Community needs sewer for future

I feel a community Facebook page is the wrong place to CALL OUT local citizens who have put forth an effort to volunteer to sit on a local board. I was called out in a post on a local site post so here is my comment.

I am running for the sewer board to work hard for the people in our community even though a couple loud apples will bash me.

Yes, I am PRO sewer. I am a full time, year-round resident and business owner of Seeley Lake and believe strongly in supporting our local economy (a study says $1 spent in a community gets spent an average of six more times in that community).

I care about the people and environment of this great community I am blessed to live in. If elected I vow to vote and drive the project in the right direction for the people!

Yes, I do talk to a lot of people in the community that are for and against the sewer. I understand and sympathize their concerns and I also listen to their ideas and recommendations.

I will work hard to move the project forward based on the current design. It has been in the works for more than six years and will cost a lot more to reinvent the wheel. This system is widely used across the nation and a highly approved system.

Seeley Lake is neither the first nor the last community to pump uphill to the plant. The fact that pumps are very engineered and readily available tells me it’s not that uncommon to do. I helped install a septic system on Placid Lake two years ago. The homeowner and the health department decide pumping to the top of his property was the best idea for his property.

A 40-year note for a 20-year system? Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance! Maintenance is a budget line item. You have to maintain every aspect of life whether it be your health, home, car, a friendship, sewer system, water system or the power grid. Everything will fall apart and not last very long without proper maintenance.

I agree the cost is high. It will be one of the higher sewer bills in the state. It sucks, I get it, but at the end of the day, groups of people volunteering their time have been trying to do the best to install some sort of system for 20+ years. It would have been a lot cheaper and easier 20+ years ago. My fear is if we lose funding and the health department puts it in with no funding packages.

A concern I have heard is that community members may be against the sewer because they don’t want Seeley to grow. Growth is good. It should tempt us all to get involved with our community, voice our opinions in the right setting (i.e. community council) and come together with a common goal for Seeley’s 5, 10, 20-year future.

It takes a community to be a community.

Thank you,

Kyle Zumwalt

 

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