Durham City Council: Water tower ladder needs a safety climb
Contributing writer
At the Durham City Council meeting Nov. 5, Mayor Glennon Crowther showed members copies of a report from Marvin Kinslow of the company which recently inspected the water tower. Crowther explained he had talked to the workers who did the inspection and was told the tower looked good.
Then he had received the report which described the inside of the tower as badly deteriorated and proposed repainting it at a cost of $8,245. A further recommendation was for a "safety climb" on the tower's ladder for $2,000.
Crowther had called the company and talked to someone who cleared up some of the confusion. The company official he talked to by phone did not think the repainting needed to be done immediately. He remembered the finish on the inside of the tower as being different from most and thought workers doing the inspection may have mistaken this finish for rust. He promised to check out the situation and call back.
The consensus of the council was that something probably needed to be done with the ladder, but any action concerning work on the tower was postponed until more information is obtained.
Marvin Rediker, water supervisor, reported receiving a call asking where water lines are located. Several electric poles have been marked for replacement, and some are near water lines. The council agreed that someone from the council would need to be present when crews came to replace poles to be sure they do not dig into a line.
Rediker reported that 484,460 gallons of water was pumped in October, down more than 200,000 gallons from the previous month. The thermostat on the heater in the pump house had quit functioning and Rediker had replaced it. The lift pumps had run 43 hours during the last month.
"Do you have any major problems to report?" the mayor asked Verlin Sommerfeld, who collects the fees from water customers.
"No," Sommerfeld replied, "we may have got rid of some problems. Some of them moved out of town."
Reinhold Winter asked if wiring for the Christmas lights had been completed.
"The wiring is finished, but it isn't hot yet," replied Crowther. "He still has to put in one of the electric eyes."
Bills approved for payment included $80.61 for repairs and additions to the Christmas lights, $21.35 for repairs to the heater in the pump house, $149 to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for water testing, and other routine bills.
