By Anne Thom

Regardless of the temperature outdside, Stacy city water can always be considered a "hot" issue in the council chambers.

Once again last week, a citizen came to the Council with another water issue.

R. Wilford had gotten up around 3 a.m. and gone to his kitchen sink, he told the council, "And do you know what came out, two quarts water and one quart beer."

Wilford continued, "I don't want to be drinking any more chemicals," he said. He went on to describe what had come through the tap as pure foam, on the order of soap suds. Wilford claimed he had run 100 gallons of water in order to get past the foaming. He blamed the Sunrise Mobile Home Park for it.

As two councilors, Barbara Avalos and Tony Orioles, are residents of the park, the council asked Wilford to continue and looked to Avalos and Olivolo for verification.

Wilford said he thought the problem was occurring because the trailer park's water mains needed to be flushed more often. He told the council that because of the depth from which the water is being pumped, he didn't think the city needed to add any chemicals to the water.

He maintains the water comes from "550 feet down" and should be pure. He doesn't feel the city should be adding any chemicals to the water, again per recent council discussions about ongoing problems with odor and deposits in the pipes. Wilford believes someone is more intent on making money from the water problems than in fixing them.

"We've been overdosed with chemicals," he said, "it's pure poison."

He wondered if the city was using a chemical called carbon tetrachloride. Stacy Mayor John Daher assured Wilford the city would not be using anything harmful whatsoever in the city water. Wilford continued that he thinks probably the water is pure as it comes out of the ground and we are polluting it "at this level."

City Maintenance Supervisor Tom Archibald entered the discussion. Archibald has spent the last several months troubleshooting the city water and sewer systems. Archibald said he had not received any complaints about water quality today. The week of April 9, Archibald and his crew will begin flushing city water lines. He intends to have a regular schedule in place for this process soon. Flushing will start with the Sunrise Mobile Home Park. The city wants residents of the park to be aware as in the past there have been incidences and claims of damage to appliances.

City Clerk Sharon Payne has sent a letter to the park owners but told Daher she had not received any response. Daher turned to City Attorney Peter Grundhoefer and asked, "what kind of options do we have?"

The city faces a problem in working with the park as it is private property and technically, the owner of the park is responsible for the water and sewer service. It is the city council, however, that continues to have to field complaints about quality and service.

Grundhoefer responded that if it is a health and safety issue, as water quality would be considered, lack of a response could be addressed through the city's nuisance ordinance. He suggested the city follow up with a phone call at this point.

Daher thought the matter had some urgency in the health and safety category. As a member of the Stacy-Lent Fire Department, Daher said the department has encountered problems fighting fires in the mobile home park being unable to draw water from both hydrants at the same time. He told the council the fire department automatically brings the tanker in when called there.

Grundhoefer said that City Inspector Jack Kramer could check into this and suggested that the city dispatch Kramer to find out if water flows from the hydrants meet state fire standards. Archibald maintained the flow issue goes back to the owner of the park failing to flush the water lines on a regular basis. This can cause buildup of sediment and minerals in pipes. Councilor Michael Carlson also suggested that Olivolo and Avalos bring the problem before the resident's association as a possible health and safety issue.

Stacy has hired Richard Hill to assist with financial reporting and budgeting. Hill also works as a financial analyst for the cities of Shafer and Harris. Clerk Payne's workload has increased exponentially as the city has grown and more complicated issues have taken more time and work to resolve. Hill will help with budgeting and banking. The city will now have more detailed balance sheets of revenues and expenditures available for review.