Resident urges council to address water testing and calls for fire-safety plan after Cary fires

Dawn Hicks told the LaSalle City Council during public comment that she had asked about the city’s water and received no response after more than a month, and she pressed the council for a community safety plan after what she said were multiple fires in the Cary area.

"I did not get any kind of response back even though I was told that I would be," Hicks said, and asked the council to take “the initiative before something unforgiving happens.”

Later in the meeting, Brian Brown of public works updated the council on the city’s Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) entry. Brown said the city’s testing subcontractor experienced a lab equipment problem that affected one HAA5 sample; the subcontractor’s issue, he said, led to one sample outside the allowable limit while five other recent tests were below the regulatory threshold. Brown gave specific test values for prior quarters — 51.9 and 34.5 (Sept. 15, 2025), 41.1 (Dec. 31), and 29.1 and 16.3 (March) — and said those results fell below the 60 parts-per-billion standard.

Brown said the city’s operator and testing vendor are taking steps so the testing can be performed in-house in future quarters rather than subcontracted. He characterized the CCR entry as the result of a logistics and lab issue, not an ongoing water-quality problem.

The council did not take immediate policy action during the meeting; Hicks’ request for a public safety plan was recorded in public comment and will be subject to follow-up by staff and council members.