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Want water answers? River Heights' Wally Jibson is the
man to see
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By Lindsay Kite
March 2, 2005 | RIVER HEIGHTS -- Though
he's turning 90 this summer, that hasn't stopped
Wally Jibson from continuing to be the city's
foremost authority on water rights and development,
which he has been since 1952.
"It has been a big job," Jibson said during
an interview in his home Saturday. "I still get
calls from the Bear River Compact Commission to
remember something that happened 40 years ago,
so I hope I can hold off Alzheimer's awhile longer."
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THE ANSWER MAN:
"I still get calls from
the Bear River Compact Commission to remember
something that happened 40 years ago, so I hope
I can hold off Alzheimer's awhile longer." /
Photo by Lindsay Kite |
When he moved to River Heights in 1952, Jibson said
he was already a registered engineer and working for
the U.S. Geological Survey, which he retired from in
1989.
When the mayor found this out, he immediately asked
for help in planning the city's first two wells, Jibson
said. He then served as city engineer for 25 years,
while at the same time on the city council in charge
of water and sewer for around 12 years and continues
to be a consultant to the city council for all water
issues since his retirement, he said.
"I helped Kent Parker, who is now the public works
director, when he started out. He still consults with
me when he has questions or needs advice and the council
is free to consult with me at any time."
Jibson also handles a major part of the job of preparing
River Heights' yearly water report for the state, which
takes around 15 to 20 hours of work, he said.
Besides his duties in the city, Jibson said he was
appointed by President Gerald Ford as the federal representative
and chairman of the Bear River Compact Commission.
"A lot of people don't realize one of our presidents
of the United States, Herbert Hoover, once held the
exact same position on the Colorado River Compact Commission
as I did for the Bear River," Jibson said. Though the
position is unpaid, he said people are competitive for
appointment to it because of the prestige associated
with it.
He said the federal representative and chairman is
"kind of a political thing" and in his case, President
Reagan released him when he came to office and then
put a man in charge who "knew nothing about water."
The man, Jibson said, had been the Chicago treasurer
for the Republican party and was only appointed because
he raised plenty of money for Reagan's election.
Along with his years of national, regional and city
water experience, Jibson also served for 10 years on
the Cache County Water Advisory Board. Because of experiences
like these and his extensive knowledge, city council
members worry about what they will do when they can
no longer go to Jibson for information and advice. But
over his 53 years of work, Jibson has compiled multiple
drawers full of files that contain valuable water information
for River Heights, as well as other areas.
"The Logan Library asked me if I would consider turning
over my files to them," Jibson said. "The last job I
did for the Bear River Commission was to write a history
for them, so that is already on file there, but they
want the rest."
He laughed as he talked about where the files may
end up if they don't make it to the library.
"My wife and I were talking about what will happen
to the files one day when our kids are going through
them. They'll be going in that round file," he said
while pointing to a garbage can with a paper shredder
attached to it.
Another of the council's worries is that so much of
Jibson's important knowledge is in his head, not in
a computer or files. Jibson acknowledged that it is
true he does a lot of his work from memory.
"I still prepare my taxes on my own every year and
have never used a computer to do it," he said while
pointing to a pile of forms. "Once I get all the papers
and information ready to take in and have done, I figure
I might as well just do it myself!
"I've been told, 'You don't need a computer, you've
got it all in your head,'" he said.
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