Board approves quotes, launches pilot to address noncompliant utility services on 33rd Street

The La Crosse Board of Public Works on Feb. 16 approved quotes and a pilot approach to remediate noncompliant sanitary and water services on 33rd Street, aiming to reduce the burden on homeowners for pavement removal and replacement.

Director Gallagher told the board the utilities office plans to bid the public-right-of-way portion of the work and apply a partial assessment to property owners to help facilitate repairs. “I know the utilities folks came to the Board of Public Works to talk about a process we want to follow here to try to help out homeowners, property owners, with non compliant sanitary services or water services, wanting to bid out the portion in the public right of way with a partial assessment to the owners to help facilitate that work,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher described the item as the first of “3 or 4 that we have ready,” adding that utilities had already been in contact with affected owners and that such noncompliant situations commonly arise after a system failure or a home sale. “Those, come up typically whenever there’s either a failure or if there’s a sale of the home, and those homes need to then become compliant and hook up,” he said.

The board approved the quotes and pilot on a motion by Director Gallagher, seconded by Council President Dickinson; the motion passed unanimously. The transcript does not provide dollar amounts for the quotes or a roll-call tally of votes.

Why it matters: the pilot aims to speed remediation of noncompliant systems while spreading visible pavement-replacement costs via partial assessments to property owners; the board said it will evaluate the pilot results and consider policy changes if needed.

Next steps: utilities staff will proceed with the bid process for the 33rd Street work and monitor outcomes for further board consideration.