Village of Godfrey Board of Trustees: Public Safety, Finance, Board Meetings
GODFREY – Godfrey officials have allocated $3 million from reserves to address a backlog of stormwater projects as one resident continues raising flooding concerns.
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Village Board members voted unanimously at their Oct. 6, 2026 meeting to dedicate the additional funding after hearing public comments from Kaitlyn Chapman, a Godfrey resident who previously called on trustees to help homeowners experiencing significant flood damages.
Chapman said a one-time allocation of funds, while appreciated, is not enough in her opinion to mitigate the root issues causing repeated flooding.
“Infrastructure and mitigation, they go hand in hand, and while I can appreciate you all proposing extra funds to do these repairs, mitigation is still not even really being discussed,” Chapman said. “These are homeowners who have repeatedly had damages to their home, it’s not just a one-off thing.”
Chapman said village officials should bear the cost of fixing outdated stormwater drainage systems in subdivisions like Springhaven, where she currently lives, and encouraged trustees to seek federal or state grants.
“I don’t feel that residents should be the ones having to worry about how they’re going to fix X, Y or Z or come up with the funds,” she said. “We’re not the ones who built the infrastructure, we’re not the ones who are supposed to maintain it – we have no power over any of that.”
She further suggested trustees provide residents with a timeline on when they can expect to see steps taken on flood mitigation – preferably before the next flooding incident occurs.
“How long will we be waiting, worrying at the same time that our property will flood again while we’re waiting for the jobs to be completed?” Chapman said.
Village Engineer Rich Beran said the timeline for any stormwater-related project depends on available funding, the results of the bidding process and a continually shifting schedule of projects that get further out every year. However, he said the $3 million in additional funding would help speed up progress on stormwater projects.
The allocation of $3 million from village reserves came at the suggestion of Trustee Rick Lauschke during the board’s previous meeting on Sept. 15, 2026. He said the village has spent much more on road projects than stormwater infrastructure and would like to see more balanced funding for both issues going forward.
“One of the biggest frustrations … there’s nothing getting done on these stormwater projects because we just don’t have enough money,” Lauschke said. “I think we should allocate $3 million and we should level out the budget a little more on what we’re doing with stormwater and roads, and as we need to pull from it, pull from it for engineering and for the projects – so it keeps us moving, trying to get these projects off our list.”
Chapman also reiterated previous claims that her insurance company is refusing to reimburse her for home flood damage resulting from “surface water” or village-maintained stormwater drains overflowing. Trustee Gerard Fischer and Village Attorney Bryan Dooling offered to help review her insurance policy to see whether she is being improperly denied coverage.
Chapman said the issue extends beyond a single dispute with her insurance company.
“It is not just our insurance problem – this is not a problem for residents to take on themselves,” she said. “The village is also responsible here as well … my end, ultimate goal is everyone involved being responsible, being held accountable.”
Dooling noted that none of the current Village Board members were in office when many of the village’s flooding issues first began 30 years ago. If Godfrey were to seek grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Dooling advised it may be years before the village actually receives the funding.
A full recording of the Oct. 6, 2026 Godfrey Village Board meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
