To the editor:

Last month, my neighborhood had its water line replaced. This meant digging a trench through every yard, laying the new line, filling in the trench and then replanting grass seed covered by some straw. I have asked City Hall for the cost of the labor, seed and straw for my block and where the money came from, only to be told to go ask another person or department.

I just want to know whose money got wasted and how much it was. You see, our city apparently granted permits for Black Hills Energy to replace the gas line the very next week after the water line was finished so the seed, the straw etc, was dug up before it even sprouted. What a waste!

City leaders already have a black eye from the costs of the new sports complex and are always complaining about our budget shortfalls. I just think that if they would have waited till the gas line project was finished we would not have wasted the labor dollars and the cost of the seed and straw.

I’m sure that Black Hills is going to plant seed too, so we may have even saved the money to use somewhere else like sidewalk repair. This is failure to “plan,” planning people. This kind of mismanagement only results in higher tax rates and does not promote growth within our city.