Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts

Monday, April 17, 2023

Infrastructure Water Problems are a Local and National Concern

 

Image by rony michaud from Pixabay 

Infrastructure water problems in older communities across the nation are a concern that both the Federal government and State governments are stepping-up to the plate to begin funding of major water projects in the United States.

  1. Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC)
  2. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law water funding
  3. Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act (WIFIA)
Cities, communities, towns and counties are addressing the amount of water infrastructure problems. Some have created new positions to hire an in-house engineer or there is the standard contract labor for engineers.

Hiring an in-house engineer is costly based on the professional salary and hiring availability.
An engineering firm with their own project managers that handle multiple areas is the normal means of getting needed work done. 

Either way, these are the professionals that understand the work, have the expertise to look for the funding and the knowledge needed for filling out the paperwork for projects needed.

Over the past four months, CNj has submitted FOIA forms every month to obtain a copy of a contract between Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District (HISID) and Engineering Services Inc. (ESI) Jeff Dehnhardt, P.E. (project engineer).

CNj also includes an FOIA for all paid billing statements and invoices since October 2020 to date. (4/13/2023 last FOIA request.)

The community of Holiday Island has known since January 2022 that the area has $1.4 Million in water infrastructure problems. 

The HISID board of directors (BOC) announced in December 2022, during final budget planning, that HISID did not receive the grant they had submitted for $1.4 Million. 

What is really being processed? All FOIA requests for the ESI contract and the paid billing / invoices from ESI from Oct. 2020 to April 13, 2023 return the answer every time that there are none.

This is the schedule for applying for ANRC grants, which is what the district manager states is being processed.



CNj attended a Bid Opening on April 13, 2023 for PRVs at the HISID district office just to ask Jeff Dehnhardt in person if he had a contract. His answer was NO.

The bid opening was short. There were NO bids to open.
There was NO district manager present either.

A detailed advertisement was placed one time in both the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (March 12, 2023) and the Carroll County News (March 14, 2023). 

The last contract on file for ESI Jeff Dehnhardt, P.E. was in 2017.
The contract pricing six-years-ago had the rate for a small project like PRVs at $2000 to prepare and $500 to be present for the bid opening.

Before leaving, this editor asked Jeff Dehnhardt for permission, which he granted, to ask HISID Chair Phyllis Sarratt to give this person a contract!

Her response with a giggle, "we just tell people he likes us."
Mayor Dan Kees was also present. He was on the HISID BOC in 2017. The last year that a proper contract was written with former District Manager Lawrence Blood and ESI.


Friday, June 17, 2022

HISID BOC Cancels June Workshop

Rebecca L. Sherman  June 17, 2022
Opinion

The reporting that I was expecting to write, hit a dead-end when my local government decided to cancel a workshop meeting slated for June 20, 2022. This particular workshop was to be held by the Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District (HISID) located in Northwest Arkansas. 

The HISID BOC hires a District Manager to oversee all functions for maintaining the district that includes a Fire, Water / Sewer and Road departments. Every year this board sets the budget and issues the Tax Assessment due in October, while the district then operates on projected numbers collected from property owners; resident and non-resident.

Two years ago, a social media platform was utilized to persuade residents to vote in favor of becoming a City. This voting group is different than a SID. A City is all residents. Property ownership is not what counts. Just a registered voter. 

The HISID BOC had invited the City elected officials to the table for this workshop session that was officially Canceled on June 16 (notification to the press.)

A HISID workshop meeting only requires two BOC officials to hold a workshop meeting and hear concerns and questions from the public. There is no actions to be taken by the BOC. In the past this area has utilized this open meeting format with great success. In these current times of social media chatter, a workshop would have a positive effect regarding information especially for a reporter.

Questions such as:
  1. Rumor has it that the water levels are low in the fire hydrants? A fireman quit because of this? There are broken hydrants? The insurance fire rating has dropped?
  2. HISID has assigned Stateline Road to the new City of Holiday Island? The City that has no road department, will the City pay the SID for maintaining this 911 roadway? When winter comes, Who plows it? Who pays for the equipment, employee salary and the chemicals needed? 
  3. Follow-up question: Will the HISID AOB be reduced on the next Tax Assessment?
  4. Why is HISID allowing all of the VRBO, AirB&B lodgings in what the covenants clearly state are residential ONLY areas? Is HISID collecting commercial rates on the  tax assessment? Residents in the Blue Water Circle area have complained that they are paying commercial rates on residential living areas. When will the HISID planning commission address all of these concerns? Is there even an active HISID planning commission? This is not a City problem.
  5. The Water Department is a HISID business. The rumor has it that the Federal Government has many grants for local Water Departments. Any HISID staff looking into this opportunity? Well #1 was just repaired under emergency actions. There are only two active potable wells, #4 and #5, that carry the water load for the greater Holiday Island area. These wells were not originally functioning as the sole wells to provide for drinking water to the residents of Holiday Island. Are you meandering the water from these wells in order to cover the mainland? 
  6. Follow-up question: The Water: With the fire department rurmor of low water pressure in the hydrants and only two active wells for both drinking water and hydrants: Why is the focus on the new swimming pool building? This expense appears as a cart before the horse type of thinking. It is a private pool. Even the thinking, "you have to spend money to make money," Residents are trying to speak-out and let it be heard that they want clean drinking water and a home that has a fire department with water to fight any type of fire.
Now, if the HISID BOC had not Canceled their scheduled workshop meeting for June 20, 2022, imagine how many other comments, questions and points-of-view might have been offered at a workshop for the community.