Rahway Mayor Rick Proctor announced this week that the next meeting of the Mayors Council on Rahway River Watershed Flood Control will be held in Rahway on Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. 

The council grew out of the regional mayors’ flood control conference that was held in October at Union College in Cranford.

The was started as a joint effort to work toward mitigation of flooding in towns along the Rahway River, which was made worse by Irene and highlighted by damages sustained in those towns. 

In an email, Proctor said " We are leading the effort to find a regional approach to flood control given the damages communities experienced from Hurricane Irene. The City of Rahway faced significant damages and we were close to potentially facing a devastating breach that could have hit our downtown."

The nine Mayors participating in the Mayors Council include Mayors from Cranford, Garwood, Winfield Park, Millburn, Springfield, Union, West Orange, Kenilworth and Rahway. Other communities are also expected to become involved as projects develop.

The agenda will include development of additional opportunities for acquisition of properties that have experienced repetitive loss from flooding; discussion of a review of the bridges along Rahway River that may affect flood control, a status of the US Army Corp of Engineers alternatives for regional flood control, a model stormwater ordinance and a legislative strategy. 

The Mayor's group has recently requested in excess of $20 million to implement flood storage and other infrastructure projects.