WEBVTT NOTE duration:"00:01:29.5930000" NOTE recognizability:0.978 NOTE language:en-us NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.765 For 18 months, one controversial NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:01.765 --> 00:00:03.990 question led to protests and filled NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:05.970 Rock Island City Council meetings. NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:08.160 Should the city privatize its sewer NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.988 and water? This decision you're NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:09.990 --> 00:00:12.636 going to make, it's going to affect NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:12.636 --> 00:00:15.547 every man and woman and child in this NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:15.547 --> 00:00:18.409 city for the next 50 or more years. NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:18.410 --> 00:00:20.240 Rock Island City Council had NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:22.606 been in talks with a private company NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:22.606 --> 00:00:24.270 to potentially salads utilities. NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:24.270 --> 00:00:26.825 But late last week all that ended. NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:26.830 --> 00:00:28.290 But this time we NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:28.290 --> 00:00:31.954 felt it was in the best interests of. NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.000 The city and the residents that NOTE Confidence: 0.9893719 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.360 we discontinue talks Second NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:35.360 --> 00:00:36.660 Ward. Alderman Randy Hurt NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:38.285 says the decision came after NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:38.285 --> 00:00:39.779 overwhelming public response against NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:41.910 privatization. We spend an hour every NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:41.910 --> 00:00:44.014 Council meeting with people coming to NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:44.014 --> 00:00:45.898 public comment and talking about it. NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:47.260 Residents were concerned about NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:47.260 --> 00:00:48.960 raising prices and losing control. NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:50.868 On the other hand, Rock Island NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:50.868 --> 00:00:53.295 said a sale would mean millions of NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:53.295 --> 00:00:55.760 dollars for the city. Could that cash NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:55.760 --> 00:00:58.105 be put to better use fixing our NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:00:58.105 --> 00:01:00.178 roads or paying down our debt? NOTE Confidence: 0.9898876 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:02.220 Putting more money into our infrastructure? NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:02.290 --> 00:01:03.650 Now, city manager Randy Tweet NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:03.650 --> 00:01:05.010 says those issues could be NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:05.059 --> 00:01:06.707 addressed through federal funding. NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:06.710 --> 00:01:07.978 Instead, they have the NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:10.290 ARPA funding they're looking at and a NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:10.290 --> 00:01:13.027 lot of that's going to go into sewer and NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:13.030 --> 00:01:14.298 water. Possibly while that NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:14.298 --> 00:01:15.249 timeline is uncertain. NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:16.790 One thing is infrastructure funds NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:16.790 --> 00:01:19.339 will not be coming from the sale of NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:19.339 --> 00:01:20.924 Rock Island utilities anytime soon. NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:20.930 --> 00:01:22.932 I think that we've had to put NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:22.932 --> 00:01:24.890 our focus on where these are NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:24.890 --> 00:01:26.936 profunds are going to be used NOTE Confidence: 0.9549895 00:01:26.940 --> 00:01:29.588 in Rock Island, Shelby Kluver dubbed News 8.