The Town of Columbus has&bsp; decided not to reimburse Watsons Carpet for damages the business experienced during a heavy spring rain this year.

The town announced last week that it would not contribute any funding to reimburse Watson’s Carpet’s Larry Hill the more than $9,000 of cleaning costs he paid as a result of the flooding.

The town has been discussing Watson’s Carpet’s request for help for the past several months, receiving input from the towns insurance company as well as from Hills engineer.

Columbus Mayor Eric McIntyre said last week that the town has spent a lot of time on the issue and it is the unanimous consensus of the board that the town shares no liability.

McIntyre said representatives of the N.C. League of Municipalities insurance, which covers the town, indicated that it felt the flooding was caused by the property owners negligence in maintaining the drains.

He also mentioned that

water was able to enter at the front door because it was missing a threshold on the bottom.

Im sure thats not what you wanted to hear, McIntyre told Hill. I wish there was a way we could have helped you.

Hill claimed that the problem was caused after the town completed sidewalk work that left the sidewalk slightly higher than his front door. Hill stated repeatedly that the drains were kept clean by himself or even, at times, his parents, and that prior to the towns street work, no flooding had ever occurred in the buildings history.

Youre not doing the right thing, Hill told council last week. Youve forced me to take other action. Thank you for your time.