.”
It’s a big change from the remote management service they had before.
“We are hopeful that this is going to be a favorable change. Nobody really has a read on Mark Mathes and what he’s going to do, but he’s there,” added Ledford.
While there’s been some progress, residents plan to keep pushing for results and holding the board accountable.
“I’m very grateful that we have somebody listening finally and that hopefully this is going to be a step forward for the future,” said Ledford. “We’re seeing some kind of movement in that direction but we know we have to keep up the pressure.”
