Business owners get flood advice

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By Tom Saul | Friday, June 27, 2008 12:29 AM CDT | () comments

After the talking heads from the aid agencies finished,

Davenport business woman Joyce Magyar offered what seemed to be some of the most sage advice for the group of small business owners interested in assistance with flood cleanup and damage.

“Help each other one-on-one and don’t rely completely on the government,” said Magyar, office manager for family owned Mid-American Glass on River Drive and Sturdevant Street.

In the past 21 years, Mid-American has battled five floods, Magyar said. Over that period, it has developed its own relationships with local and federal flood-fighting agencies, learned exactly what it must do to keep water out and grasped how best to glide through the jumble of rules and paperwork needed to get cleanup and damage aid.

She offered the company’s hard-won knowledge to about 40 small business owners who turned out to hear from the Small Business Administration, the city of Davenport, the Iowa Small Business Development Center, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and Safeguard Iowa about assistance that is available in the aftermath of June flooding.

Representatives of the agencies offered overviews of the amount of aid available to individual businesses and how to get it. Ross Bergen, Scott County emergency management director, told the group that in a few days a decision would be made by the state on whether to open a disaster recovery center in Davenport, most likely at the Old Town Mall on East Kimberly Road.

But, after the seminar organized by DavenportOne, Margee Leigh, owner of Pet Pals, a pet boarding and grooming business at 2134 W. River Drive that was inundated by the river, sought out Magyar.

In the five years she has owned the former Humane Society of Scott County building, Leigh said she has continually built up permanent dikes in hopes of protecting the property.

“This was my first flood there, and we thought we were going to make it until that heavy rain we had blew out our dike from the back,” Leigh said. “That Thursday night, everything went all wrong.”

Over time, Magyar said, Mid-American has built up permanent dikes, learned what to use for temporary protection and figured out precisely how big their pumps should be and where to place them. The company has also built good relations with the city public works and fire departments and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“That is the fiber of Iowa, that you get your personal network going and know who you are going to call,” Magyar said. “For cleanup, use local people because you know them. Don’t use out-of-state.”

When it comes to dealing with federal aid agencies, photograph all the damage and keep all the receipts, but start rebuilding as soon as you are able, Magyar said.

The main source of aid to many small businesses, homeowners and renters will likely be the Small Business Administration, said Gary Colton, a spokesman. Assistance will come in the form of low-interest loans to cover property loss and, in the case of businesses, economic injury.

Davenport has no programs that provide direct aid to property owners and businesses, said Pam Miner, community and economic development director. Instead, it helps with with flood-fighting and with road and sewer repairs.

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.