A motion made by Alderman Gary Fratesi to repair some water leaks affecting certain residents and businesses produced a wave of controversy during the Indianola Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday night.
After some homeowners presented their situations and the board heard the subsequent discussion, Fratesi made a motion to make the repairs to certain locations.
“I want to make a motion that the people who bothered to come up here and say something that we get these, specifically these, because we know that we’ve got other places that are leaking, repaired within five weeks.”
Alderman Elder questioned the wording of Fratesi’s motion regarding the persons who actually showed up.
“What about the ones that didn’t know to show up tonight?” he said.
Fratesi responded, “Hey, until these people came, you didn’t know how big a problem we had. If you did, you didn’t care enough to ask them to come too.”
Rosenthal rapped the gavel to gain order. “Let’s not have any cross talk, Alderman Fratesi had the floor.”
Rosenthal then yielded the floor to Elder so he could present his point, which was that Field Operations Manager Robert Spurlock is in charge of public works.
“Now I mentioned something at that last board meeting,” Elder said.
In light of Fratesi’s motion, Elder asked Spurlock, “As acting director, can’t you prioritize yourself, what work needs to be done without us putting this to a motion?”
(The city is yet to name a public works director or an interim even though former director Jimmy Strong retired several months ago).
Fratesi insisted that he wanted a motion and began restating his motion and naming specific locations to be repaired, but Elder and Brock objected. “No, no, no, (repeated eight times) you can’t make no motion,” said Brock.
Fratesi said, “I can do anything I want. I can make the motion, I just did. The motion is on the floor. I’m trying to guarantee these people that it’s going to get done.”
Elder then said, “This ain't no farm.” And Fratesi responded, “I resent your little racial remark over there, but these people have been asking. Kidney Care has been over a year, Mrs. Butler’s finally got fixed, but it's leaking again,” he said.
Fratesi continued to speak on the need to expedite the repairs noting the length of time the citizens have been waiting for a positive response. He said basically the work is not getting done and he encouraged Spurlock to come to the board if he needed additional men. Fratesi‘s motion failed for lack of a second.
The problem is more and more water leaks are spouting up across the city and the citizens are frustrated because the leaks are affecting their property and the issue didn’t just spring up overnight, they’ve been going on for some time and getting progressively worse.
On Monday night, a Morningside Drive homeowner, who said he has been dealing with a water leak since July, presented his dilemma and a $221 repair bill for work that he had to have done due to alleged negligence on the part of a city contractor.
Michael Farr said, "Come to find out on the sprinkler system meter, and I have the bill here for that, when the contractor replaced it they didn't go back with fittings, blowout valves and etc., so I had to have that replaced." He said the water leak is costing him money. "And I don't think it's right and I don't think it's fair," he said.
According to him, water has been leaking since the last of September and he's made several calls to city personnel. He told the city leaders that because of the water leak his yard is totally saturated to the point where it cannot be walked on and the meter boxes are full of water, so his sprinkler system could not be winterized. “I'm just kinda like everybody else, just kind of frustrated," he said.
When Spurlock was queried about the situation he explained that his workers initially determined that it was the homeowner’s sprinkler system, but later determined that the problem was on the main water line.
Rosenthal told the homeowner that he could not promise that the bill would be paid by the city, but he would turn it over to the city's attorney to see what could be done.
In addition, a Virginia Street resident presented her issues, which included a waterspout on a city easement that has totally saturated her yard. She said there is water in her yard and around her meter and it bubbles up. Even though someone came to fix it during the summer, it didn't last.
She has submitted photos and text messages to the aldermen. “And I'm frustrated, I've got two big holes in my backyard and most of my backyard is underwater,” she said. Some of the aldermen have been out to inspect the site. “I've been worrying somebody since May,” she said.
Rosenthal confirmed that there is a 20-foot city easement behind her house that has a water line and a sewer main. He said the Virginia Street residence has eight clamps on three feet of pipe. "There's no question that pipe is rotten," he said.
Alderman Sam Brock also addressed Spurlock, but first assured him that his statements were not intended to be a negative reflection on him. "Mr. Spurlock, this is no damage to you. Since we've got so many water leaks in a lot of areas and I know this is a late time, but is it possible or necessary we can get somebody to help the city, the public works department catch up with these leaks because you're just getting too far behind. We've got holes over here, we have sinkholes in the streets?"
Rosenthal responded and mentioned additional leaks on Cox and Jefferson streets and advised that it would cost the city too much to hire contractors for some of the smaller jobs and suggested that Spurlock make a list of jobs where local independent plumbing contractors could bid on them.
Brock said the lingering problem is indicative of someone not doing their job because there is no sense in anyone’s water leaking that long. Rosenthal said that it is not that the department hasn't attempted to fix it, but that up and until now they did not have the proper instructions to make the repairs.
Fratesi also made a subsequent motion to have a supplemental report presented to the city fathers as part of the departmental report that lists the leaks that have been submitted, but not repaired yet. He alluded to them presently getting a report on the repaired leaks, but not the ones that have not been repaired.
Simpson seconded the motion and he, Fratesi and Alderman Ruben Woods voted yes. Rosenthal announced that the motion passed; however, Brock and Elder questioned, what motion? So, it was explained to them. And even though Brock and Elder did not audibly say yes or no, Rosenthal announced the vote as being unanimous.
Woods asked about the current process of handling work orders and Spurlock explained that the public works secretary takes the calls, completes the work orders and put them in a bin for the worker to collect and when they are completed the worker returns the completed order to the secretary so the director or an appointed person can verify that the work has been done.
Rosenthal indicated that the system is flawed and he has spoken to the secretary about it because there is not currently a check and balance type system that verifies that all of the orders that were picked up were completed.
He advised them that the reports would have to start from that day because the public works secretary has not previously been recording that information. In addition, he is also looking at some software to help with the issue. So, the information has not been getting to Spurlock.
Fratesi noted that having that information on hand could prevent the aldermen and public works department from getting calls about issues that they didn’t know about.
Elder instructed Spurlock to go and find him some professional people that could do the work. "And don't come in here asking about no eight or nine dollars," he said.
Fratesi also mentioned a meter that is placed on every water well and noted that if they could get the reports from those meters they would be able to tell how much water is being pumped out versus how much is being paid for by the citizens and they would know how much they are losing.
Elder then asked about the water bills and asked members of the audience if they have received theirs. Rosenthal said the bills had been mailed out on Friday to the best of his knowledge.
