This week I am spending almost $11,000 to prevent Oakland County WRC and the Village of Beverly Hills from allowing raw sewage to enter our home during heavy rains.
The next VBH Council meeting is tomorrow Tuesday November14 at 7:30PM. Please consider speaking and/or submitting your statement/questions to be read to krutkowski@villagebeverlyhills.com
It’s been 81 days since the sewage event and for the consecutive 3rd month, it’s not even on the agenda! ~300 homes were flooded with raw sewage causing millions of dollars of damage and our elected and Village officials have essentially done nothing.
A couple folks, including me, had questions regarding some of the language in Dean’s ATTORNEY/CLIENT FEE AGREEMENT regarding No. 3 COSTS.
I spoke with Dean and I now understand the language enough for me to move forward.
The Michigan law states that an attorney cannot just say “If the Client does not recover enough money in a settlement or verdict to pay for the costs, the Attorney will do nothing to attempt to collect these funds.” It has to be prefaced by “I understand that the Client is responsible for payment of the costs of the case even if there is no recovery.” No fees will be owed to Dean unless he wins our case.
I hope this helps yet please feel free to call Dean directly at 810-767-6100 with any questions you may have.
One more thing….I am not sure if many of you watched the VBH Council meeting last Tuesday….the lack of professionalism exhibited by our Village officials was front and center……I will have another note out in a day our two highlighting the hogwash.
Raw Sewage Backups in VBH, RO, B-ham & SF. The Schitts Foundation website has the SSL certificate and is now officially secure. schittsfoundation.com
There is a “resources” tab and a blog for you to share your stories regarding Oakland County officials from using our basements as raw sewage retention basins. If you are interested in holding these municipalities accountable for their reckless inactions with managing the defects of our combined sewage systems, contact me @ flaherka@gmail.com and I can pass along some information for you to consider.
If you are living or thinking of living in this part of Oakland County, raw sewage backups into homes will continue to occur, primarily in communities with combined sewer/stormwater systems. This fact has been confirmed by VBH officials and Oakland County WRC and EGLE engineers. And with more homeowners putting in backflow prevention systems, it’s going to make the problem worse for other homeowners on your street that do not have backflow prevention; the water has to go somewhere.
Like most folks, I am not a fan of screwing my neighbors yet the gross negligence by our public officials does not leave me with much choice; either put in backflow devices or move to a home that does not have a combined sewage/stormwater system.
I will be posting what I believe to be the optimal backflow prevention design on SCHITTSFOUNDATION.COM soon. Please use this info as a guide and work with an experienced master plumber to manage your risk.
Make 100% sure you have the sewage backup insurance rider on your homeowners policy. Based on the data shared by other homeowners, plan on the rider being at least $20,000 and up. Our new policy will have a rider for $60,000.
Please continue to write and speak to your public officials about this injustice. Dealing with 1000’s of gallons of raw sewage water in your basement is not something you want to go through. To give you an example of what we are up against and the lack of character with managing this issue, the VBH attorney, Mr. Ryan, recently referred to the sewage backup as a “peoples inconvenience”. One thing for sure, this was much, much more than a “peoples inconvenience”.
When we have our VBH manager, the senior VBH council member, 2 engineers from Hubbell Roth & Clark (HRC), a senior engineer from Oakland County Water Resources Commission (WRC) and a senior engineer from the Warren District Office of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) all publicly state that we will have more raw sewage backups into the homes of Oakland County, I think I can definitively say there will be more backups. And at the same time they are also saying that our combined sewer systems are working just fine and they can find no defects. This does not pass the smell test to me.
If these entities continue to do nothing about fixing the problem, continue to do nothing to help people with prevention before the problem can be fixed and continue to not help residents to safely mitigate the significant public health issues of having raw sewage in their homes, I think we need to take action. I know many of us are tired of this mess yet if we don’t continue to hold our public officials accountable for their negligence and inactions, for sure nothing will change.
Jim Duffy, the senior adjuster at MMRMA (the insurance carrier of VBH) sent me a note saying “I will have an update on Monday”. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not…..literally, that was all of the text in Mr. Duffy’s email.
I spoke with The Law Firm of Dean Yeotis this afternoon. If anyone receives a settlement from MMRMA and is satisfied with the dollar amount, you can withdraw from the suit and of course, there is no cost; i.e. nothing has been done yet. The goal is to have the suits filed by Christmas. If you have not signed up, please consider doing so.
BEVERLY HILLS FOLKS: Next Tuesday December 1, there is another VBH Council Meeting via Zoom at 7:30PM. If you watched the last one, they are beginning to lose their cool and are now making things personal with their cavalier comments and calling this sewage backup “a public inconvenience”. Really? Is sewage backing up into 250+ homes generating an extra ~240,000 pounds of trash just an inconvenience?
Please consider speaking about this injustice. For the 4th straight Council meeting, the sewage backups into 250+ homes is again, NOT EVEN ON THE AGENDA OR IN THE VILLAGE MANAGER’S REPORT. I can’t even comprehend the audacity of our public officials keeping their heads in the sand after hundreds of homes were flooded with raw sewage and not even offering any assistance to residents regarding the health and human safety facts about having raw sewage in your home. There has not been one iota of critical thinking about the problem nor any stewardship of prevention with future backups (yep, and those backups that will be coming).
I wish everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday. So many of you have been sincerely kind and I am grateful for your support. I do know that a few of you are struggling with sick loved ones during this pandemic…..our thoughts are with you.
Godspeed to all and be safe,
Ken Flaherty
17166 Beechwood Ave
Beverly Hills
248-312-8118 flaherka@gmail.com
SCHITTSFOUNDATION.COM
“Even though you may not have The Schitts right now, there is a very good chance you will have them in the future.”
If check valves are the only thing we can do to prevent sewage backup again…sign me up but what about those people who can’t afford the $11,000 ? It would be smart for the city to help people get these installed. And TELL people about this option to protect our property from this outdated sewer system, We would all have to do it so no one basement becomes the holding tank. Would we then have pipes bursting on our front lawns? I’ll bet there are people who couldn’t even get basement professionally cleaned …this is absolutely mcschitty…
Hi folks affected by the Cities & Villages of Oakland County and Oakland County WRC using our basements as sewage retention ponds.
I just got a note from Mr. Jim Duffy at MMRMA; they have declined the claims in VBH and this will certainly cascade to Royal Oak and Southfield. B-ham also has denied all claims. We all knew it was a longshot to get a settlement without a suit but we tried our best.
Got the notification letters out pretty quick. Seemed as though the VBH was kinda owning up to the known problems. Go through the motions of putting together a comprehensive claim together, then nothing.
Enough is enough!
This week I am spending almost $11,000 to prevent Oakland County WRC and the Village of Beverly Hills from allowing raw sewage to enter our home during heavy rains.
The next VBH Council meeting is tomorrow Tuesday November14 at 7:30PM. Please consider speaking and/or submitting your statement/questions to be read to krutkowski@villagebeverlyhills.com
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82869970044
Meeting ID: 828 6997 0044
Dial in Number: 1-646-876-9923 (US)
It’s been 81 days since the sewage event and for the consecutive 3rd month, it’s not even on the agenda! ~300 homes were flooded with raw sewage causing millions of dollars of damage and our elected and Village officials have essentially done nothing.
Good Morning Everyone,
A couple folks, including me, had questions regarding some of the language in Dean’s ATTORNEY/CLIENT FEE AGREEMENT regarding No. 3 COSTS.
I spoke with Dean and I now understand the language enough for me to move forward.
The Michigan law states that an attorney cannot just say “If the Client does not recover enough money in a settlement or verdict to pay for the costs, the Attorney will do nothing to attempt to collect these funds.” It has to be prefaced by “I understand that the Client is responsible for payment of the costs of the case even if there is no recovery.” No fees will be owed to Dean unless he wins our case.
I hope this helps yet please feel free to call Dean directly at 810-767-6100 with any questions you may have.
One more thing….I am not sure if many of you watched the VBH Council meeting last Tuesday….the lack of professionalism exhibited by our Village officials was front and center……I will have another note out in a day our two highlighting the hogwash.
Best, Ken
Raw Sewage Backups in VBH, RO, B-ham & SF. The Schitts Foundation website has the SSL certificate and is now officially secure. schittsfoundation.com
There is a “resources” tab and a blog for you to share your stories regarding Oakland County officials from using our basements as raw sewage retention basins. If you are interested in holding these municipalities accountable for their reckless inactions with managing the defects of our combined sewage systems, contact me @ flaherka@gmail.com and I can pass along some information for you to consider.
If you are living or thinking of living in this part of Oakland County, raw sewage backups into homes will continue to occur, primarily in communities with combined sewer/stormwater systems. This fact has been confirmed by VBH officials and Oakland County WRC and EGLE engineers. And with more homeowners putting in backflow prevention systems, it’s going to make the problem worse for other homeowners on your street that do not have backflow prevention; the water has to go somewhere.
Like most folks, I am not a fan of screwing my neighbors yet the gross negligence by our public officials does not leave me with much choice; either put in backflow devices or move to a home that does not have a combined sewage/stormwater system.
I will be posting what I believe to be the optimal backflow prevention design on SCHITTSFOUNDATION.COM soon. Please use this info as a guide and work with an experienced master plumber to manage your risk.
Make 100% sure you have the sewage backup insurance rider on your homeowners policy. Based on the data shared by other homeowners, plan on the rider being at least $20,000 and up. Our new policy will have a rider for $60,000.
Please continue to write and speak to your public officials about this injustice. Dealing with 1000’s of gallons of raw sewage water in your basement is not something you want to go through. To give you an example of what we are up against and the lack of character with managing this issue, the VBH attorney, Mr. Ryan, recently referred to the sewage backup as a “peoples inconvenience”. One thing for sure, this was much, much more than a “peoples inconvenience”.
Thanks for your patience, Ken
When we have our VBH manager, the senior VBH council member, 2 engineers from Hubbell Roth & Clark (HRC), a senior engineer from Oakland County Water Resources Commission (WRC) and a senior engineer from the Warren District Office of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) all publicly state that we will have more raw sewage backups into the homes of Oakland County, I think I can definitively say there will be more backups. And at the same time they are also saying that our combined sewer systems are working just fine and they can find no defects. This does not pass the smell test to me.
If these entities continue to do nothing about fixing the problem, continue to do nothing to help people with prevention before the problem can be fixed and continue to not help residents to safely mitigate the significant public health issues of having raw sewage in their homes, I think we need to take action. I know many of us are tired of this mess yet if we don’t continue to hold our public officials accountable for their negligence and inactions, for sure nothing will change.
Jim Duffy, the senior adjuster at MMRMA (the insurance carrier of VBH) sent me a note saying “I will have an update on Monday”. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not…..literally, that was all of the text in Mr. Duffy’s email.
I spoke with The Law Firm of Dean Yeotis this afternoon. If anyone receives a settlement from MMRMA and is satisfied with the dollar amount, you can withdraw from the suit and of course, there is no cost; i.e. nothing has been done yet. The goal is to have the suits filed by Christmas. If you have not signed up, please consider doing so.
BEVERLY HILLS FOLKS: Next Tuesday December 1, there is another VBH Council Meeting via Zoom at 7:30PM. If you watched the last one, they are beginning to lose their cool and are now making things personal with their cavalier comments and calling this sewage backup “a public inconvenience”. Really? Is sewage backing up into 250+ homes generating an extra ~240,000 pounds of trash just an inconvenience?
Please consider speaking about this injustice. For the 4th straight Council meeting, the sewage backups into 250+ homes is again, NOT EVEN ON THE AGENDA OR IN THE VILLAGE MANAGER’S REPORT. I can’t even comprehend the audacity of our public officials keeping their heads in the sand after hundreds of homes were flooded with raw sewage and not even offering any assistance to residents regarding the health and human safety facts about having raw sewage in your home. There has not been one iota of critical thinking about the problem nor any stewardship of prevention with future backups (yep, and those backups that will be coming).
To participate via Zoom, please click this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85073044044 or enter Meeting ID: 850 7304 4044 on the Zoom app.
I wish everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday. So many of you have been sincerely kind and I am grateful for your support. I do know that a few of you are struggling with sick loved ones during this pandemic…..our thoughts are with you.
Godspeed to all and be safe,
Ken Flaherty
17166 Beechwood Ave
Beverly Hills
248-312-8118
flaherka@gmail.com
SCHITTSFOUNDATION.COM
“Even though you may not have The Schitts right now, there is a very good chance you will have them in the future.”
Mrs. Schmidlap O’Schitts, Beverly Hills, MI
If check valves are the only thing we can do to prevent sewage backup again…sign me up but what about those people who can’t afford the $11,000 ? It would be smart for the city to help people get these installed. And TELL people about this option to protect our property from this outdated sewer system, We would all have to do it so no one basement becomes the holding tank. Would we then have pipes bursting on our front lawns? I’ll bet there are people who couldn’t even get basement professionally cleaned …this is absolutely mcschitty…
1DEC2020
Hi folks affected by the Cities & Villages of Oakland County and Oakland County WRC using our basements as sewage retention ponds.
I just got a note from Mr. Jim Duffy at MMRMA; they have declined the claims in VBH and this will certainly cascade to Royal Oak and Southfield. B-ham also has denied all claims. We all knew it was a longshot to get a settlement without a suit but we tried our best.
More info in the NEWS section
Got the notification letters out pretty quick. Seemed as though the VBH was kinda owning up to the known problems. Go through the motions of putting together a comprehensive claim together, then nothing.
Just getting on the Bandwagon with you folks.