4/18/17 – 12:16 P.M.

A few Hancock County residents raised questions about Blanchard River flood mitigation during Tuesday’s Maumee Watershed Conservancy District meeting. Steve Umphrees of Mount Blanchard asked representatives of Stantec Engineering why the firm hadn’t created a cost-benefit ratio for the dry storage basins proposed south of Findlay. Stantec representatives on hand said the conservancy hadn’t asked for a cost benefit for the basins by themselves. The company said they could provide the numbers if requested by the board.

Stantec says improving river flow through Findlay provides a 4-to-1 benefit to cost ratio. That number falls to 1.5-to-1 when including the dry storage basins.

A letter from Umphrees to the conservancy also mentioned Stantec made errors in a spillway project at Grand Lake St. Marys. Stantec reps said they served as an expert witness in the spillway case, but didn’t design the spillway in question.ion.