The Ottawa City Council isn’t voting yet on outsourcing water line locating services. City Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut couldn’t be at last night’s meeting and asked for a delay. Mayor Dan Aussem feels having the company USIC mark where the water lines are when people call for utility locating services before digging will save money. And he says the city employees who do that now can do other things, like changing out some of the very old water meters still in use.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2819 says otherwise about saving money. It says USIC is an out-of-state non-union firm that will cost more.