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110 LAci, 1� <br /> �,,m., 710 27510 <br /> TELEPHONE: 919-942-5461 (Home), 919-660-2661 (Bus.) <br /> May 14, 1994 <br /> Karen Lange <br /> Chapel Hill Herald <br /> 106, Mallette Street <br /> Chapel Hill, NC 27516 <br /> Dear Ms. Lange, <br /> You wanted to know whether my flooding problems were resolved. I am happy to <br /> report that a drain was installed through my property last Thanksgiving and that stopped the <br /> flooding. On May 12, compensation for professional costs and damages to this property was <br /> received. At last, the ordeal by flood is over and I now hope to put the whole sorry mess <br /> behind me. This in itself may not be much of a story but the taxpayers of this district may be <br /> interested to know how their money is being wasted. <br /> In April of last year I reached an agreement with the schools administration, which <br /> would have resolved the problems. At that time, I was doing my best to make it easy and <br /> inexpensive for the Board of Education. I agreed to allow them to erect the necessary drain <br /> intakes on my property so as to avoid the need for them to make modifications to the <br /> McDougle middle school site. In July, I was asked to take responsibility for maintaining the <br /> drain and when I refused, the BoE reneged on our agreement. I then took legal action which <br /> forced them to carry out the maintenance and more construction than we had earlier agreed: <br /> Description April '93 May '94 <br /> $ $ <br /> Morcombe's professional fees 717 22,617 <br /> Morcombe's damages 2,000 22,383 <br /> BoE professional fees 1,000 5,000 <br /> Construction costs 11,000 35,000 <br /> Carrboro town professional fees 0 5,000 <br /> TOTAL 14,717 90,000 <br /> The increase in our costs was primarily in legal and professional fees in preparation for <br /> court hearings. Our damages increased because the flooding incidents got worse as the site was <br /> developed. The BoE costs are a rough estimate only and the real costs are probably greater. <br /> The construction costs are based on information given me verbally by the architect. When I <br /> was forced to take legal action I insisted that the drain intakes be moved onto school property. <br /> This led to a major design revision which increased the construction costs and forced Carrboro <br /> Town to bring in Henry Wells as a consultant. <br />