HUNTINGTON -- Huntington City Council Chairman Jim Insco said he plans to appoint members for a new committee whose charge will be to discuss the city's storm water runoff issues.

Insco's announcement came during council's regular meeting on Monday evening, after council was alerted to a storm water runoff problem in Huntington's Stamford Park neighborhood.

Interim Public Works Director Brandi Jacobs-Jones, who primarily serves as the city's administration and finance director, told council that storm water has been running off the side of a hill at the development and then pooling under the asphalt, causing potholes in the nearby road. Stamford Park is located near the Beverly Hills section of Huntington.

The greater concern, Jacobs-Jones said, is that, due to the storm water runoff, a hill could slide into the back of one of the homes in the development. One of the residents has built a retaining wall because the trees on the side of the hill have begun leaning.

"What we're finding is a serious issue of not just a pothole or not just a small level of runoff, but a far-reaching runoff issue in a development here in town," Jacobs-Jones said. "We have these developers that put together these wonderful homes and they put together wonderful communities, but they're not really addressing the storm water issues, the runoff and proper grading of roads."

Jacobs-Jones said the issue is on the administration's radar and they are working to address it both for the short-term and long-term. Assistant Public Works Director Kit Anderson is currently at a storm water management training seminar looking for new funding sources for the city to address storm water runoff, she said.

Jacobs-Jones said fixing the problem will be "a large, very expensive project that we know we need to address."

Aside from funding concerns, the city does not have a storm water committee, commission or utility that deals with the issue.

"Eventually, something will take place; what that looks like, I do not know," she said. "In the past, it's been a political battle."

It's unclear who would take charge of the issue, whether it would be the city's sanitary board or the public works' street department, she said. Councilman Insco said the council's previous storm water committee was dissolved because it was inactive. He said he will meet with the city clerk to begin the process of creating a storm water committee in council.

Here's a look at other items that were discussed during the Monday night council meeting:

DILAPIDATED HOUSES: Council passed an ordinance Monday that authorizes a contract for boarding up dilapidated homes. The two-year contract was awarded to Capital Builders of Huntington for $6.10 per square foot.

WORKERS' COMP: The council read an ordinance for the first time that authorizes a contract for a new company to administer the city's self-insured workers' compensation program. Comp-Trol, the city's old third-party administrator, went out of business in January.

The new contract would be awarded to Aviznet of Richmond, Va., for $1,690 per month.

COMPUTERS: The council passed a resolution authorizing a memorandum of understanding with the Southwestern Community Action Council. The council will purchase seven computers and other equipment for the Fairfield East and A.D. Lewis community centers.

National Video