Sorted by date Results 1 - 17 of 17
As reported in the Jan. 21 issue of the Pathfinder, Walt Hill provided “information” to the hospital district directors that involved an assortment of truths, half-truths, distortions and outright false information. It was painful for me as a fellow sewer district director to read what he put forth to supposedly educate another board’s leaders how to cast their district’s vote on the up-coming bond election. I hope that each of the district’s qualified electors will be able to vote in the best way for him- or herself based on an understan...
SEELEY LAKE - In what world does a board director ask the district manager for specific information relating to a topic the manager discussed with the public at a recent meeting and be denied access to that information? That occurred last week in the bizarre world of the Seeley Lake Sewer District. On June 10th I emailed district manager Jean Curtiss requesting the cost estimates for Phases 3 and 4 which became part of the public discussion at the special board meeting on June 6. Ms. Curtiss responded saying that she would not release the data...
SEELEY LAKE - A month has passed without the Seeley Lake Sewer Board (and District) having a legal president. Montana Code Annotated 7-13-2271 (a portion of state law regulating sewer districts) states under “Organization of board of directors”: 1. A new board of directors shall hold its first meeting on the sixth Monday after the election of directors. It shall choose one of its members president and shall provide for the time and place of holding its meetings and the manner in which its special meetings may be called. 2. The board shall estab...
SEELEY LAKE - When long-term, costly decisions are being made, you— the voters— deserve to be given reliable information. Getting such information from the current Seeley Lake Sewer Trustees has been and continues to be virtually impossible. When incumbents spoke at the candidates’ forum, they continued to demonstrate their inability to serve us well. Asked about what might be reasonable sewer rates, they each waffled in different directions. According to earlier, formal board and general manager-released figures for debt (+/- $55) and opera...
Current Seeley Lake Sewer Board: Males - 100%, Females - 0%, Business Owners - 100%, Wage Earners - 0%, Fixed Income/Retired - 0%, High Value Property Ownership - 100%, Apparent Need for Sewer - 100%, Relevant Training/Background - 40% Flexibility in Problem-solving - 0-20% Sewer Board with Three New Members: Males - 60%, Females - 40%, Business Owners - 40%, Wage Earners - 40%, Fixed Income/Retired - 20%, High Value Property Ownership - 40%, Apparent Need for Sewer - 50-50%, Relevant Training/Background - 50%, Flexibility in Problem-solving -...
SEELEY LAKE - Think about this. Don’t miss grabbing the golden ring. Presently, there are more than 3,000 separate parcels within the Missoula County portion of the Clearwater Valley and watershed. There are more than 1,500 living units, including cabins on state and federal land as well as mobile homes on rented lots which have personal property taxes levied on them. Additional parcels and living units lie within the valley/watershed in Powell County. If a Clearwater Valley Watershed Consortium [CVWC] were established, it would be both a s...
SEELEY LAKE - Don’t get upset those of you pushin’ the “Do Nothing” methodology. I’m “just sayin.” Isn’t that the in-fashion colloquial expression used when people don’t want you to get angry with them for saying something to them that you know they don’t want to hear? Ya know— “Just sayin” as in— “Just sayin’, Isn’t doin’ nothin’, payin’ attention to nothin’ and believin’ nothin’s wrong with all that undocumented PR baloney what got us facin’ such a distorted kind of wastewater project in the first place?” HOWEVER, talking like that and be...
SEELEY LAKE - Greg Robinson and the go-along sewer board have revealed intentions to charge very unfairly for sewer Operation and Maintenance. First, they cannot seem to learn or accept that when it comes to using and deriving benefits from a sewer, residences and businesses are fundamentally not the same. Second, within each class, using and deriving benefits will not be the same. Regarding the distorted proposal that residences and businesses should pay the same—NO! Businesses have an extra benefit in that they can deduct utility charges a...
SEELEY LAKE - I’ve been trying to work up a sheet of information, that anyone might understand, regarding the actual costs for constructing the proposed sewer. I obtained the only currently available project budget. That document consists of 2.5 pages and has two headings, “Collection System Phase 1” and “SBR (that’s the treatment mechanism that has a designed life of 20 years), Groundwater Discharge Phase 1”. There seems to be a problem stemming from the organization, or rather disorganization, of the materials that is keeping me from being...
SEELEY LAKE - Greg Robertson revised his proposed sewer rate schedule at the board meeting Thursday, Oct. 19. The problem is that he moved from one tremendously warped method (that had over 100 residences labeled as “businesses”) to another equally unfair approach. Under his newest scheme, ALL – be they high or low users, business or resident, year-round or seasonal, prosperous or low-income residents, owners of occupied or vacant parcels—will now pay the same for both debt service and operations and maintenance (O&M). Robertson seems to look...
SEELEY LAKE - Rumor has it that critical engineering documents, revealing the design, actual plan components and budget for the proposed sewer, are finally in the hands of the sewer board. Can that group demonstrate the integrity, maturity and confidence needed to provide constituents the time to access, review and develop questions regarding their proposed project now that “full” engineering information has been delivered to them? While each property owner (and interested renter) may not feel fully qualified to analyze the entire set of doc...
SEELEY LAKE - The self-created mission for the sewer district clearly establishes why the board’s current proposal is so out-of-line. The statement introduces itself appropriately: “to assist the community in determining the need and cost for a centralized sewer system.” But, from that point on, the goals and subsequent board actions headed in a different direction. Rather than establishing NEED by developing a plan for a comprehensive study and analysis of environmental factors, the board settled for doing some water testing on FEWER SITES...
SEELEY LAKE - In an earlier letter-to-the-editor, I pointed out that Sewer District 4 has some 40 properties which are, in fact, residences or the occasional vacant lot. Seeley Lake Sewer District Manager Greg Robinson would have them charged as “businesses” to cover the debt and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) expenses if district property owners accept the proposed sewer project. (Please see the Pathfinder archive if you wish to review that information.) At that time, I noted that similar situations also existed for other sewer districts. So...
SEELEY LAKE - With his letter in last week’s Pathfinder, Dennis Clark became a strong, though likely unwitting, ally to Citizens for Sensible Wastewater Solutions (CSWS) and the constituents of the Seeley Lake Sewer District. We at CSWS found most of what Clark said quite agreeable as he applied criteria and a level of critical thinking skills rare to the current support’s side of the debate about the proposed sewer project. Mr. Clark, while you and CSWS may seem to be on opposing sides of the issue, like England’s famed “Loyal opposit...
Were you aware that, under sewer general manager Greg Robinson’s desire to determine equitable sewer debt and Operation and Maintenance costs, 40+/- historically residential properties in Sub-District or Phase 4 have become “businesses”? Such a business designation burdens us with the privilege to pay double for sewer charges — even though our parcels have never functioned as business properties and are hardly likely to become businesses after 50+/- years of us enjoying our homes. As non-business “businesses”, we cannot deduct such charges fro...
SEELEY LAKE - The five business men on the Seeley Lake Sewer Board and their general manager Greg Robertson, henceforth called B/gm, have now conjured up at least three purposely twisted ways to try to get their sewer proposal past the constituents of the district! First, the B/gm plan to “SHOW SUPPORT” for the sewer by using a reverse technique of not actually proving any measurable support. Under their scheme for an up-coming “Notice and Protest” event, they are requiring a count on solely signed opponents to “prove” that the board has b...
SEELEY LAKE - It is clear by now that getting full, accurate and timely information about the proposed sewer project is like “getting blood from a stone.” To have confidence in the costly project, one needs time to think about all the implications. Forty years with no escape clause is a long time to be stuck. The sewer board has already announced four quick-fix, unfair policies. First, debt service is not being pro-rated by assessed property value as are school and other debts. Sewer debt will fall proportionately heavier on low- and fix...
