Sympathy was all the Minot City Council could offer at a special meeting held on Wednesday, April 22, to discuss a watermain break that flooded a resident’s basement.

The council denied a request from Judy Nelson for reimbursement for unspecified damages, but the city will look into a potential option that could protect residents in similar situations in the future.

A memo to the council from Public Works Utilities Director Jason Sorenson laid out the scenario that led to Wednesday’s meeting.

The city water department had responded to a watermain break in front of 917 3rd St. NW on March 17 and found water surfacing from the ground in front of the house. The owner of the residence, Judy Nelson, made the staff aware that water had entered the home.

The break appeared to be caused by ground shifting due to warmer temperatures, lifting the frost underground. Frost also prevented the leaking water from surfacing in the street, so it followed an old trench where the water and sewer services were installed, surfacing closer to the house, where frost was thinner.

On March 18, the department was called back. The same pipe failed a few feet away from the previous break, which is not uncommon when repressurizing older cast iron watermains, according to Sorenson. Staff made repairs but were unaware at the time that additional water had entered the residence.

In addition to written correspondence received by the city, Nelson spoke to the council at its meeting on Monday, April 20, to seek payment for damages estimated at $10,000. Her home insurer had declined a claim, stating the fault lies with the city. The city’s insurer, North Dakota Insurance Reserve Fund, denied the claim on the grounds the city has no control over the frost line and the side effects of seasonal freeze/thaw cycles.

Council member Mike Hayes said Wednesday that paying for items outside the city’s control and outside of insurance sets a bad precedent.

Council member Mike Blessum said the unfortunate part is there is no good solution for the homeowner.

“Your normal homeowner’s policy will not cover it. Any water moving across land is not covered in that way. You can buy National Flood Insurance, which would cover it, but people on North Hill are not going to buy National Flood Insurance, he said.

“There’s a very unfortunate hole here that’s at play, and I’m very saddened by it. At the same time, I don’t see another action we can take other than this one, and I don’t like that. I really don’t. But it is the situation that we find ourselves in,” Blessum said.

Council member Rob Fuller said his understanding is there now is an insurance rider to cover these situations.

“We’re going to deny this and we’re going to turn it down, but my only recommendation then would be for the city to take a serious look at adding that rider to our insurance policy,” he said.

If the infrastructure that residents’ taxes are paying for breaks, the right thing for the city to do is help them, Fuller said.

“But we can’t. So going forward, I would like to at least see that we’ve contemplated putting that rider into place so that we can help people if this does happen anymore in our community,” he said.

City Manager Tom Joyce said staff will look into the rider option.