High River flood debt forces senior back to work

A High River senior says he has been forced back to work in order to pay off a $120,000 debt from damage caused by the 2013 floods.

• High River flood repairs leave contractor out $100K after DRP delay

At age 78, Mac Arbuthnot never thought he'd be facing so much debt and working three days a week at the local grocery store to try and pay it off. The bed and breakfast he owns was damaged in the floods and required extensive renovations.

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More than a year later, he says they are sick of waiting for officials with the province's Disaster Recovery Program to work through their claim, but that they don't have a lot of options.

"At my wife and I's age, it will probably be very difficult to get a $120,000 loan when we may not ever live to pay it off," Arbuthnot said. "It's very frustrating and very, very mentally tiring working with the DRP."

The bed and breakfast needed a new foundation, an interior renovation and the building had to be lifted.

In all, the cost of repairs came to $150,000. Since filing his claim, Arbuthnot has received just $34,000 from the DRP.

Hard to move on

Just this week, Arbuthnotsays he received a letter from the DRP stating that any work done to mitigate against future floods would not be paid for by the program.

In the letter, the province says its structural team extensively reviewed the file and found that the floor joists which were replaced had appeared to be intact and structurally sound.

But the contractor who performed the repairs on the bed and breakfast says there's no way officials can say that.

"The existing concrete foundation and wood joists could not be seen from the original assessor," said Jason Carter. "They could not see until we did the clean up that the foundation was damaged. No one ever came back, even after we sent inpictures. For them to say they did an extensive review is disrespectful to their role."

Arbuthnot says he realizes the DRP won't reimburse him for everything but that it has been difficult to move ahead without getting a clear answer to his claims.

He says he either has to wait until a manager from Edmonton comes down to High River or try to get through to someone over the phone.

"You're always waiting on a phone call and when you phone you get a different person every time," he said. "So you're like starting over again."

Backlog of small business claims

The Town of High River's business renewal officer, Angela Groeneveld, says there hasn't been dedicated staff in High River to resolve small business claims.

"The problem was the team that was on the ground did not have proper authority so that's what's backlogged us for so long," she said. "If we would have had [the manager]down here all along, full time, we would have got through this way faster."

Groeneveld says she has been tolda DRP manager will be coming down to High River threetimes a week tohelp ease the backlog and that more staff are being hired

A spokesperson with the DRP says theywon't comment on specific claims but thatthere are sevenDRP staff stationed in High River and any one of them can answer questions on residential and small business claims.

As well, a manager from Edmonton has been coming down periodically to meet with small business owners in person.

Officials are now in the process ofhiring a couple of small business coordinators for southern Alberta.

Arbuthnot says he'll be appealing his claim as soon as he can.