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Westlake resident urges council to clarify who must fix private water mains after disputed 1974 agreement
Summary
Westlake HOA president Sue Wiest told the council she could not find an alleged 1974 agreement that she says relieved the city of responsibility for neighborhood water infrastructure, pressed for a plan or reimbursement, and warned of possible legal action; city staff said they will meet with the HOA and seek easements before doing work.
Sue Wiest, president of the Westlake Management Corporation, used the council's public-comment period to press the city for clarity about who is responsible for a water main and repair work in the Westlake subdivision.
"Since the city abandoned us in 2018, I believe they owe us money back from these fixed fees," Wiest said, recounting a search for a 1974 agreement she said the city and Westlake once relied on and saying she could not find that agreement in county or city records.
Wiest said she was told by a neighbor in October 2024 that the city would not repair a leak on the line running from the street to a stop box and that the HOA was being told it must make repairs. She said she asked for a copy of the historical agreement and that the mayor and staff promised to provide it; when it did not appear in records she followed up herself.
City Engineer Dennis Carr told the council staff had searched for easements and other documents and found sanitary sewer easements but not documents for a water main. "We are not confident where the water main is at at this time," Carr said, and he described liability concerns about city crews working on private property without explicit easements.
Carr said staff has invited Westlake representatives to meet to discuss putting easements in writing, locating the buried main, and clarifying maintenance responsibility before drafting a formal easement or taking on repair work. "We will meet with them whenever they are ready to meet," he said.
The council did not take formal action during the meeting. The exchange left open next steps: staff and Westlake will meet to review historic records and, if necessary, survey and develop an easement to allow city crews to locate and, only if appropriate, perform repairs.
