Monticello Live

The attached audio clip is from last week’s meeting between the City of Monticello and Siemens.

The main conversation point in the meeting tended to be City Council member Claudia Hartness’ concern with “facts”, “rumor “, and “transparency”; 3 words she used a total of 18 times in 15 minutes.

Voices heard on the recording include…
Claudia Hartness, city council
Corey Carter, Siemens
Carolyn Brown, city council
Andrea Chambers, City Clerk
Unidentified Siemens representative
Chance Wright, Advance
Joe Burgess, MLive

The meeting started with Hartness stating, “It is rumored that Siemens is not doing what they’re supposed to do, and we want to get to the bottom of it.”

Corey Carter reported that the rest of the small meters should be completed this week, and that they were 96% complete at that time. The large meters (these require vaults and use of a backhoe) should begin being installed this week.

As of the meeting, 4222 meters had been installed, with 143 remaining, city-wide.

Carter also explain the automatic meter reading process to those in attendance.

Hartness ask about the rumor that water bills have been lower (since the death of Mayor Alan Maxwell). It was explained that if that was the case, it would be due to heavier rains this year (which would reduce water usage by residents).

Hartness then asked about the “$60 million” figure, which was described by Carter as “the unicorn or leprechaun at the end of the rainbow,” which in turn was explained to mean, “if every single pipe, every single hydrant, and every single tap, in the city were to be replaced.”

Carter then stated,”This project was to take care of the core items.”

“The $7.2 million allocated for this project will handle at least 70 to 80% of the city’s leaks,” added Carter.

Hartness also brought to the groups attention the rumor the project “was not bid properly.” Siemens quickly responded that they had nothing to do with the bidding process.

Chance, from the Advance, asked when line-work would begin; Carter responded it would begin in August.

Joe,with MonticelloLive.com, ask if a map had been prepared showing water lines to be repaired (3 times), but couldn’t get a “yes or no” answer from Carter.

After the meeting, the city council members rode out, together, to see the work being done by city employees at the new site at the industrial complex.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2014 at 7:00 am and is filed under City, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.