BUT WHAT ABOUT THE WATER MAIN?

During his most recent reelection campaign Mayor Scott Coleman promised that he would come up with a plan for replacing the Highland Road water main within 100 days after returning to office.

That was an important commitment.
The water main supplies water to a large portion of the city---and to communities to our east as well.
The Cleveland Water Department identified it for replacement several years ago, due to increasing instances of failure of the water main’s joint flanges/rings. 

Replacing the water main will take a lot of thoughtful planning, given the cost and extent of work required.
Having to do it on an emergency basis would cost a whole lot more.

Residents are still waiting for Mayor Coleman to make good on his campaign pledge, and based on the conversation at last week’s council meeting, I’m guessing they’re going to have to wait a whole lot longer.

The mayor appears to be backing away from tackling the water main project, focusing on something else instead: renovating Miner Road.

The mayor is quite familiar with Miner Road. It’s the road he uses to access his home and neighborhood.

Service Director Thom Evans recently reported that the county is willing to reimburse the city for repaving Miner Road---a nice offer for sure.
But the mayor wants to do more than repave the road. He wants to spend several million dollars renovating it.
Replacing the Highland Road water main would cost more.

 

After listening to the discussion at last week’s Council meeting I got the distinct impression that the county repaving offer was driving the mayor’s selection of the city’s next infrastructure project.
That’s unfortunate.

Deciding how to spend public money is the biggest and most important policy decision that the mayor and Council make each year.

The decision about which infrastructure project to tackle next shouldn’t be based on which is the easiest or cheapest to get done.
It should be based on which project is more urgent and more vital to preserving city assets (like water mains) and ensuring the provision of necessary services (like water) to residents.

Money is a tool.
Interest rates are at historic lows.
As a friend of mine (with an advanced degree in economics) pointed out, that means that cities have a unique opportunity right now to borrow money very cheaply. In his opinion, any city would be crazy not to take advantage of that opportunity to pay for big-ticket items, like infrastructure needs.

That got me thinking.

Instead of draining the general fund to pay to renovate one road, as the mayor seems inclined to do, should the city consider borrowing money (at low cost) to do both the Highland Road water main and Miner Road project, preserving capital by repaying for that work over time?

Mayor Coleman is familiar with borrowing money to get municipal needs addressed.
He was part of a team that successfully pursued bond money during former Mayor Fran Hogg’s tenure.
Those bonds financed major infrastructure work, including installation of the city’s new pool.

Deciding to take on debt to get needed work done would take leadership---real leadership---on the part of any mayor.
I’m not sure we can expect to see that kind of leadership from Mayor Scott Coleman.

That’s really a shame.

Residents have to wonder about the mayor’s priorities.

  

Is he really willing to risk a city-wide water main failure so that he can have a smoother commute to work?