BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MELBOURNE -- Nearly 18 months after floodwaters forced him to flee his mobile home here, John Santini has been compensated through a federal buyout of this Ohio River city's worst-damaged properties.
The 14-year Melbourne resident, who fled his trailer in March 1997 as water began trickling under his front door, said he plans to use the check he received Wednesday to furnish his new home in Claryville.
"I'm on the third floor about 20 miles out," Mr. Santini said. "If it floods now, all of Newport will be under water."
Mr. Santini was one of nine Melbourne property owners who were compensated Wednesday through the federal hazard mitigation grant program, said Lisa Cooper, the Northern Kentucky Area Development District employee who is administering Melbourne's buyout program. The program -- a combined effort of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state, and local governments -- purchases properties whose appraised values dropped 50 percent or more because of a flood.
"It's been a long 18 months," Mr. Santini said after signing the paperwork for his buyout check. "Every time I went to do something, it got all screwed up. There was too much red tape."
But several of the other property owners who took part in Wednesday's buyout took the wait for compensation in stride.
"We figured it'd be kind of a slow thing," said Jimmey Ballmann, 38, who saw the flood destroy "nearly everything" in the riverfront trailer he shared with his wife, Karen, 48. The Ballmanns received a $17,500 check Wednesday.
Tom Flanagan, 39, who also lived in a riverfront mobile home park, plans to use his $16,500 buyout check as a down payment on a Dayton, Ky., home.
After losing most of his belongings when flood waters rose 3 feet in his trailer, Mr. Flanagan said he's simply looking forward to putting the experience behind him.
For Melbourne, $1.1 million has been budgeted to buy up to 21 of the city properties most severely damaged in the March 1997 flood, said Mayor Maurice "Dutch" Hehman.
While Melbourne is responsible for 13 percent of the total buyout costs, the city expects to get some money from the Department of Local Government to help cover the local match, Mr. Hehman said. The remaining 87 percent of Melbourne's buyout funds will come from federal and state sources.
Mr. Hehman said city officials have discussed several possible uses for the buyout area, including turning it into a park.
