Heights resident urges support for second water connection; council limits use of city letterhead

Pam Ellis, a member of the Heights Water Board, told the Billings City Council on March 12 that the Heights Water District needs a second water connection to fix chronic low-pressure problems affecting roughly 15,000 residents (about 6,000 hookups).

"Right now, all of the water that comes to the 15,000 residents or about 6,000 hookups comes through 1 meter," Ellis said, describing a problem the district’s Public Works reviews have identified as a safety risk for fire protection. She told council staff that the design is nearly complete, the project is shovel-ready and that construction cost is "about 1000000 dollars." Ellis said the district can complete an application for a congressional direct allocation by the deadline and has collected letters of support from community members and local officials.

City Council members asked for details about costs, who would pay, and whether supporting the Heights application would compete with city priorities. "It's simply a letter that says, we support their application, for the second, station," Councilmember Denis Pitman said, describing the requested form of support. He asked whether the four council members who represent residents in the Heights could sign the letter rather than the whole council.

Several council members said they worry that city letterhead would imply an official, citywide endorsement. "I struggle with supporting an application that's gonna compete with our own," Councilmember Scott Aspenlieder said, raising the potential conflict between supporting an independent district and advancing city projects. Councilmember Kendra Shaw said she was "comfortable with, as a representative of the areas potentially signing onto something," but agreed that making it a full-council priority could be problematic.

After discussion about perception and precedent, council members agreed to allow individual representatives to sign support letters on personal stationery rather than using city letterhead. Staff were directed to coordinate how those representative letters will be prepared and submitted. The council did not take a formal vote on citywide endorsement at the work session.

Next steps: the Heights Water District can complete its congressional-direct-allocation application immediately; individual council representatives were authorized to submit personal-letter support for the district's request. The city will not issue a council-signed letter on city letterhead at this time.