Benton Town Hall of Feb. 17th, 2010

I attended the Town Hall meeting last pm at Benton City Hall. I must say, after 20 minutes of this meeting, several things were glaringly clear. It seems that the city of Benton has issued permits to real estate developers for plans that have caused more than 20 drainage problems for the city. The city has a 1/4 cent sales tax to pay for streets and drainage that was enacted by the voters of the city.

The drainage problems above include craters in some yards where the drainage culvert has disintregated and left holes in it's place. Other problems are undermining of the house or building itself due to water running under them. The time for inspection and sending the problems back to the developers has passed. Now the residents want the city to pay for the structural damage with a fee on everyone's utility bill. Since some residents have lived in these areas more than 5 years, the likelyhood of winning a court battle from the developer is unlikely.

To add insult to injury, the city council now has used the money from the street and drainage fund to pay for the lower military Road Project against the will of the voters. There is no money to fix the drainage because it is being spent on an 18 million dollar grant to widen and develop lower Military Road. It cannot be scrapped because the city has spent 2 million dollars of the street money and will have to pay it back if the Military Road project doesn't go forward.

Folks, we have more problems now than just sending some kids on an expensive field trip to Washington. Isn't it time we changed leadership and hold those who have squandered our money accountable?