John Barofsky: If the city of Eugene had money to replace fire hydrants, they’d be replacing more than 27 a year.
Presenter: The city of Eugene has fallen behind in replacing its aging fire hydrants. About 11%—500 of the area’s 4,500 hydrants—are operating past their average service life of 60 years. Some are low-flow hydrants that are nearly 100 years old. Should EWEB take on responsibility for the city’s fire hydrants? At the Aug. 5 board meeting, Commissioner John Brown:
John Brown (EWEB, commissioner): I’m all in favor of bringing this in-house, but I’m not in favor of us taking on the total financial responsibility. I believe they have the money, they just don’t have the priority.
[00:00:35] I talked to firefighters, a city councilor, and other people, and this is not a line item budget in the fire department. They just do it…