Some issues settled, others just continue as new year arrives

Two thousand six was quite a year, and but we're sure 2007 will be just as remarkable.

Serious local issues were settled in the old year, but others have arisen and some we thought were settled are bound to come up again.

Water is the overarching issue for McCook and Southwest Nebraska, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

McCook passed a major milestone with the opening of its new $14.4 million water treatment plant, and officials no longer will have to dread receiving results from the latest water tests.

That peace of mind comes at a price, of course, and our water bills will reflect it for the next 30 years. And then there's the issue of "used" water, whether it's what comes out of the water treatment plant into the Republican River, or the brine that results from the high-tech water treatment process. City officials are still awaiting final approval of the well which will inject the brine deep underground.

Water also played an important role in the District 44 legislative race, one of the most lively in recent memory. The winner, Mark Christensen, has advocated increasing the supply of water to the Republican River basin, to meet Nebraska's obligations to Kansas under the Republican River Compact. There is sure to be no shortage of debate over solutions to the problem over the coming months and years into the future.

Two years after passing a major school bond issue, local voters turned down two plans for a jail and dispatching center, one a city-county combo and the other the county going it alone. Uncertainty over a location -- and the inability to obtain the first choice, the old West Ward building, helped defeat the issues and will have to be resolved before another plan is sent to the voters.

McCook Community College began long-range plans for an activity center located, with the City Council's blessing, in part of Kelley Park across from the college.

And, a major expansion at Community Hospital, for physical therapy and occupational therapy departments, is well on its way to being completed as the year ends.

City controversy erupted after former city manager John Bingham was quietly rehired, then dismissed after a public outcry.

New faces were voted onto local public bodies, as perennial city councilman Phil Lyons was voted out after 16 years on the City Council, and Jim Coady lost a re-election bid after 16 years on the McCook school board and even more years on the former rural Perry School district.

The first few City Council and School Board meetings should be interesting as new members find their way among the issues.

Yes, the same old issues are bound to come up again, as the new year wears on, and in a way, that's good. At least we'll have some idea of what we're dealing with. But every issue, even if it's a rerun, has a way of morphing into something new.