The invitation-only water tour from Colorado Springs to Leadville, which included an overnight stay Thursday in Salida, needs to be reevaluated along with every other expense at Utilities and the city government, City Councilwoman Angela Dougan said.
“This is just some more of the examples of expenditures that keep eking out and leaking out that we need as the Utilities Board to truly say, ‘Is this something that is a benefit to our ratepayers or is it not?’” Dougan said. “Could we put the information out on a DVD and hand it out to these 74 people instead?”
The tour is designed to inform “key stakeholders” about the city’s large and complex water system, Utilities spokesman Eric Isaacson said in an email.
“It would be difficult to give these stakeholders this level of information and insight in another forum,” he said.
Isaacson also said “most of the other major water providers in the state” host annual water tours, too.
