LETTER: Mayor Hovland Comes to Rescue of Edina Homeowners

My Name is Jim Quinn. I have lived in Edina for the past 23 years. About three years ago, a water main broke. It was February, and extremely cold out. Before I knew it, I had 6-10 inches of nasty water in my entire basement. My daughter's bedroom was destroyed. The entire basement was a wreck.

In the middle of trying to figure out what to do there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door, the man standing there was Mayor Jim Hovland. He asked if everyone was alright in the house. He quickly explained what had happened, that they were working to fix the problem and turn off the water. He went to each and every home to personally check on the residences. The next day he stopped by to check on things, and took a look at my basement.

I called the city, as he had directed me to file a claim. One week later, I was told that the city was not responsible for the damage in my home. They asked if I had sewer back-up insurance. I had never heard of it before then. So basically, it was my fault for not having this insurance. We all contacted the mayor.

Mayor Hovland invited us to the next City Council meeting. We each got up and talked about what this flood had done to our homes. I remember asking, "Whose pipe broke?" Mayor Hovland said the City's pipe broke. So I said, "If your pipe broke and flooded our basement, how can the City not be responsible?" The Mayor basically agreed with the home owners.

Almost every person on the City Council voted not to help the residents on Wooddale, saying we were negligent for not having sewer back-up insurance. That's when Mayor Hovlend stepped up and said he felt like we live in a community where we take responsibility and help our neighbors. He made it possible for each resident to receive a one-time payment of $15,000. Now $15,000 didn't fix our entire basement, but it did put my daughter's room back to normal, and helped make our basement a safe and usable space again.

At the time this happened, I happen to have been unemployed. Without Mayor Hovland's support and understanding in this tragedy, I have no idea what we would have done. As far as I am concerned, Jim Hovland can be Mayor of Edina as long as he wants the job!

Jim Quinn
Edina

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