Some Swisher residents say they want more answers to a $20 million municipal water proposal

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Some Swisher residents say they want more information before heading to the polls on March 7 to vote on a nearly $20 million municipal water facility.

Residents had the opportunity to meet with HR Green on Wednesday. They’re the engineering company working with the city. Dozens of people asked questions about how the payment would work and, at times, got heated.

“This meeting is useless,” one person said before leaving the meeting.

“If we vote for this thing, is the developer going to start paying right away? asked another person in attendence.

The engineers said adding municipal water would lower the cost of insurance because of easier access to water to fight fires and shorter response times. The cost, however, was a barrier. HR Green said residents could pay up to $180 more a month. With new neighborhoods in the pipeline, questions about who will pay and when were a sticking point.

“We don’t have a policy in place to know that at this time,” said one of the engineers.

Others, like Paul Hynek, said they were all for cleaner public water

“If we had city water it would help the town grow,” he said. “We have a developer that wants to build houses to increase the town, and we would really like them to have city water. To build a big development out of well water, everybody would have to have their own wells.”

As the date for the citywide vote inches closer, many people said they wouldn’t get on board until all their questions were answered.

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