Fed up with MSD delays, this homeowner took matters into his own hands

Joseph Gerth | Courier Journal

This column has been updated to include a response from MSD.

Every man has his breaking point.

For Shawn Reilly, it came on Tuesday.

That’s the day he stopped at Lowe’s on the way home from work and picked up three 50-pound bags of asphalt and went home and did what his wife had begged him not to do.

It started with a few orange cones and signs telling residents not to park near the manhole in front of his house in the 1700 block of Tyler Parkway. That was more than two weeks ago.

It was on a Sunday. Two days later, a crew arrived to dig a hole so it could replace a manhole and put one of those heavy steel plates over the hole.

Then, nothing.

Ta-dunk, ta-dunk.

Make that TA-DUNK, TA-DUNK. It was loud. Every time a car drove over the metal plate, the un-level plate rang out like a huge timpani drum. TA-DUNK, TA-DUNK.

It shook the nearby houses. Reilly called MSD and the city’s MetroCall 311 line. Neighbors called. He had a 4-month-old baby in the house, and that noise every time someone drove on the street was maddening.

Reilly even tried stuffing heavy duty plastic foam under the corners to dampen the sound.

TA-DUNK, TA-DUNK.

About a week later, someone came out and moved the plate. Didn’t fix the hole or finish the job. Just repositioned the plate. It was quieter at least.

Ta-dunk, ta-dunk.

It was several days until they came back and filled the hole with concrete. Reilly said he went to talk with the fella who poured it.

It was almost finished, he said. Just wait a day for the concrete to cure and then a contractor would come and lay down a couple inches of asphalt over the concrete and they’d be done.

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He put the steel plate back and left.

Ta-dunk, ta-dunk.

And nothing.

Reilly called to complain. So did neighbors, he said.

Finally, a guy came out, removed the metal plate, left a couple of globs of asphalt on the fresh concrete, put a cone in the middle of the manhole and left.

And then nothing.

Tired of driving around it, a neighbor moved the cone. There was no longer a steel plate but there was the two-inch drop-off where the asphalt met the fresh concrete.

Ta-dunk, ta-dunk.

Last week he was at the end of his rope. Reilly called MSD on Thursday and told the person he talked to that if someone wasn’t there the next day to finish the job, he would do it himself. They asked him not to. So did his wife.

He gave in to his wife and didn’t fix it over the weekend. He figured he would give MSD a few extra days.

When no one came on Monday, he went to Lowe’s the following day.

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On its website, Lowe’s lists QPR asphalt patch — “The world’s #1 permanent pavement repair material,” according to the website — for $11.97 a bag. Three bags should do it, he figured.

Reilly owns a company that installs hardwood floors; he had never laid an ounce of asphalt in his life.

Until Tuesday.

When he got home, he scraped away the clumps of asphalt left by the last worker who came, emptied the bags of asphalt into the hole and tamped it down and then took pictures.

“It really wasn’t that hard,” said Reilly, who then tweeted pictures of his handiwork to Mayor Greg Fischer and Louisville Metro Council Member Brandon Coan.

“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” he said. “But I’m in the construction business. This was a two-, maybe three-day job.”

Sheryl Lauder, a spokeswoman for MSD, said the sewer district's timeline shows that work actually started on Aug. 13, but she said the agency should have been more responsive to Reilly's calls for help.

At the very least, he should have received a call back from someone who could have helped with any issues — and he wasn't. Lauder said MSD is changing its policy to correct that.

Lauder said MSD also sent a contractor out to repair the street on Wednesday — a day after Reilly did his repair. Unbeknownst to him, Lauder said the contractor ripped out Reilly's repair job because the city uses a different type of asphalt patch that holds up longer.

No worry, Lauder said the contractor immediately laid down a "hot patch" that will last longer.

And as for Reilly, Lauder said, "I saw his pictures. He did a pretty good job. We ought to hire him."

Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/josephg.