Lake Havasu City sewer program

Amazing that the city manager was quoted in our newspaper as saying placing two inches of asphalt over native material was not the proper way to construct a road. Of course, this has been standard practice since the origin of the sewer program.

Years ago at the outset of the sewer construction, I was dumbfounded when I witnessed one of the first street replacements under construction. Having designed and constructed streets and highways, among other engineering projects, I was amazed to see two inches of asphalt placed over dirt that was not even primed with emulsion. I considered this just as stupid, as ruining all of our city streets with chip seal.

I discussed this with one of the city engineers who is no longer with the city. He told me they could not afford to do it the right way. I told him he should then shut down the entire sewer program. I indicated sewers were only needed in limited areas of the city, anyway.

After having again been ignored by the engineers, I wrote numerous letters to the editor referring to the street reconstruction as a future maintenance nightmare. I stated it was stupid to place two inches of asphalt over dirt. And, to top it off, they allowed loaded trucks to continually use these reconstructed streets. There was no reaction from the city council or the city staff.

We have some real winners on our side, don’t we?

So, after many years into this dumb sewer program that was strong-armed through by builders, realtors, city staff, and certain council members, recognition of the street maintenance nightmare is finally coming to light.

When the streets start failing, it will give our engineers an opportunity to use more stupid chip seal and further ruin all of our streets.

The billion dollar sewer program is only the dumbest thing approved by the city council because of the cost.

Turning to streets in general, how can members of the council and staff drive on Swanson, Mesquite, Jamaica and many others without demanding they be repaired? It’s a disgrace to have downtown streets like Swanson and Mesquite, where you bounce around like your driving in the desert. And, they have been that way for over 15 years.

Prior to the sewer bond election our citizens were not told their monthly bills for sewer and water would more than double.