To the editor:

I’m astounded that with the projected expenditures, we approved moving forward on a splash pad and even more by a follow up letter that said we should instead do an aquatic center. There have been offers of donations toward the splash pad, but they don’t cover even half of the projected expense or the expense for the water which is projected to increase 50% in the next two years. It would also take away income from the current pool which we will have to address if we then want to keep the pool going.

The idea of an aquatic center and the money needed for that can’t even be contemplated. I’m even more astonished the city council approved to move ahead on the splash pad. Is Electrolux moving back to town? Is Arrow Acme restarting? The council needs to rethink the commitment.

I’m even more astonished that from the comments, the council was aware of the problems with the water plant and did nothing sooner. I would like to see the technical inspection sheet for the water plant and the potential issues for regulatory compliance that they present and I’m pretty sure a lot of other people are interested also. I’m one of those that had to replace the water lines in my house due to the soft water issues. That problem was not something caused overnight but by a long period of neglect. The rule of thumb is hard water scales and soft water eats pipe. Is this the cause of our water plant problems? The water plant is not that old so back to the TI sheet, what is and what caused our problems?

The wastewater plant also has issues and I read where the plant has obsolete controls and pumps. I also remember when we had to install digesters and the first set never came close to their life expectancy and we had to install new ones. At that time we were told it would handle a city twice the size of Webster City and it has shrunk almost 30% since then. Having worked with companies like 3E, have we consulted other possibilities while we try and work our way through to financial responsibility? It may be inevitable but as has been stated, we knew a long time ago and did nothing.

As far as the electrical upgrades, what are we looking at? How about project scopes and timelines? Apparently for too long we blindly believed we had people we could trust and didn’t bother to ask, so how about putting out the project scope and time lines along with a paper by the three departments explaining what is wrong in their respective areas?

Michael Dingman

Webster City