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11/6/2007
Outrage at this water plant business
A couple of weeks ago, FoxPolitics News included a Wausau Daily Herald article detailing weakened bridge supports and a portion of the bridge deck needing replacement. The DOT “ordered the builder of the McCleary Bridge to tear down and replace a weak bridge support and a portion of the attached bridge deck."
The bridge construction company did the repairs. On their dime. They insisted the problem was not the result of shoddy workmanship. ‘We have not been told that this is a workmanship issue. Nobody is really sure what happened yet.” [Emphasis is mine.]
Imagine that. Now, are we sure of what happened with the water plant? Do we know where to affix blame? NO. Did that stop these bridge guys? NO. Has it stopped the water folks? Dead in their tracks – and the Common Council is forced to approve more and more millions to fix the damn thing. Dang it.
Was it Minneapolis?
Back to the bridge. Records revealed the DOT was aware of concrete problems in August, 2005. Crews initiated repairs in June 2007 “and in August informed the DOT of the more severe problem…”
Did public fears and outrage following the August 1 collapse of Minneapolis’ I35 bridge have anything to do with the strong line the DOT took with the bridge builder? Well, probably.
Ok, so in Wausau it was a bridge – declared unsafe enough to require an immediate fix. Here we’ve got just a plain ol’ water plant (yeah – a $54 million water plant that’s now requiring up to $21 million in fixes – geez) with an inefficient filtration system and corroding pipes all over the place.
It’s time for some outrage. Big time outrage from us ratepayers.
Let Utilities Director Michael Buettner make sure we have quality water. Keep him going on drastically ramping up the quantity of water produced. And have these guys painstakingly drive up their productivity still further and drive down their operating costs. (We’re looking at a negative $2.6 million cash balance in 2008. Great, just great.)
Then Mayor Hanna and City Attorney Walsh – you guys take the gloves off and fight- or negoatiate or whatever the heck you’ve been doing all this time. It’s way past time to make the ratepayers whole on this mess. Whole. Not just what now appears to be a measly $5 million in capped liability insurance protection.
Whole. I’m outraged. I’ve been outraged since the very beginning of the construction of this dang water plant, with documents to go with the outrage. Seven years you guys have been working on getting this right? It’s time. And it’s time all of us got outraged and stayed outraged until the plant is fixed – at no more cost to the ratepayer.
And Mayor Hanna says “Was it designed wrong? I don’t know if that’s the right word,” he said. “With any kind of a process like this you are going to look to make improvements.” Geez. Something’s wrong. Dang it. Pretend it’s the bridge. Get it fixed. Get the damn thing fixed. And not on my dime.
COMMENTS
Jo,
I agree - why in the world do we just keep getting higher taxes?! These politicans need to earn their pay, and not keep passing their problems onto the tax base. And stop with all the expensive "studies" too!
Mike P. (Tue Nov 06 07:58:11 2007)
Good point, as always Jo.
Unfortunately for all of us, there is a distinction between what will be done and what should be done. Only rarely (ie: Wausau) is the right thing done...
Adam Delikowski (Tue Nov 06 10:04:15 2007)
Jo,
It is really outrageous that we have not had any answers forthcoming in all of this time. I have just sent a message to Mayor Hanna regarding this and reminded him that I would remember this at election time.
I don't really expect an answer from him as he has not seemed to have been truly concerned with this fiasco to date.
(Tue Nov 06 10:13:51 2007)
I agree. The guts of this thing should be thrown in a dumpster and a new tried and true techology should be put in it's place. Chasing this with more filters and an expansion of the treatment plant is not the right idea. A pipe to Lake Michigan would solve the water problems for all of the fox cities not just Appleton.Walter Kalata was on the radio this morning talking about it and you could tell he was shaking his head at the system and it's shortcomings. What is happening to the possibility of having water to sell to outside entities? Or are we now just attempting to get enough water out of it to service our own needs? Part of the sales pitch at the time this technology was accepted was that we were going into the business of selling large quantities of water to help recoup our costs of this expensive venture.
Selling water to others is currently just a "pipe" dream. We don't have the cold weather volume yet - and we need to sell water to ease the rate pressure on current customers. Not good. JE
Mike (Tue Nov 06 12:09:36 2007)
My question: Why does no one have an answer to what is really the solution to this Fifty four Plus million monster we have paid for, and does not work?
Secondly, what input are we getting from the people who built the plant? When does anyone step to the plate and take a little responsibility? Don 't expect it to come from silly hall.
(Thu Nov 08 19:53:55 2007)
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