A swift decision to repair its overflowing canal led to a heated debate at Thursday’s Walnutport Borough Council meeting.

Borough emergency management coordinator Mike Wentz explained there was a situation the Monday after Easter where the overflow canal blew out from the heavy rain.

Wentz said immediate action had to be taken because in the event there was any further heavy rain, that part of the canal would have been lost.

As a result, he said they had to get heavy rock, and an excavator from Lorah Excavating placed all the rock with the machine and replaced all the overflow to fix the issue.

That didn’t sit well with Councilwoman Patrice Hunsicker, who said she found out about the matter only after the fact.

Wentz said that because of the overflow, it was a situation where he had to “jump on it right away.”

He said he received the go-ahead from four council members, and noted that the cost to have the work done was about $1,500.

“This was a situation where you’re going to see a bill for excavating,” Wentz said. “Four people (council members) did say yes, the (borough secretary-treasurer) sent an email out, and it’s fixed.”

But Hunsicker questioned why an email would go out after the vote when the matter had already been approved, and that if a decision was already made, an email should have been sent out to let everyone know beforehand.

That raised the ire of council President William Turk, who noted that the situation came up, and there wasn’t time to have a meeting.

Hunsicker shot back that there are seven people on council, and that she was the only one who an email was sent out for.

“I got an email after it was already decided on,” Hunsicker said. “The point is communication; everybody else knew about it except for me.”

Hunsicker said she contacted Jeanne Boehrer, president of the Walnutport Canal Association, who informed her that council had already voted on the matter.

“My issue is letting me know last,” she said. “I called Jeanne, and she said they already voted on it.”

Wentz once again made clear why the decision was made to fix the canal.

“Their (the canal) board felt it wasn’t their responsibility,” he said. “That’s when I called, and I said we have to do something.”