JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- One Jefferson City woman's backyard is eroding from a storm drain runoff.
She said she's been asking the city help for years only to be given the run-around.
But the city said it's not their problem.
"My yard use to be beautiful, now it's nothing but a big mud-pit," homeowner Tracy Vaughn said.
Tracey Vaughn's battle with backyard flooding began eight years ago.
“I started noticing that when it rained or we had a bad storm that the water was traveling across my backyard," Vaughn said.
The water that runs into the storm drain on East Elementary's property flows out onto Vaughns neighbors property then hers and she says it's ruining her yard.
“If I wanted a creek across my backyard I would do that,” Vaughn said. “But I don't and I didn't have a creek when I bought the house and I don't want a creek now."
Vaughn called Jefferson City when she first noticed the problem.
She spoke with the city's water manager who said the problem could be fixed when the city rebuilt East High St.
"She said that would be a perfect time to come in and fix that and she needed me to get easements from all of the property owners because the city would have to have permission to get on their property but nothing ever happened," Vaughn said.
Vaughn then contacted East Elementary School since the drain starts on the public schools property.
She said maintenance men looked at her property but nothing ever came of it.
"I didn't hear from them,” Vaughn said. “I called them back and he said well I thought the situation had been resolved. I said how can the situation be resolved, nothing's happened. You came you look, you saw, the end, ya know, I need something done."
She said she feels like she's getting the run-around.
"Nobody is doing anything,” Vaughn said. “My yard is washing away every time it rains. It's aggravating that nobody wants to take responsibility for a city piece of property that's sitting back there not being maintained," Vaughn said.
Jefferson City Public Works Director Matt Morasch said the problem is really the owners responsibility.
"It's clear in the city code that all open drains are the responsibility of the property owners and that's not uncommon throughout the entire country," Morasch said.
While the city doesn't claim responsibility for the drain, Morasch said they are willing to help Vaughn.
"We can send some engineers out and talk with them and give them some suggestions where they could improve the property on their own or they could hire a local small contractor, landscaper type contractors even depending on the scale of the problem," Morasch said.
So in the end, Vaughn can't get the city to own up to the fact that storm water runoff from public property is making her backyard a swamp and she said she is going to keep hounding the city for a solution.
The Public Works Department said Vaughn could petition for the city to help maintain the channel but that would require the city council to waive the requirement in the code.
Morasch said that wouldn't be an easy task since the department is struggling financially to just maintain the current drainage system.
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