In Roseville, Aging Infrastructure Topic of Forum Wednesday

The Roseville-Maplewood-Falcon Heights chapter of the Minnesota League of Women Voters is sponsoring forums today and Wednesday on the challenges cities face with aging infrastructure.

The scheduled guest speakeer is James DeBenedet, a civil engineer who has served on numerous boards and commissions in the city of Roseville. He also serves on RoMaFH board of directors.        

Officials at the Rosville-Maplewood-Falcon Heights League chapter said, "Public entities are facing twin challenges of public skepticism and reduced funding. These challenges are causing concern among public utilities managers and professionals while they deal with increasing failures of aging infrastructure systems. 

"While education is needed to address public skepticism, we also need better management tools to assure that public utilities are maintained in good condition at the lowest cost. Scarce funding must be directed toward maintenance that is needed and effective."

Issues facing Roseville, Maplewood and Falcon Heights include the age and condition of of sewer and water systems and tight budgets, League chapter officials said.

Today's meeting will be at the Little Venetian Restaurant, 2900 Rice St., Little Canada.  A social hour and dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by a meeting at 7 p.m. 

The Wednesday, Oct. 19 meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 2561 N. Victoria Ave., Roseville.  The meetings are free and open to the public.