Re: "An unnecessary situation," Medicine Hat News, Feb. 4.
My husband and I own two of the lots in Irvine that have temporary housing for the displaced flood families. Imagine our surprise when Ms. Chatfield was quoted in the paper saying that we had been offered those two mobile homes at a cost of $30,000 each.
In October 2010 when the mobile homes were being placed on our lots, it was made very clear to us that we would not be able to purchase them once they were no longer needed. The only contact we've had with AEMA (who set up the original agreement) since November 2010 regarding those lots is with the Medicine Hat Community Housing Association, which mails us a cheque for the lot rent once a month.
There is also no real likelihood we would want to purchase them at this point in time. This is because part of our agreement with the province and Cypress County includes a caveat stating once the mobile homes are vacated we can not keep the water hooked up to the home.
The caveat states as follows:
"And Whereas the County has imposed a moratorium on the supply of water to the new development in the Hamlet of Irvine, the County considers the newly created water connection utilized within this agreement as a transfer of water allocation from an existing water connection located elsewhere within the hamlet."
In other words, when the Chatfields return to their own home the water connection goes with them. If we were to purchase the two mobile homes for $30,000 each we would then have no way to utilize the water service, which doesn't sound like a good investment to us. On top of which our property taxes have now increased to reflect that the connections for water, gas and electrify are now "available" on those lots.
In my opinion the only one who is coming out ahead in this whole "fiasco" is the private contractor (who I believe is a retired MLA) who supposedly is managing (still) the allocation of funds to the victims and is making money off the people's extended suffering.
I hope all the flood victims are back in their own homes soon and that they can get back on with their regular lives again.
Karen Hamerton
Irvine, Alta.