www.OthelloOutlook.comA6  The Othello Outlook – Thursday, October 24, 2013 Commun it y

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FORUM | General election ballots that will decide these races, and other critical issues, are due Nov. 5From page A1lor’s challenger Corey Everett. John Lallas will run unop-posed for city council position No. 2.

Juan Garza and Stewart Hilmes will both run unop-posed to earn another term on the school board.

MayorsThe mayoral spot is a non-

partisan position with a four-year term.

Incumbent Wilson will be challenged by Logan.

Wilson was first elected to council 12 years ago. It’s the part of the mayor to make the city better for everyone, he said. He encouraged people to get involved, as community engagement is what makes Othello great.

While funds have been cut to the city while Wilson has been mayor, he has still always worked to make sure the bud-get works. A city the size of Othello only having two loans after this year is truly remark-able, he said.

To help with growth within the city, Othello is looking at a new well to the east. Ex-panding north means putting a highway through the middle of the city, Wilson said.

The council already es-tablished all has different knowledges bases about the

issues facing the city. One of those issues is water. The city is looking at ways to ensure the people will always have potable water. They heard a presentation about an update of the water towers and are slowly but surely replacing all the water lines in the city.

A question was raised from the audience asking how people outside the city can be heard. Wilson reminded peo-ple that they don’t have to be a resident of the city to volunteer and help the city grow. The leader of the beautification committee, for example, lives out in the country but puts in lots of effort to help the city.

Another way is to come to city council meetings, which are open to anyone from the public.

Logan grew up here. He’s been involved with the cham-ber, the county commissioners and more. He wants to col-laborate with other commu-nity groups, like the Adams County Development Council, the county and more, to really get things done.

There are plenty of projects to get done in the city, Logan said. It is important for the mayor to take charge and do those things.

“There are a lot of challeng-es coming up,” he said.

To help deal with the growth of the population of the city, it is essential to revisit the com-prehensive plan.

One of the biggest wastes of water in Othello is that people are using good, drinkable wa-ter to water their lawns, Logan said. We live in a desert and need to think. The parks use irrigation water, that could be an answer for citizens, as well. While the city has not mis-managed water, there are solu-tions that should be explored in the future.

Logan ecouraged locals to get involved by voting for measures like the Transporta-tion Benefit District tax, which affects all people who shop in Othello equally, whether they live in town or not.

While Logan realizes there are a lot of challenges facing the city, like one in four people not having a diploma, getting more economic development, bringing in natural gas and more. These challenges are not new, they just need a new per-son to look at them, he said.

“We can do better,” he said.

City councilCaylor moved to Othello

when he was 12. He moved away, but he ended up coming back. Along with the rest of the council, he has worked to

get a lot of things done during his last eight years on council and he looks forward to many more, he said.

Being on the council is hard work, he said, and takes a lot of long-range planning. The council has been planning a community center for years, for example, he said. There is a lot to look at and he’s ready to continue work on the projects he’s already a part of.

Some of the issues he would like to continue to work on are water, natural gas and the railroad system. The only way to tackle these issues is to use foresight and think through solutions.

For natural gas, it is a fed-eral problem, as well as a state problem and city problem. Othello can help start the ball rolling to get a new line start-ed to serve a huge region. It’s important to be in contact with state representatives to get these things on the tops of the minds of legislators.

Caylor’s done a lot and he asks for your vote to keep achieving big things.

Dorow moved to Othello in 1995. She has earned top levels of training in wastewater issues. She enjoyed every minute of her first term and, while she is running unopposed, she wants to prove she should be elected

again to continue working with this town she loves.

One way to help with issues facing the city, like gas, is to bring in bigger companies. By attracting large businesses to the city, it also allows for the possibility of bringing in more gas. More gas, in turn, will help attract big companies to the area.

One option is a waste energy plant. Othello would be the only city in a wide area to have one and it’s a viable option, she said.

Diversifying the job base will also bring in more edu-cated people to work here. People who leave Othello and get top degrees would be able to come back if there were more degree-demanding jobs. There also needs to be places for these young professionals to live. Othello needs to attract a developer who will build high-end apartments, she said.

In her next term, she plans to continue to push for upgrading the infrastructure of Othello.

School boardTony Ashton is running un-

opposed for a second term on the school board. He loves Othello and wants to make sure all the kids of Othello get a good, quality education. While he’s been on the school

board, all of the schools have been remodeled and a new one has opened. The people on the board, himself included, really care about the district and the children of Othello.

There are definitely some challenges facing the district, like a lack of space at the middle school. The district is currently pursuing different choices, figuring out what to do to find room for all the stu-dents and to help prepare for future growth.

The board is doing every-thing they can to help create a good environment for help-ing students succeed. Ashton was a huge supporter of turn-ing Lutacaga Elementary into a fully dual-language school, promoting knowledge of both English and Spanish.

Also on the ballot this year is a resolution to allow an at-large position. This means the director could be from within any part of the town. The open director position is in a geographically small lo-cation, meaning there aren’t any interested people who live there who want to serve on the school board. There are plenty of interested people who want to help students, though, so the position should be opened up city-wide, Ashton said.

By Erik PaguESPortS@othEllooutlook.com

After an almost five-year process, construction crews working in the town of Hatton are nearing completion of an overhaul for the town’s below ground water system. Othello’s Pegram Con-struction have been the primary contractors for the project designed and coordinated by Belsby

Engineering. Project Engineer Bo McCanna has been with Beslby for almost two years now and said the overhaul was long overdue.

“Hatton had a water system that was beyond its design life and undersized,” McCanna said. “Some of the pipes were potentially as old as 80 years.”

McCanna said another benefit of the project was that Hatton now has several fire hydrants

– the town previously didn’t have any – that should improve fire safety for the community. In addition, Mayor of Hatton Mike Pherigo said his neighbors would be able to take advantage of this to lower their home insurance premi-ums. Pherigo worked closely with McCanna and Belsby through the years to take advantage of some financial aid packages to help pay for the upgrade.

“Belsby Engineering has been working with the town to obtain community development block grant (CBBG) funding through the De-partment of Commerce to rebuild their water system,” McCanna said.

Hatton was eligible for the federal grant due to meeting the requirements of having an out-dated water system and also a population com-posed mostly of mid- to low-income families.

“A town the size of Hatton doesn’t really have the tax base to fund a project like this. These grants … are specifically for situations like this,” McCanna said.

With the $925,000 grant secured, McCanna said Belsby began the planning stages and broke ground Sept. 3 beginning with replacing the worn-out two inch pipes in the town with eight-inch PVC water mains starting near the town’s water tower to the west.

“Pegram Construction … has been very good to work with,” McCanna said. “We started re-placing water mains at the water tower up on the hill, worked our way into town and contin-ued around town replacing the mains.”

McCanna said they’re at the tail end of con-

struction and estimates the project is at 85 per-cent completion. He said the project required a fair amount of demolition, but the majority of citizens had to wait half of a day at most be-

fore service was restored to their homes.

“All services are connected to the water system and right now, we’re go-ing through doing cleaning, a little bit of gravel surfacing and we’re going to do pavement next week,” McCanna said.

If Belsby can find any savings, McCanna said the town should be

able to hold onto any leftover funding while the project will have a warranty period in case is-sues pop up in the near future. McCanna said most of the construction went smoothly but isn’t ruling out the possibility of having to per-form some routine maintenance or address is-sues involving storm drainage.

“We were able to save some money … so we may be able to give a little money back to the government,” he said. “It’s a great use of the grant money to help them be able to replace the water system and they had a serious need for it.”

Hatton approaching completion of water overhaul

Photo By Erik PaguE

Crews from Pegram Construction have been putting the finishing touches on the water system project in Hatton.

“A town the size of Hatton doesn’t really have the tax base to fund a project like this”

– Bo McCanna, project engineer