Dear Editor:

So often people write letters to the editor with complaints or negative comments. I’d like to take a minute to commend Jody Lewis and the Boothbay Harbor Public Works crew.

We have a “brook” behind our house, which is the water runoff from Kennyfield Drive and down the hill to the Harbor. Whenever we have heavy or sustained rain, the “brook” overflows and floods our downstairs.

Last spring, with about three inches of water in our downstairs, I called Jody Lewis on a Sunday, not expecting a response until the following day. Much to my surprise, the town crew showed up immediately in a torrential downpour, and did what they could to alleviate the problem. A week later we had another torrential downpour, another flood. Long story short, they built a beautiful rock retaining wall and made repairs to the culvert hoping to have solved the problem.

The day before Thanksgiving, after another heavy rain, it appeared the water wasn’t draining at all and once again we had water. I emailed pictures around 6:30 p.m. and once again Jody and his crew showed up immediately. Jody assured us he would return Monday with sandbags for a temporary fix and in the spring they would repair the other end of the culvert and do other repairs.

True to his word, he and his crew showed up Monday morning with a pallet of sandbags to prevent the water from getting into our downstairs and later in the week they showed up with Ted Berry to unclog the other end of the culvert. I have complete trust that in the spring they will complete the other repairs as promised.

I understand this is a town problem and they are only doing their jobs, but we so appreciate his responsiveness and concern and I don’t think the town crew gets the recognition and appreciation they deserve for the work they do.

Billie Howard-Goldsmith and Gordon Goldsmith
Boothbay Harbor