We wish to address the current City Council issue of the resurfacing of Indiana Avenue, from Reservoir Road to the Baker City Water Works.

We moved into our house on Indiana Avenue in 2006. At that time, the street was a solid surface. In 2014, the City of Baker dug a trench the length of the street to update underground water services provided to the city. It was a major trench and destroyed 25% of the solid surface. After this work, the city came back and demolished the entire road leaving behind the current dirt and gravel. The residents of the area believed this was a temporary situation and that a solid surface would be put back onto the road. Last summer, after waiting seven years, we realized the city had no intention of returning the road to its previous state, and that we now lived on a dirt road.

Residents of the neighborhood addressed this issue during a City Council meeting in August of 2021 and the councilors voted to pave this portion of the road and return it to a solid surface, as it was before the work done by the city. The council said that the work would be completed in 2022. This year, after spring and most of the summer passed, with no work done on the road, the neighborhood began to ask questions. They learned that this project was removed from the budget, with no discussion or notice to the residents of the neighborhood. Chuck Peterson, a resident of the area, went back to the City Council on September 13 and, once again, the council voted to fix this portion of Indiana.

All of this brings us to the following:

1. Baker City should follow the adage that if you tear something up, put it back the way you found it.

2. The City Council voted in August of 2021 and again in September of 2022 to pave this section of road and put the project into the budget.

3. We are now left to wonder if the bureaucracy will now take this vote into their offices and decide it is not important enough to fund or complete. If yes, it begs the question: What do we need a City Council for? If the bureaucracy can overrule the City Council on any money matter they choose, the council doesn’t seem to carry much importance.

Gary and Kari Carter

Baker City