Board President Threatens Legal Action

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board held a special meeting May 24 where board President Mike Boltz threatened to file for an injunction to keep newly elected board members from derailing the sewer project. In other business, the board passed a resolution to accept an Environmental Assessment instead of having to go through a full Environmental Impact Statement. The assessment was required for the district to apply for funding from the Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) for Phase 2 of the collection system.

In the May 8 election, challengers Troy Spence, Beth Hutchinson and Juli Cole defeated incumbents Mark Butcher, Bob Skiles and Mike Lindemer by a wide margin. Spence was in attendance at the special meeting but his term doesn’t start until June.

Butcher, Skiles and Lindemer were at the meeting and their terms are set to expire at the end of May. The three had original terms ending in November of 2017. In 2015 the legislature moved the election date from November to May. Rather than cutting board member’s terms short by having an election in May of 2017, they extended their terms by six months to May of 2018. Boltz term runs till 2020 along with Davy Good. Good was not in attendance at the special meeting.

Boltz said that it was brought to his attention that the district’s by-laws, written in 1992 with no indication that they have been updated, have several references to Montana Code Annotated (MCA) leading to code that has been repealed and or is no longer relevant. He said this leaves it very vague on what the district is supposed to be doing or not doing.

“We talked to John Beil, the [sewer district’s] attorney, and he said that the way that [the by-laws] were written, of course, is what we should be doing and that is qualifying candidates for the sewer district,” said Boltz.

Boltz explained that when he came onto the district board, he had to come talk to the board to be “qualified” to become candidate for the board. Butcher agreed, saying that when he replaced Glen Morin on the board he had to come to the board with his resume and answer questions.

“As far as I am concerned, we have a takeover of the sewer district for purposes of shutting it down,” said Boltz.

Boltz asked Spence what his position on the sewer was. Spence replied that none of the candidates said anything about deleting the sewer but that they want to look at different options.

Boltz challenged Spence’s comment as he held up a copy of Spence’s protest letter from last fall’s notice and protest period. Spence replied that, while he did protest during the notice and protest period, nothing in the signed letter he sent to the district says he would delete the sewer as a board member. Spence was not a board candidate during the time of the notice and protest.

Boltz pushed Spence to further explain his opinion to which Spence attempted to end the dialog saying that he would be more than willing to share his opinion at future board meetings after he was sworn in and officially on the board.

Boltz said there would be no changes to the current plans for the sewer because any changes would throw the whole thing out. Boltz feels that Spence saying he wanted to look at options equates to ending the project. The project has already had extension after extension and the funding agencies will pull the money if there are any more delays or protesting board members.

Spence suggested that Boltz try working with the new board members.

“I tried to talk to Beth [Hutchinson] today and I had to hang up on her. I’m not talking with her and you’re not talking with me, you’re saying come to the next meeting,” said Boltz.

Spence reiterated that he was not sworn in as a board member yet.

Skiles brought the discussion back to the requirement that board members needed to be qualified. Spence questioned if the board knew what being “qualified” meant because the MCA clearly states that to be qualified a person has to be 18 years or older, a registered voter and a property owner or resident of the district. The by-laws include some of these and the correct reference to the MCA with the rest of the qualifications.

“Troy [Spence] is right. That is the way the elections department has held this. I will go one step further though. That doesn’t alleviate the board members from not being qualified. If we feel that we have to have an attorney step in and file an injunction with a judge to have you removed, we have that option,” said Boltz to Spence.

“If I feel that any of this has been put up as a brick wall to stop this [sewer project] I will contact our attorney and I will have him start that process,” said Boltz. “I don’t even have to wait to hear your opinion. Your opinion is nothing because you’re not saying. That’s ridiculous, you want to sit on this board and you don’t want to talk to us?”

“Work with us, that’s all I said,” replied Spence.

The board also discussed information that has been in the paper that they disagree with. Skiles read some experts from a letter to the editor from Don Larson. The issue of where the water would end up if the treatment plant were built drew comments from a resident south of the proposed site. The resident, along with many others near the airport, has been dealing with flooded basements this spring. Would the treatment plant be adding to the already high water?

Skiles said that groundwater studies show the water flows west toward Seeley Lake and Lindemer said the treatment plant elevation is lower than that of the houses. The resident disagreed.

Board members also took issue with the Pathfinder regularly printing the estimated monthly cost of $91.21 for Phase 1 landowners and asked for an explanation. The Pathfinder explained that the $91.21 comes from combining estimates that have been put out by the sewer district for debt service of $54.74 and the Operating and Maintenance [O&M] estimate of $36.47.

The debt service estimate was sent in a notice to landowners last fall during the notice and protest. Phase 1 landowners will be paying for the treatment plant and Phase 1 of the collection system.

The O&M monthly estimate of $36.47 comes from documents District Manager Greg Robertson produced to show how the district would use subsidies to keep the price down for the first phases until the system was built out to Phase 3. This estimate was used in the public information campaign for the district produced by PartnersCreative leading up to the notice and protest. Robertson also used these figures when he asked the county commissioners for a grant to help with the subsidies.

Lindemer questioned if that there had been another grant secured by Senator Jon Tester after the figure was produced. That grant was calculated into the debt service portion before it went out to landowners in the notice and protest so there is no reduction to the $54.74 estimate.

Assistant Manager Kim Myre said that the debt service was a maximum that could be charged to landowners making it a “worst-case scenario”. Skiles agreed and thought that the bids could easily come in 20 percent lower. The O&M estimate is just an estimate as well and could come in cheaper.

Boltz said he felt that this was the time to build the sewer and the alternatives wouldn’t work. He said that even Rovero’s new septic system is failing. Lots of systems were failing this year with the flooding.

After the meeting, the Pathfinder contacted Rovero’s for more information. Manager Kyle Marx stopped short of saying their system is failing but said they have had to pump the solids out because the system doesn’t process solids quite fast enough. Marx said this is compounded because people flush all sorts of things that shouldn’t be flushed such as diapers.

Spence asked if there was a contingency plan for a leak in the force main and if someone would be walking the line every day to make sure it wasn’t dumping raw sewage somewhere.

Butcher, who is a treatment plant operator, said that if there were a drop in pressure due to a leak the pump senses it and shuts down so it can be repaired. He added that the pipes are engineered to take way more pressure than they would be using and that the whole system is engineered to a high standard. If there were ever to be a spill it would be cleaned up accordingly.

Spence didn’t like the answer and felt that if a small leak went undetected, it could run for days or even weeks due to the remoteness of the force main and wanted to know how the district would deal with it. He didn’t think the treatment plant should be located up near the airport.

Boltz adjourned the meeting after an argument erupted over the question.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. June 21 at the Missoula County Satellite Office located at 3360 Highway 83.