A bill package recently approved by the state House of Representatives is designed to provide much-needed control to local municipalities that struggle to find aid following flooding.

As it stands now, local governments often are forced to wait months tangled in typical government red tape before they can receive necessary permits to fix extensive damage caused by flooding. The permits are expensive and often issued long after the damage has been done to public and private property.

The bills approved by the House would give municipal officials power to act immediately to prevent or mitigate flood damage from local streams and creeks.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, held a news conference last week with a group of his colleagues touting the legislation. He said the bills would resolve the problem and “bring common sense back.”

He said local municipalities — not state officials — know what needs to be done to avoid flood damage to farmland, residents’ yards, roads, culverts and bridges both before and after heavy rains fall.

During the news conference, a township supervisor in Tioga County said a culvert in his municipality needed to be replaced due to creek flooding. The damaged road was reduced to one-lane traffic for 10 months while county officials waited on state permits to repair it. The permits cost the county $9,500 in fees. Once the permits were approved, it took only two days to repair the culvert.

The package also would include funding to head off future flooding through better maintenance of creeks and streams.

“All we are trying to do with this package of bills is put our local leaders — who know their communities, their roadways and their waterways the best — in a position to address these issues before they cause property damage, or worse, loss of life,” state Rep. Clint Owlett, R-68th, said.

The bill package, which has the support of the state farm bureau and state township supervisors association, now is in the hands of the state Senate.

Butler County is not without its own flooding issues in heavy rain events, and the package of bills could help property owners and municipalities avoid or more easily rectify problems caused by creek and stream flooding.

We couldn’t agree more with Metcalfe that these bills make “common sense.” Let’s hope state senators agree.

— JG