SEELEY LAKE - As a resident of Seeley Lake and a fairly active part of the community, my feelings concerning the possible construction of a sewage treatment plant, come a lot closer to excitement than despair. It would be a tremendous step forward to our march towards civilization than stepping back into the forests and turning our backs to the rest of the world. I am sure that most of my neighbors have similar feelings, maybe expressed somewhat differently but along these lines. But, together with most of my neighbors, I have no say in the matter other than outsiders’ comments at any community meetings that I might attend.
But this is no small matter. This treatment plant has many wide effects, in and out of the community, mostly for the better. The most obvious concern those who live in the floor of the valley close to the lake who are instantly faced with increased costs to their household expenses for part of the installation, which is a multimillion dollar project. The very basis of our homes and lives here, all of us, is the degradation of the lake itself, which will be a worrying situation to all of our lives, as it continues to worsen.
For those who work in Seeley Lake there is the added effect that visitors, on whom much of our livelihoods depend, will not want to visit here if they find out about our dirty little secret. Certainly retail businesses will not be able to maintain their services without the summer trade.
This will not happen overnight but it will happen. Our ground water will continue to deteriorate, it is certainly not pristine at the moment. There is certainly an element of health in this issue, certainly potential health hazards. House prices in the valley will be depressed. Property taxes will not go down. Eventually the septic tanks that fail will have to be replaced with much more sophisticated and very much more expensive installations. I’m sure that this is not the end of the list.
So the first thing is to avoid the rejection of putting a treatment plant in when the vote to implement the work is taken. That means convincing those that will be voting, a very small part of our community, to say yes.
Amongst those able to vote there are those who for their own reasons, are totally against it. I hope they will eventually come to see that this is a move forward in our community and change their minds.
Some are concerned that they will be financially unable to pay the not small increases to their household expenses. They are not rich folks but they are part of us, part of our small community and their decisions will affect us. It is those who are unsure of their ability to pay the fees and increased house expenditure that I would like all of us to consider.
They need some help. We want to help to get this thing on the road. We can help and I want to help. And I hope that you will join with me in starting something.
I would like to propose that somehow those who would be prepared to put a little money aside to help those who genuinely cannot afford this and are likely to vote against this project, can find a way to start a fund that will provide the money to make it possible for those who are prevented by financial restraints to vote yes on the decision to go ahead with this project. This fund will be totally discreet. Nobody will have any knowledge of who funds it or who benefits from it. There should be some kind of qualifications for those who apply to avoid any impression of impropriety but it will be overseen by a non-interested body, such as Seeley Lake Community Foundation who has a record of supporting activities in the community and is totally impartial.
Let us come together in this wonderful place, which we all love and chose to live here.
This is the time when we can show appreciation for what we believe in and why we live here and how we feel about our neighbors, friends and all those who will follow us to live here, maybe our children and grandchildren who will remember us as the great and thoughtful ones who looked to the future and their lives too.
Thank you,
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