Palm Coast Officials Visit Sister City in Costa Rica
By KENYA WOODARD, Daytona Beach Newd

Palm Coast and Liberia, Costa Rica, may be thousands of miles apart but the two growing cities share similar water and sewer system concerns.

That's what Palm Coast City Manager Dick Kelton and engineering and stormwater director John Moden said they learned during a recent trip to the Central American city.

Kelton, Moden, Mayor James Canfield and utility director Richard Adams were part of a local delegation of city and community leaders to visit Costa Rica as part of the Sister City International program.

Palm Coast and Liberia were paired together as sister cities in December. The union allows the two cities to exchange information about economic development and population growth and to share social, economical and cultural resources, Kelton said.

Like Palm Coast, Liberia also is grappling with rapid growth and development, Kelton said.

Kelton said the Palm Coast group met with Liberia's city leaders and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez.

The group also toured the city's water and sewer treatment plants, he said.

Officials in Liberia want to increase the volume of water they can provide to residents, but government leaders are concerned about the impact the increase would have on the local river, Moden said.

Liberia is set to embark on a project that would expand the city's sewer system, which operates like Palm Coast's system as a central sewer and water system. Currently, Liberia's central water system operates in just 20 percent of the city, but city officials want to expand it throughout the entire city, Moden said.

Although the cities share some similarities, there are some differences, Palm Coast officials said.

The city's water plant is estimated to be almost 20 years behind Palm Coast's, Moden said. And the poor condition of some of Liberia's roads made it difficult for the group to travel to tour the water plant, he added.

"We had to stop and our guide had to put rocks in the ruts of the roads just to get there," Moden said.

In addition, Liberia's local government consists of a strong mayor and city council as opposed to the city manager form of government in Palm Coast.

The Palm Coast officials attended a city council meeting in Liberia to see firsthand how its government works, Kelton said.

Officials from Liberia may visit Palm Coast in November, Kelton said.

While there are no plans to visit Liberia again in the near future, Palm Coast officials are excited about the future of the relationship between the sister cities, Kelton said.

"It's a way of reaching across political boundaries and establish friendships," he said.