B93 Bash car removal starts Saturday

Cars stranded at the Ionia County fairgrounds for a week due to flooding during the B93 Birthday Bash will begin to be removed Saturday, 24 Hour News 8 has learned.

A plan announced Wednesday said the car removal would begin on Monday. However, officials moved up the time frame because the flooding has receded enough to begin the process.

Ionia officials are putting up a mobile command post at the staging area where stranded cars are going to be moved from the flood plain. Owners can pick them up at that spot beginning Saturday at noon.

"Obviously we didn't get the rain on Thursday like we thought we were," said Ionia city manager Jason Eppler. "It's dried up quicker than we thought and we thought we might as well take advantage of the dry weather and sunshine and start moving cars."

Personnel from B93 will start calling the first group of owners Friday night to schedule them to pick up their cars Wreckers will start moving those cars around 10 a.m. Owners will be responsible for either driving them away, if possible, or having them towed to a garage.

"There'll be a location for the insurance companies," Eppler said. "We've heard from several of the major carriers who want to have adjusters right here on site to work with the individuals they have insured."

He believes it will still take about five days to move all the cars.

Not only are car owners facing potential costs. The Ionia taxpayers are on the hook for police overtime, and B93 has a growing bill.

"We're keeping track of our expenses," Eppler told 24 Hour News 8. "I have not seen a tally for the last couple of days in terms of our overtime expenses, and Clear Channel (Radio) is handliing such things as refunds and towing costs and so on."

B93 executive Tim Feagan wouldn't say how much his company is spending on moving the cars out of this flood plane. He would say only that they're trying to do the right thing and sometimes that costs a lot of money.

More details are posted on the B93 website.