City infrastructure upgrades a necessity

This summer the City of Ritzville will undergo a rare phase of construction, primarily aimed at improving aging infrastructure — streets, water mains, sewer lines and the drilling of a new domestic water well.

The project list is long, complicated and expensive. It requires a multitude of funding sources. Grants, loans and increased user fees are among the various sources of funds being utilized by the city for the purpose of updating a substantially outdated infrastructure.

Work will continue throughout the summer (watch for a project by project timeline in a future edition of The Journal).

Simultaneously the city is preparing to welcome a large new business in the form of Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store. The project will be constructed on state Route 261 just outside of the city limits.

The current plan includes the city annexing the project later this year. Construction of this new business is a rarity here. Few new businesses have located here in the past decade, complete with new construction on land previously used for agriculture or other purposes.

While it may be difficult to comprehend, one potential benefit from the travel plaza is the extension of city utilities under and south of Interstate 90 along SR 261 on a relatively undeveloped area near exit 221 that could easily become prime for future development.

Almost, if not all, of Ritzville’s business would benefit from modest growth.

We think the grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacy, clinic, hospital, schools and professional services would benefit from a population increase and the arrival of new businesses/employers.

Driven historically by wheat production, Ritzville’s economic future hinges on careful planning, diversification of business and industry, and the increased population that will fill new job openings.

The economic struggles of the nation and our state haven’t left Ritzville and the surrounding communities untouched. We can benefit from improvements and the creation of new job opportunities.

There are also some lessons to be learned from the various projects occurring throughout the city.

While traditionally a very conservative community and not well known for large, frivolous spending sprees, the city’s overall infrastructure would have benefitted from ongoing, incremental updates.

One example is the water system. This summer 10,000 lineal feet of water main will be replaced. The aging lines leak, causing the city to lose a significant amount of its vital resource. That’s water needed for homes and businesses.

The issue illustrates the need for a system-wide plan to repair, replace and update city infrastructure as time passes. City councils, present and future have a duty to insure the best possible delivery of services to its users — all of us.

To be fair, the current council has inherited a number of infrastructure headaches and has done, what appears to be its best, to take steps to initiate and implement the planned improvement projects.

We are all going to shoulder a portion of the expense. Perhaps the pain of increasing utility costs could have been diminished or muted had they come over a longer period of time in smaller increases that were routinely used to make significant system improvements.

In a sense, we have been hit with everything at once in terms of the water system. Before that the failed sewer system was the crisis.

The council should be applauded for being brave enough to take on the ambitious list of improvements that will occur this year. The next leg of the journey should require them to consider a better plan of attack to prevent the wholesale deterioration of the city’s infrastructure in the decades that lie ahead.

Then, the trick will be to make sure that we, the taxpayers, hold future city councils accountable for ensuring the future viability of the city’s water and sewer systems.

—Stephen McFadden