CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH JEFF LAMPI, ESCANABA WATER
The City of Escanaba has had problems implementing its lead water service line replacement program. And there will be a public meeting Wednesday night to talk over those problems, and to allow some residents to vent their frustrations.
Escanaba Water Superintendent Jeff Lampi acknowledged that there has been issues, and they’re hoping not to repeat those issues.
“We’re trying to learn from our mistakes, and listen to people’s complaints,” Lampi told RRN News ahead of the Wednesday night meeting. “We’ll try to do our next projects better than the ones in the past, and maybe provide the people on these streets some reasoning as to why things haven’t gone as better as we had liked.”
Lampi says the vast majority of the complaints on the recent projects has been “scheduling”, something he says is not entirely in the city’s control, due to millions of dollars of federal “ARPA” funding that came in to pay for the upgrades.
“The city is being very frugal and we’re doing this with grant money, and because of this, we have different rules to live by. And those rules, those agencies have different schedules and timelines. So, it’s making it very difficult to have a seamless project.”
The meeting Wednesday night will include information on projects on South 15th Street, Stephenson Avenue, South 10th Street, South 11th Street, and South 9th Street. It will be held at 7:00 inside the Escanaba City Council Chambers. Lampi will be there, along with the city manager, other city staff members, and the engineering firm that is overseeing the work.
“Hopefully, it’s a good process, and we learn something,” Lampi said.
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