Temporary dike work in Merritt (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

Merritt Flood Recovery

‘Doomed to fail’; Communication breakdown led to Merritt’s disaster funding application getting rejected

Jun 13, 2024 | 5:30 PM

MERRITT — Earlier this month, the community of Merritt, along with Princeton and Abbotsford, announced that it had been denied federal funding in the form of Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Funding (DMAF).

For Merritt, the money is needed to repair the diking system throughout the community in the aftermath of the 2021 floods. Following a public outcry from the municipalities, Merritt mayor Mike Goetz received notification from DMAF that his city’s application had been rejected on a technicality and was in fact never even read.

“I have been in contact with DMAF [Wednesday], Minister (Bowinn) Ma [Thursday] to find out where this ‘lost in translation’ happened,” said Goetz. “How did this happen that we were given unclear information to do an application that was doomed to fail right from the start? To put context into this, this application cost $383,000, was 535-to-540 pages. It never made it out of the envelope. It went right into the trash can because it didn’t follow the criteria.”

The issue stemmed from the provincial government providing incorrect information to Merritt with regards to the federal program. Asked why the federal ministry didn’t inform Merritt of the issue, Goetz was told, ‘We don’t do it that way.’

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That communication breakdown has led to the city of Merritt sitting more vulnerable to potential flood than even before 2021.

“Right now, a third of my community is in danger of flooding again. Lives could be lost over this,” said Goetz. “There are no dikes for some people and we are into the third year. We are only four months away from the third-year anniversary and nothing has been done. Government intervention is a good thing but when government starts to cause problems, you need to look at the situation.”

Mayor Goetz will be travelling to Ottawa next week to plead his case before the House of Commons rises on the 21.

CFJC News has reached out to the Federal Ministry of Infrastructure which operates DMAF, the B.C. Ministry of Emergency Management, and Merritt-area MP Dan Albas for comment and will update this story when possible.