Mayor Says New Water Well Needed

At Monday's Council meeting Mayor Kant requested the Council authorize him to negotiate a price for 2 lots of land behind the Leo Keller Fire Station (on Ingleside Dr.) to be used for a new water well. Engineer Ack Moore (formerly of Moore Engineering) said there is an existing (1950s vintage) 800 ft. "deep well" on the property, but its iron content is much too high and would need to be extensively filtered. "Its very expensive (to treat) . . . about $700,000 for a treatment plant," said Moore. Moore went on to explain that 2 less deep water "strata" are probably available there-- that may require less expensive filtering; but that 2 test wells need to be drilled at the site to find out (costing about $45,000 each). When Councilman Ford asked if the test wells could be drilled on adjacent city (fire station) property, Moore replied that may be possible; but the additional land will be needed anyway for the machinery/ filtering buildings. Realtor/Councilman Ford --who claims to be representing them pro bono--went on to say the property owners need to know if the City wants the land (or not) as soon as possible. Mayor Kant: "(We) always wanted to buy the land anyway (regardless of the water's high iron content) to use in an emergency but couldn't locate the owners. It's a good source of water in the middle of town, on our own electricity . . . If worst comes to worst, we could put in the ($700,000) filtering plant." In an added twist, Councilman Ford revealed the City's Building Inspector-- Barry Fulford-- wants to condemn an old house on the property, if the City doesn't move forward. Councilors Quinn and Kingrea also expressed concerns about the total cost-- and someone suggested negotiating to buy the land "conditionally": that the proposed test wells reveal better water available there, that would not require such expensive filtering. The Council unanimously authorized the Mayor/City Attorney/Ford to negotiate a purchase price for the land. [Publisher's notes: During intermittent system failures elsewhere, low water pressure has been an ongoing concern at near-by Thomas Hospital.]

Comments

Anonymous said…
a million dollars for one water well? I dont think so.
mamamia said…
the Mayor's says a lot of things that aren't necessarily true.
Anonymous said…
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Pirate Mom said…
i hope somebody with more credibility studies it before spending that much.
Anonymous said…
i heard the same engineering company that got the no bid sewer extension contract south of town is after this one too. friends in high places