Water dispute: Mayor opposes funds for Stutsman Rural Water
January 25, 2013 at 12:30 am in The Jamestown Sun
Jamestown Mayor Katie Andersen testified Thursday against a bill that would provide $9.97 million in funding for Stutsman Rural Water District’s expansion.
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I find it reprehensible that a mayor of Jamestown testified against a bill that would have benefited 750+ families in Stutsman county, many of whom likely work and/or shop in Jamestown.
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The extension of water lines will likely spur new development, with the majority of new residents spending money in Jamestown for their daily needs. It seems the rural residents in the area should just boycott Jamestown for any of their shopping or needs, since they are being strong armed! The bickering over water to Jamestown Hospital is small town politics at its best!
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It’s pretty sad that the mayor is putting politics ahead of the needs of the people.
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Now that the mayor is trying to block the funding for Stutsman County Rural Water, will she let people get water from her house so they can have water? Hopefully the citizens of Jamestown will make sure she is a one term Mayor. Is this how you want your city represented?
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Thanks Mrs. Mayor for responding to this article and comments. I do like a public offical that is not afraid to participate in a little “civic engagement”. You are correct in stating it does not appear that you are opposed to the bill, but want something in return for the support. As Rep. Mike Brandenburg stated in the article an admendment will only make a simple bill more complicated and difficult to pass, casuing no one to win. If you have an issue with territorial transfer, there is a seperate venue to address that issue. These tatics are often something seen in Washington to muddy up the political process and should be used in citizen legislature.
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“should not be used”
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Those who disagree with what the mayor said please explain what is incorrect in her testimony? I see a lot of knee-jerk uneducated posts. I would be angry too if the City was the culprit but the City is not trying to deny anyone clean water; they would have nothing to gain by that action. A very good question was posted; why won’t SCRW honor the agreement they signed? The bottom line is if SCRW would honor the agreement this would not be an issue.
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The bottom line is that the Mayor is using any means at her disposle to meet her wishes. Tell me again how it won’t affect people getting rural water if she succeeds in blocking the bill. I stand my original post and I doubt that it is uneducated. If it smells like a skunk it’s more than likely a skunk.
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Rarely is doing the right thing is easy or popular.
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Well the city is certainly not doing doing the right thing. There are other means to settle the dispute than putting people’s water at risk. Maybe you would like to donate water to people who have to haul their water, or maybe you realize that a lot of people have to haul water. Don’t try to elevate the cities priorities because it certainly is not the people of Stutsman County.
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The city is willing to compromise the whole rural water project over the Titan Machinery dispute. The fact that 750 families are being used as leverage by the city is pathetic.
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As a citizen of Jamestown, my concern is about how the Mayor is representing the city of Jamestown to the state government. Yes, this appears to be a dispute over a water contract, but in my opinion, Katie Anderson is making this a personal issue and is looking to punish SCWD to make a point. She stood up yesterday and testified against providing water service to 450 families in the communities surrounding hers. What does that make Jamestown look like to the legislators and other communities? Are those people going to now take their business to Fargo or Bismarck? I don’t think we can afford to lose more business in Jamestown.
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Did the city council vote to have her testify in their behalf against the funding? Or was she taking it upon herself to speak? Why is there a disagreement? Would there be a disagreement if the city treated the rural people and land owners better? Why did the city annex the property before it was determined who has the water supply rights to the area?
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SCRW should live up to their agreement, and the city should continue talks rather than making everyone look bad with this dispute. The Mayor’s forceful attitude stinks on this issue, and should best be resolved soon with a mediator instead of blocking a worthwhile rural project. Sadly, as one person already put it, our Mayor thinks only with her political future.
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I also do not understand why water is considered a business venture instead of a public good. The debate is not about service quality or access, but about getting the most money from a project. On the margins, one water service is the same as the other. Both agencies view Jamestown Hospital and its surrounding property as a quick way to increase their money chest. Large quanities of water will be used in a relatively small space, , leading to a fast recovery rate due to reduced economy of scale on infrastructure cost. The issue would be totally different if the property was developed as large lot single homes causing a longer term return on investment and lower water rates. I am relatively new to the area, but it seems water ownership should have been worked out prior to construction or even land zoning/annexation?
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Facepalm – Good point in your above post: “it seems water ownership should have been worked out prior to construction or even land zoning/annexation?”
I believe it was worked out and that is the agreement that is now being argued about. If there was an agreement in place I will ask again WHY is it not being honored??
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As mentioned, I am new to the area so not familar with the process or history. If an agreement was signed, sealed, and delievered, I too wonder why it is not being honored. Legal? Technical? Procedural? Remorse? Someone had shinier ball? However, matter the reason the progess of people or communities not involved in the disagreement should suffer consequences.
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“not suffer” proof-readin is hard!
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This dispute needs to be settled by a judge not by politicians. How clearly is this contract written, is it precise in its description of the property involved, are there maps? Is it worth the paper it is written on? Should SCRW honor it and go away? Why doesn’t SCRW want to honor it? This is a terrible situation for any government body or organization to put people in. The city has much more to lose than SCRW.
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I couldn’t agree more! It does nobody any good then to have this drag on. I am a rural water user and I know what it is like to have poor quality water. This could be such a win-win for all parties involved. It bothers me that this has all appearances of two grumpy old men who have no desire to resolve this. Surely there can be some common ground that can be found, even if it takes an outside party to help mediate. Please both sides resolve this for the sake of rural residents and the future growth of the city.
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Looks like we may need to put fine print under the billboards leaving fargo asking for businesses to come to jamestown because we have land to develop.
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We are one of the 750 families affected by this bill. This is a slap in the face to us. I understand the mayor thinks she is representing the city’s best interest but this a very, very, poor way to approach it. The SRW expansion is a completely separate issue from Jamestown’s dispute with them. She says she supports the expansion but the fact that her actions could kill or delay the project again show that she really does not. To testify in front of the legislature like that she obviously has no concept of our everyday reality. Let me enlighten you..
We purchased our farmstead in the fall of 2011. The water situation was not ideal and made financing the place very difficult. However, we were supposed to get rural water last summer (2012), we wanted to be out in the country and there was no other housing available in the Carrington area.
Our well is over half a mile away from our house in a pasture owned by someone else. My worst fear is that in the middle of winter something goes wrong with the well. We would probably only be able to access it by tractor and there are so many places between our house and the well where it could freeze, spring a leak, whatever. If something went wrong it would take us immense amounts of time and money to fix it. I have had many sleepless nights thinking about our water situation.
As the water enters our house, it goes through a sediment filter. These filters cost $30 each plus shipping because no stores in the area can get them. They are supposed to be changed every three months but sometimes the power goes out to our pump and the filters plug up so we have to replace them sooner. We also have a water softener. The salt for that cost about $7 a bag and we go through about 2 in a month. Even with all this, the water still turns my laundry orange. We do not drink the water, I have to bring a bunch of jugs into town to fill every week and haul them home. It costs about .50 per gallon. Rural water would save us time, save us money and reduce our risk infinitely.
As I mentioned we were supposed to get rural water this past summer. However, the expansion project bid in higher than expected and the state would not issue any more money at the time so us and I think about 75 others got cut from the project. The lines they did do near Woodworth last summer are pretty much all ready to go, they just can’t flip the switch yet because of this delay. This fall I heard the good news that the state is willing to fund the rest of the project. I just cannot believe that someone this close to home is trying to stop it.
My understanding of her testimony is that she does not want Stutsman RW to borrow any more money from the Federal Government because it would affect this contract they have with the City of Jamestown. How then does she expect them to pay for it? Government intervention is necessary for things like rural water because a market inequality exists. Unlike in cities, we live too far away from other households for private industry to make a profit on providing us with water. The only way we will have access to a water utility is if the state and/or government helps with the cost of putting it in. I guess the effects of borrowing federal money should have been addressed in the contract to begin with. It is not mine, nor any of the 749 others problem.
Trying to cease progress because of an argument that should be settled between adults is not good process. I go to Jamestown at least three times a month and spend a lot of money there, but since the mayor is trying to prevent my family from having a good, reliable source of water I think I will take my shopping elsewhere.
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*my husband corrected me-our well is actually over a mile away from our house.
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Let me see if I have this right. You bought a farm house out in the country with the hope or belief that it would get water service. Did you have anything in writing that said you would get this water service? Didn’t think so. Now you complain because you do not have good water? Are you also the type of person who would move next to an airport and complain that the planes are too loud? How is it Jamestown’s fault or problem that people buy out in the country to avoid property taxes of the city and then whine because they don’t have city services?
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Yes, in fact, Stan Giglio I had a paper saying we were signed up for the Stutsman Rural Water expansion and confirmation that the project was moving forward. We were supposed to have rural water within a year. Had you read my post, you would have seen that.
I will ignore the rest of your comment because 1. you obviously have no understanding of life outside your bubble and 2. you are the type of person who criticizes others for standing up for themselves and what they believe.
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Excellent post. It’s just too bad some people don’t understand the water problems facing rural areas. If they had to live with those issues, I bet some attitudes would be changed.
Rural residents = pawns in a political game.
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