Letter to the Editor: Questions for the Waukon City Council

To the Editor:

I have been having a bad night; somehow (I think) I got hold of some potato salad that may have been more than a couple days old. But during my sleepless night I pondered the letter I had received in the mail, dated 10-25-2018. The return address was “City of Waukon”.

The important message was that my property is not covered with Exterior Water Line Coverage from Service Line Warrants of America, which has partnered with the City of Waukon to offer the coverage to eligible home owners. But for peace of mind, I could buy this protection for just $6.33 per month or just $75.96 annually.

My question is, why would the City of Waukon partner with a Pennsylvania company to rob the people of Waukon? Assuming that maybe 1,000 homeowners’ water lines are in the city, why should residents of this town send $75,000 per year to a firm like that? Of course, it would be a voluntary program, but this appears to me as a possible fraud, and I am wondering how this partnership get started. Did the City contact them or was this a phishing expedition from a company that figured a two or three percent response could be very profitable for them. There are a million cities to contact and in those cities a two or three percent response could be real money.

I recently received a water bill and noted that it is considerably higher then previous. Yes, I know that we are building a new sewer plant. There are seven items listed on that bill. Water is 65 cents per one hundred gallons, sewer is 99 cents per one hundred gallons, plus a 6% tax on the water.

Then there is garbage, yard waste, storm water and infrastructure.

Do you really think we should protect our underground water lines for $75,000 per year? In 26 years, I’ve had one water line problem, caused by the City when it allowed a contractor to cement in all the curb stops in a new sidewalk. The City had to pay for that repair.

As long as I am writing, I may as well give you a full load. We on Third Avenue NW paid thousands of dollars to improve our street. The east end of the block got cement. The rest of us got our cement busted up and covered with a couple inches of asphalt. Third Street NE got concrete and paid dearly for it. Recently, First Avenue NE got a couple inches of blacktop-asphalt. We all paid for that. Property owners were not assessed. Are the rest of the streets and avenues going to get the same treatment?

On Third Avenue NW, we get maintenance every year or two - tar the cracks.

This city has some expertise. We have a city attorney, a city engineer and a city manager. I hope they are paid well enough to actually spend time on the city planning. I see the council as not necessarily having the time nor expertise to do a really good job. No, I am not running for council. As an old retired farmer, that would be beyond my abilities.

The one thing I do now know is that we need to be careful on the potato salad.

Respectfully,
Herb Larkin
Waukon