Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Board of Public Works of Fitchburg met on August 3, 2026, at 5:00 PM. Members present: Dave Wilburn, Alder Jetzer (Chair), Alder Herbst, and Don Gutkowski. Kim Lobdel was absent with an excuse. The meeting adjourned at 6:31 PM. Items included public comments, consent calendar, reports, and three unanimous action items.
Hi, I'm Jeremy Crosby. And I'm Nick Boucher. We're your host for the program. It's all about your city, Talking Fitchburg. Every weekday, we pull together the news, events, and information you need to stay on top of what's happening in the city of Fitchburg. Find Talking Fitchburg on Cable TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and our live stream on the web. Plus, you can find all our headlines and stories on Facebook, YouTube, and our video on demand service. This is your city. Keep up with Talking Fitchburg and the issues affecting you and your neighbors. Get connected, Fitchburg. Sign up for Fitchburg Connect, the city's monthly e-newsletter that keeps you informed about all the events, services, and updates that matter to you. Get it in your inbox once a month. Sign up today to get Fitchburg Connect. On August 3rd, 2026, I'm calling to order this meeting of the Board of Public Works. First item up is uh roll call. We have uh Dave Wilburn, myself, Alder Jetzer, we have Alder Herbst, and we have Don Gutkowski. Kim Lobdel is absent with excuse today. Moving on, we've got public appearances for non-agenda items. And Mr. Joe Goss, you can come up to the microphone, and you have three minutes. Great. Thank you so much. Uh if you don't mind, I'll sit down. Please. That uh that way you're closer to the microphone. Good thought. All right. Well, I maybe yes, maybe no. Uh members of the committee, I appreciate uh your allowing me to take a few minutes here to talk about something that's important to me. Um it's an odd time of year to be thinking about um winter and salting slippery sidewalks. Um but uh as you know, chlorine is toxic to aquatic life, and the the amount of chlorine that's showing up in our downstream lakes and rivers is increasing. Um what's interesting, and I brought a prop with me, um uh a single teaspoon of salt in a five-gallon bucket of water is actually toxic to aquatic life. And that's it's seemingly a very small amount, but uh and uh the bad news is that once you get that chlorine in there, it's exceedingly difficult to take out. Um, and you can dig into that if you want. It's expensive to do that as well. Um as you know, most of the streams in Fitchburg flow to Wake Lake Wabiza and uh or the Hera River. Last year in February, the Wabiza chloride level was 74 milligrams per liter, uh, which is more than six times the EPA toxivity at toxic chronic toxicity level for aquatic life. So we've already got a bad situation. Well, one wonders how can Fitchburg residents uh improve those chloride levels or at least not make them worse. Uh an obvious answer to that is ask people to use less salt on their sidewalks and driveways. Um in my neighborhood, as I walk around in the winter time, I routinely see uh people who have spread way, way too much crystal salt uh on their sidewalks and driveways, and it's uh it's frightening, actually. Um how is it that I avoid uh spreading those um that salt on my sidewalk and driveway? I obviously need to make a safe space for everyone to walk. And I do that by using a uh mostly sand and partial salt mixture. Um I do that by uh, and I've been doing this for years now, and I'll admit it publicly.