by Joseph Wiszowaty
Why is it that communications between the public and Sauk Village officials has completely broken down? This weekend was a great example of the catastrophic failure of this administration!
A catastrophic failure in the Village's water infrastructure caused a water outage for Candlelight Village mobile home park, Carlisle Estates, YRC and ABF Trucking Terminals on Friday from 4pm until late Saturday afternoon.
By 9:15am, Village officials had posted nothing on the Village's official website, nor had any e-mails from any Village officials had gone out. I emailed Mayor David Hanks and Village Clerk Debbie Williams at 9:15am Saturday asking "Is there any official announcement with respect to the water outage"? Williams response received at 11am: "Contact the Police Department. I have no information regarding a water outage. If I am given information a eblast is sent." Hanks never responded to my email. First of all, why would anyone want to contact the Police Department to get an official statement on a water outage?
38 minutes after Williams send me her email response she put out an email alert: "Sauk Village Public Works crews are currently working on a water main break that is affecting residents in Candlelight Village, Carlisle Estates. ABF and YRC are also being impacted. Water may come on and go back off as these repairs are made. Residents will receive more updates as soon as possible"
Clearly these Village officials are disconnected from what is going on in the Village! My phone was blowing up at 4pm Friday afternoon and didn't stop all night into Saturday morning. People had no answers, came home from work all nasty and wanted to shower, had plans on Saturday morning where showers were necessary to start their day. These are peoples' lives and NO OFFICIAL WORD FROM VILLAGE HALL? Why did the Village not put out something when they shut off hundreds of water users to let them know what was going on?
The first "Official Word" from this administration came 11:38am, 19 hours and 38 minutes after hundreds of water users was shut off. That should not be acceptable by any standard! This is not like losing your power as some would argue. People can generally function for several days without electricity (except during winter when heat is necessary to sustain life). Water is needed to live!
The first "official" communication from the Water Department came in order to make it all sound good came at 4:55pm, 24 hours after the water had been cut off:
"Due to the emergency upgrade of our distribution system infrastructure, the water will be shut down for; Candlelight Village, Roadway Trucking, and ABF Trucking Therefore the Water Department has issued a Boil Order, November 1, 2014. Residents should boil their water for drinking and cooking for at least 3 minutes prior to use. The Boil Order will remain in effect until Bacteriological check samples clear with our lab..."
Now David Hanks said nobody is giving him any ideas. Here's one for you David.... Stop lying to the people! "Emergency upgrade of our distribution system"... How about telling the truth! This was a catastrophic failure of the distribution system and a catastrophic failure of this administration!
I want to first and foremost say that Public Works employees did the best job they could with what they had to work with. They did get the water turned back on in a timely fashion. This has no reflection on the job they do. This is clearly a failure of this administration!
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