City will help pay for water snafu

The City of Custer will pay around $2,500 to help pay for excavation required to hook water back up to a Crook Street trailer after the service to the trailer was accidentially cut through abandonment of an existing water line due to new construction on a lot adjacent to the property.
The decision was made at the Oct. 16 meeting of the Custer City Council after the council heard from Rory Halverson, who spoke on behalf of his parents, longtime Custer residents who own the trailer to which the water was cut.
The neighboring property to the west was purchased and the city subsequently vacated some of the property frontage and replaced the existing curb stop for the property as it was not working. The property owner, Josh Furse, then ran a new service line from the new curb stop to the new home.
Unbeknownst to all involved, the abandoned service line, according to city public works director Zack Brown, fed the service line that traveled to the Halverson trailer, which meant when the old line was abandoned it cut off water service to the Halverson trailer.
Halverson wrote in a letter to the city that when he went to his parents’ trailer Sept. 6 to turn the water on for their arrival for a few days (they have since moved out of town but maintain the home) he discovered there was no water to the property. He estimated the water had probably been off for a couple of months by that point.
“My parents had nothing to do with this,” he said. “They are not responsible for having the water shut off to their house. They did nothing wrong.”
Halverson also said Furse was not at fault, as he had followed directions from the city exactly as to where to excavate the water main and tap for the new curb stop at his property.
Because it was the city that cut the water to the trailer, Halverson said, he was seeking reimbursement for the cost of excavation to install a new line to the family trailer. Installing a new line and curb stop is the desired solution for the city.
Alderwoman Jeannie Fischer said the water line to the trailer did not go to the city’s water main, but instead went across the adjacent property, but Halverson said the part of the property it ran across was city property before the vacation.
“Your folks didn’t have a water line that attached to the city’s water main,” Brown said.
“How do you know that, Zack?” Halverson asked.
“Because you would still have water,” Brown said.
Halverson said the city couldn’t assume the Halverson line was tapped off the abandoned Furse line, saying it could have been the other way around, and that there is a water line on the property and the city’s maps are wrong. The city has no way to know where private service lines go, although curb stops are mapped. The Halverson property did have a curb stop on the map.
Alderwoman Peg Ryan said the issue was discussed at a recent Public Works Committee meeting, and while the committee was willing to support the city paying for a new curb stop and waive tap fees, bringing a service line to the curb stop is the responsibility of the landowner.
“We understand it’s not their fault, not your fault. In a lot of ways, it’s not our fault,” Ryan said. “These things may have happened years ago and obviously nobody knew about it. The possibility is we are setting a precedent (to pay for the excavation) because we have a lot of older stuff throughout the city. We don’t know for sure this isn’t going to happen again.”
Alderman Todd Pechota disagreed, saying the situation before the council was extenuating circumstances.
“I’m not pointing fingers. I’m certainly not pointing it at Zack. I’m not pointing it at the Furses, and I’m not pointing it at the Halversons,” he said. “I feel there are too many unknowns. We can’t place entire blame on anybody. It happened.”
Pechota ultimately made a motion, that was unanimously passed, that will see the city pay for the excavation, as well as waive tap fees and install a new curb stop for the Halverson property. The Halversons will also be reimbursed for the water bills they received while there was no water running to the property. A request to reimburse the Halversons for money they had to spend on hotel rooms while in town due to not having water at their property was not a part of the passed motion.
It was made clear the city will not do the digging, as it is a liability issue, but rather, will pay for a contractor hired by the Halversons to do the digging, with the quote for the work being presented as the aforementioned $2,500.
“This is nobody’s fault. It is what it is at this point,” Pechota said. “It’s 75 years of history. Nobody (currently at the meeting) was here.”
The council also heard from resident Warren Graham at the meeting, who said he believed the person doing business on the south side of the Armory/former high school was violating at least three city ordinances as the person is taking up “three quarters of the sidewalk” with a trailer.
“I’m just concerned we are not enforcing our ordinances on this,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a law enforcement issue or a city issue.”
The council said it would direct city staff to contact the owner to discuss the issue.
In other news from the Oct. 16 issue, the council:
• Learned from finance officer Laurie Woodward that sales tax for September was up .83 percent from last year.
• Learned the new survey for Harbach Park is on the city’s website at custer.govoffice.com. The city seeks input on the next phase of the park improvement project.