IT’S DISCOURAGING. Loyaltonians are enduring another year of tighter watering restrictions in extreme heat waiting for water line repair and now hear of all the mistakes having been made. Where we used to water a few hours twice a day, two times a week, we now water only three hours twice a week.
Loyalton’s licensed Water System Operator Kenny Bennett addressed the July 16th City Council meeting and told of mistakes made.
He called the Van Daam leak not the problem and called it “minute.” He told of a 10” main taken out which never should have been removed and water now pushing through 4” and 6” lines. He told of “huge problems” with pressure and hoping replacing the 10” main will fix the pressure but that isn’t all the problem. He was in favor of getting the infrastructure raise to fix First and Church Street where if they pull off more than one hydrant, it would collapse lines. He told of having taken out the 10” main with nothing put in its place. Under question from the audience, Kenny named Farr West, now DOWL’s engineer. He told of having called a special meeting with them and explained what is happening now. He said Farr West disagreed and convinced the City Council. They finished the job against City workers’ advice. He stressed that as “fact” on what happened and mistakes were made and they are now doing their “very best” to fix.
Kenny took a lot of credit for the fix, logging in a lot of overtime, much of it donated he said, but which has raised a lot of eyebrows. He continued to tell how he is finding ways to manipulate to run the well at full capacity which is hard on it if not at full capacity. He said Well 3 was up and ready to fire if needed and Kenny told how he’d manually gotten sand out.
But as a result of his efforts, Kenny said many people were admittedly trying to compromise and destroy our water system and burn out the well. He would not name names but he said they are watering 24/7.
He said their idea was for the State to come in or to form a utility district to “save the day” and make everything better. Council member Joy Markum suggested they contact Flint, Michigan and told how the State would not help our water system. Kenny added the State was not obligated to help and the City has neglected too long and not raised rates.
We all hope and support the City getting the $2 million Federal Appropriations. We pay the most we’ve ever paid along with a $300/year Water Infrastructure Fee. And the City now has the most paid employees lacking a City manager and bookkeeper. There’s never a time to sabotage your City and it seems criminal to see the price paid for what is now said to be mistakes. It has shades of prior experience with Eco:Logic.
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Loyalton’s licensed Water System Operator Kenny Bennett addressed the July 16th City Council meeting and told of mistakes made.
He called the Van Daam leak not the problem and called it “minute.” He told of a 10” main taken out which never should have been removed and water now pushing through 4” and 6” lines. He told of “huge problems” with pressure and hoping replacing the 10” main will fix the pressure but that isn’t all the problem. He was in favor of getting the infrastructure raise to fix First and Church Street where if they pull off more than one hydrant, it would collapse lines. He told of having taken out the 10” main with nothing put in its place. Under question from the audience, Kenny named Farr West, now DOWL’s engineer. He told of having called a special meeting with them and explained what is happening now. He said Farr West disagreed and convinced the City Council. They finished the job against City workers’ advice. He stressed that as “fact” on what happened and mistakes were made and they are now doing their “very best” to fix.
Kenny took a lot of credit for the fix, logging in a lot of overtime, much of it donated he said, but which has raised a lot of eyebrows. He continued to tell how he is finding ways to manipulate to run the well at full capacity which is hard on it if not at full capacity. He said Well 3 was up and ready to fire if needed and Kenny told how he’d manually gotten sand out.
But as a result of his efforts, Kenny said many people were admittedly trying to compromise and destroy our water system and burn out the well. He would not name names but he said they are watering 24/7.
He said their idea was for the State to come in or to form a utility district to “save the day” and make everything better. Council member Joy Markum suggested they contact Flint, Michigan and told how the State would not help our water system. Kenny added the State was not obligated to help and the City has neglected too long and not raised rates.
We all hope and support the City getting the $2 million Federal Appropriations. We pay the most we’ve ever paid along with a $300/year Water Infrastructure Fee. And the City now has the most paid employees lacking a City manager and bookkeeper. There’s never a time to sabotage your City and it seems criminal to see the price paid for what is now said to be mistakes. It has shades of prior experience with Eco:Logic.
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