Flood Recovery: Couple thrilled to be back where they started

CEDAR RAPIDS - On Friday, flood survivors Jon and Alice Galvin paid off their home mortgage - for the second time in their lives.

Thirty years ago, the couple thought they were done when they paid off an earlier mortgage on their longtime home at 1204 Fifth St. NW. Then the June 2008 flood destroyed their place in the heart of the Time Check neighborhood, turning them into debtors once again.

The flood did another thing, too: It transformed Jon Galvin, a happily retired factory worker, into a leading neighborhood voice and a persistent, behind-the-scenes advocate for flood victims.

“We had to push them every step of the way,” said Jon Galvin, 71, “but they came through for us.”

“They” is the government, and “us” is Galvin, his wife and what he said are many others on the city's property buyout list.

Galvin said the work of the current City Council has allowed him and his wife to pay off the mortgage on their post-flood home at 207 23rd St. NW, which cost about $50,000 more than the value of their Time Check home.

Many flood victims bought more expensive homes, because many of the affordable homes in the city were destroyed in the flood.

---- In the end, the Galvins were able to piece together funds: an early disaster payment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; down payment assistance through state Jumpstart funds and local-option sales tax money; the city's grant for lost personal possessions; and, finally, the federal- and state-funded buyout.

“We've scrimped and saved for two and half years, too,” Jon Galvin said.

The buyout came on Nov. 23. The proceeds allowed the Galvins to make the final mortgage payment of $58,131.55 on Friday.

“We've been just hoping and praying that we'd have enough money to cover our new home, and it has happened,” said Alice Galvin, 70, who continues to work full-time as a Coe College custodian.

Jon Galvin said his granddaughter, who works on disaster matters for a non-profit organization in Washington, told him early on to be patient about the buyout. That's when he said he decided, “We've got to fight for what we're going to get in the long run, and it's going to be a long fight.”

Rita Rasmussen, the city's senior real estate officer, said Friday that the city has bought out 93 properties closest to the river using FEMA funds, and four additional properties still to close on a buyout sale.

The city to date has bought out another 478 properties using federal Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grants, has 303 additional offers signed by the property owners and 112 offers still under consideration by the property owners. Another 184 properties have yet to receive offers, and owners of 131 other properties have opted out of the program.

Property owners can still register for a buyout, and when all is said and done, the city is expecting about 1,300 total, Rasmussen said.