Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 404
SEELEY LAKE –Seeley Lake Sewer District Board received public comment on their attorney’s denial of a citizens petition, discussed their proposed Rules and Regulations (R&R), worked through a final draft of the by-laws and approved an interlocal agreement with Missoula County at their Sept. 19 board meeting. In public comment, District resident Franny Trexler read a letter to the board regarding her frustration with the way District Attorney Jon Beal handled a petition for a referendum she turned in to the Missoula County Elections Office. The...
SEELEY LAKE - I want to alert the 182 people who signed the grassroots petition opposing the mandatory hookup to the sewer system that your voice has been disregarded. Moreover, my constitutional right to formalize opposition through a petition for a referendum has been rejected on a number of false arguments. I feel that there is a great deal of resistance to the construction of a centralized sewer system – the most recent vote for the Seeley Lake Sewer Board members is clear proof of the opposition. For example, challenger Troy Spence r...
SEELEY LAKE - The Sewer Board has published proposed rules for governing its sewer operation. They are a must-read and are available online, at the County annex and the Seeley Lake Public Library at Seeley-Swan High School. They are disturbing. They violate your civil rights and they absolve the District Board of any liability. As they are proposed, a sewer district employee can enter your home and examine “the manner in which the water is used” to ensure compliance with their rules. The installation is at your expense except for a narrow win...
SEELEY LAKE - The sewer debate is about justice and fairness. Here are a couple of parameters. We all perform the same daily bodily functions, whether we’re registered to vote, own property or not. Fairness suggests we ALL have a say in this sewer debate, because even though a majority of the citizens don’t vote or own property they will pay for this new proposed sewer. Business people, the principal landowners, will certainly pass the increased sewer costs through to their customers and take a tax deduction for the expense. So, as it stands no...
It really goes without saying, but Missoula County is an amazing place. And in a county that is home to 119,000 souls, spanning terrain from rugged wilderness to the second largest city in Montana, county government plays an important role in our day-to-day lives, whether we realize it or not. Over the next year, to better communicate the many facets of county government (arguably one of the least understood levels of government), Missoula County elected officials will contribute monthly...
If you follow the news at all, or if you are on social media at all, you have certainly seen some nasty treatment of and language toward those who hold differing views from one another. This is certainly evident in political discussions between left and right. It is also evident in church matters, family matters, local government matters, even, (dare I mention it?) sewer district matters. Sometimes I think it is worse than it used to be, and continuing to get worse, but then I also recall that our nation went to war and killed each other on...
Dear Mr. Goodover and Board Members - The Missoula City-County Health Board supports the resolution to require connection of all properties within the Seeley Lake Sewer District to the public sewer system as it becomes available. The Health Board is concerned about the nitrate levels in Seeley Lake’s groundwater and public sewer is a proven way to reduce the impact of septic system pollution in a community. However, in order to reap the benefit of public sewer, it is important that the number of connections be maximized. Recent water quality da...
SEELEY LAKE – In a split vote the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board passed a resolution to mandate connections to the sewer system as it is built at their Aug. 15 meeting. The board also approved the tax assessment method for the District’s annual administrative fee and officially opened public comment on the proposed Rules and Regulations (R&R). Board President Pat Goodover came out firing in his opening comments responding to people who have questioned his independence, ability to look at all sides of the issue and his role as president as...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board continues to abuse the citizens it was elected to represent. At its meeting last week it quickly disregarded a petition signed by 182 residents opposing mandatory hook-ups and voted 3-1 to mandate them. It caved to Pyramid when its spokesman pointed out Pyramid pays 20 percent of the administrative fee, around $9,000 a year, but does not and will not enjoy 20 percent of the “benefit” of the sewer system. The manager and one Board member immediately voiced their intentions to re-visit the assessment met...
SEELEY LAKE - While Tim Love worked with the Forest Service as the Seeley Lake District Ranger, the Region was encouraged to consider concessionaire management to maintain recreation sites. While the District decided against the use of concessionaire management, the Regional Office recently proposed a fee increase to several campgrounds, cabin rentals and day-use sites across the Lolo National Forest. The public has until Sept. 30 to comment on the proposal. Love said when Region 1 was considering concessionaires, two Forest Service employees...
County Health employee Jim Erven misrepresented and exaggerated (yet again) the dangers of nitrates in a recent letter to the Sewer Board. He says high nitrate levels in the groundwater can cause blue baby syndrome and fish kills, neither of which have occurred in Seeley Lake. And he overlooks the fact most of the residents in the Sewer District drink out of the lake...not the groundwater he claims is polluted. He stated one test well had gone over the state standard occasionally for groundwater pollution but neglects to tell you all three...
MISSOULA – The Missoula County Elections Office received a sample petition July 19 for a citizen’s initiative that would repeal a Seeley Lake Sewer District resolution approving special assessments and require the District to go through an election before assessing levies for repaying bonded indebtedness. The Elections Office had 21 days to approve or disapprove the form of the petition before it could be circulated for signatures. They responded in a little over a week. Based on advice from the Office of Missoula County Attorney, Elections Adm...
SEELEY LAKE –The Seeley Lake Sewer District unveiled a resolution to mandate properties within the District to connect to the sewer as it is built at its July 18 board meeting. Board President Pat Goodover read the resolution at the meeting stating that the District’s attorney Jon Beal made edits to the version Goodover received just a half hour ahead of the meeting. The printed copies were already outdated. It took Goodover more than 13 minutes to read it in its entirety with the bulk of it explaining the reasons why the Board needed to mov...
SEELEY LAKE - The Sewer Board circus continues. Last week it approved a resolution for public review which would require EVERY property in the sewer district to hook up. Remember, if you have two lots under your home you will pay two debt service obligations. So, whatever the monthly charge comes out to be....double it if you have two lots under your home. Current cost estimates are already nearly THREE TIMES the statewide average for sewer service and will undoubtedly go higher as the construction estimates come in. Also the Board signed a...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board held a special meeting July 15 to set District’s administrative fee assessment method, set the assessment method hearing date and sign an engineering contract to change the location of the force main. Last week, Missoula County held a hearing July 11 on the Pine Street easement petition. Missoula County Public Works Seeley Lake Projects and Operations Coordinator Kim Myre said the presented assessment methodology is the same as last year. It charges a flat rate to property with dwelling uni...
SEELEY LAKE –The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board had a packed agenda for the June 20 regular meeting with topics ranging from bidding schedule and changing the force main route to Rules and Regulations (R&Rs) and cost estimates for Phase 3 and 4. The meeting ran nearly four hours with some agenda items being tabled. Bidding Timeline District Manager Jean Curtiss asked that the board to consider changing the bid dates from late this summer or early fall to January. Curtiss explained that a small sewer job in Missoula that went to bid in A...
SEELEY LAKE - After the June 20 Sewer Board meeting, it was clear that there are innumerable loose ends and many unanswered questions to be addressed before any user agreement reaches the property owners in Phase 1. At one point, I made the comment that we would need many more property owner participants in the district to be able to pay for the proposed sewer system. Costs have always been too high and continue to increase. They are high enough to price many people right out of their homes. That idea seems to go right over the heads of most...
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 - Citizens for Sensible Wastewater Solutions mailed letters to sub-district one residents urging them to attend the Thursday evening Sewer District Board meeting. The location of the 5:15 p.m. meeting has been changed from the Seeley Lake Elementary to the Community Hall. Please note the change and plan to attend....
MISSOULA – The Missoula County Commissioners briefly discussed a letter from the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board requesting county assistance and resources at their June 12 administrative meeting. The letter from the District requests several things the county previously provided the District through an interlocal agreement including use of office space in the County’s Seeley Lake satellite office and administrative assistance from Missoula County Public Works Seeley Lake Projects and Operations Coordinator Kim Myre. That agreement exp...
SEELEY LAKE – Residents attending the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board’s special meeting to discuss the draft User Agreements (UA) June 6 had a lot of concerns and asked many questions. Most circled back to the landowners’ pocketbook and the million-dollar question: How many million dollars is this project going to cost? District Manager Jean Curtiss explained that the UA were sent to just landowners in Subdistrict/Phase 1 and it was mistakenly sent without the word “draft” across it. Curtiss said that the UA references the Rules and Regulatio...
SEELEY LAKE - Are we, Seeley Lake, in need of a centralized waste system we clearly can’t afford with so many questions still unanswered? If septic systems are affecting our ground water, thus the lake, is it all systems in all areas or just defective systems in need of replacement? Are all waste disposal systems around Seeley Lake functioning properly? Should properties on the lake have holding tanks that are periodically pumped out? Are the 500+ lots in the sewer district really the cause of the problems, or should the entire area north a...
SEELEY LAKE - Eighty thousand dollars per lot – that is roughly what Sewer District residents will pay for the proposed sewer. If your home happens to sit on two lots you will may be obligated for $160,000 of the roughly $40 million, 40-year bond debt obligation. That works out to more than $100 per month per lot (after subsidies) for sewer service in one of the lowest income communities in the county. Subdistrict (Phase) 1 residents who will get a revised user agreement in the mail must just say NO. DO NOT SIGN THE AGREEMENT. If you do, you o...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board has drawn up a draft “user agreement” for we sewer district residents. That’s the agreement between the board and we “customers” which must be in place before we receive sewer service. It is complicated, technical and full of legal jargon. We must understand it completely before we sign up. The board has called a meeting for 5:15 p.m., Thursday, June 6 at the Seeley Lake Elementary School. Sewer District residents should consider this important meeting a “must attend” event. We can ask questions and...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board was presented with a budget for the next fiscal year that doubles last year’s budget and discussed the User Agreement (UA) and District Rules and Regulations (R&R) at their May 16 meeting. The proposed 2019 District Administrative Budget has doubled from $47,620 to $95,625. The main increase in the budget is to pay for the part time District Manager at $38,400 per year. The manager was previously donated by Missoula County through an inter-local agreement. This winter the county determined it...
