Delmont has not had good leadership in at least the last
twelve years, which I know from personal experience or any true Visionaries in at
least a quarter of a Century: Well at least operating in any official Borough
position. The only Visionary acts that
have taken place within our Borough, of which I am aware, are those individuals
who have been involved in the Library project and our local Service Clubs, the
Lions and Rotary, have been supporting groups and youth to hopefully foster
better leadership and Vision With any luck some of the fine Youth developed
through programs these organizations will stay around our area. Perhaps these observations play into the
reason of it taking so long to fix the Sewage issue.
I am writing this now because I feel that this issue is too
big to sit on. I feel like some of our
Professional Experts are trying to hold the members of Council “hostage” with
potential legal or regulatory consequences for speaking. All of our professional service people
indicated expressing our thoughts to the public might sabotage our chances of coming
to agreement with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The other point that I would like make about
my belief in DEP based on the work with many states’ regulatory agencies across
the country. DEP’s mission is not to put
undue burdens on local governments or fine them beyond their means. Of course if local governments ignore, don’t
comply, or disregard a regulatory agency’s area of responsibility they will take
appropriate and necessary actions to ensure public health and safety. Regulatory Agencies tend to be harsher
towards industries that disregard regulations for profit motives then punishing
governmental jurisdictions. I don’t
believe anything I say here would be found offensive or troublesome to any
regulatory agency. I am simply writing
my opinion on a problem and that I am unwilling to vote for a resolution that
does not include a third party review.
This is being prudent towards a costly long range plan.
I want to make it
perfectly clear that the ideas expressed in this post are solely my
responsibility. Some colleagues may
agree in principle with some of the thoughts expressed in this post but would
never agree I should commit it to writing.
Everything can be viewed as my opinions or perceptions based on the
information I have. I am writing this
post as an elected official carrying out my responsibilities to the Citizens of
Delmont. If anything I say is radical or
you feel that I am making up a bunch of stuff to “stir the pot” so to speak, or
make unfounded problems for Counsel, Please
use your Constitutional Right and vote me out of office in November. I believe every citizen has the right to
hear, if they so choose, what I have to say about this issue.
Guiding points of my
intent in this post
- I deeply appreciate all the hard work of the Sewage Committee and it is not my intent to harm in any way their efforts to solve the Sewage Problem.
- It is not my intent to prolong starting remedial measures or in any way jeopardize any Regulatory efforts.
- It is not my intent to aggravate any of the parties who are negotiating a resolution to the sewage issue either private or public.
- It is my intent to encourage a discussion, to lead to dialogue and hopefully a good resolution.
The Issue from my
perspective:
·
The “fix” is for 40 Years.
·
Although overall projected costs not expected to
reach levels were a review of the proposals would be mandatory $1-3 Million is
a boat load for our small community.
·
There is so many years of emotional animosity and
distrust between two major parties that potential “good ideas” leading to a
better fix may not even be considered.
·
Sewage rates have to increase; it becomes a
matter of how much. Currently, some of
the Projected Engineering costs are being built into rate height suggestions.
·
A better solution may be achieved through a
cooperative approach that includes those that may have been adversarial for two
decades.
My Position:
I will not support any type of sewage increase, or Consent
Agreement from DEP until a third party Engineer would review the proposed plan,
information gathered by Engineers and Representatives of the Rock Springs
Trust, and the ideas of the former Counsel President who now reportedly claims,
as reported by members of the Rock Springs Trust, could solve the problem in
about a month with five helpers. I want
the best possible Solution for My Children and their children, should they
choose to reside around here, for the next 40 years. Many of us members of Counsel may no longer
be here when the full effects of our actions would be known. It is essential that Consent agreement details are done in full public view.
Perhaps it is Time: Should Delmont call a Lateral?
This is an answer that a unbiased third party could shed
some light on. One of the issues that is
buried in the sewage quagmire of Delmont is the Public versus Private
debate. To simplify should homeowners of
older buildings (I am one. My house was
built in 1891) inspect and fix their lateral connections into the main
sewage? Individually, the price estimate
I have heard could be between $15,000 - $20,000. We have been told that this is what the
building owners in our Borough could be responsible for if their lateral is not
attached properly to the sewage line.
What if…… All of the citizens of Delmont banded together and everyone
agreed to have their lines inspected and fixed at the same time? I am not sure of the exact number of
buildings in Delmont but let’s say 750.
How much of a discount would a plumbing contractor give say 500 people
who would do it together? Could the
price come under $5,000? The very worst
case scenario (Assuming maximum of 750 structures costing $20,000) would be
$15,000,000.00. The challenge would be
how to set up a “Lateral Bank” of sorts that would make low interest loans
available to fix all laterals feeding into our sewage system. Members of the public must recognize that
sometimes Government Monies are given (or lent) to very specific projects and
local officials have no control over what it must be spent on. For example, there is a $50,000 grant
available to plant a flower garden. We
win that grant but decide we would like to plant trees instead. We would be told the money is for
flowers. If you do not want to plant
$50,000 for of flowers return the money.
The money will be used for flowers, if you don’t want them fine someone
else will get the flowers.
The major point is this.
Either because of a desire not to spend money, ignorance of hazards
posed by improperly connected waste pipes, lack of regulations, or any
combinations of these reasons there is a potential estimated expense of
$15,000-$20,000 for property owners of older houses and buildings. We can continue to totally ignore the problem
and have it severely hurt property values into the future, or we could ban
together create some unique funding engine to fix the problem and save citizens
money. Many boroughs and townships across
the State are in a similar situation.
Infrastructure seems to be a current buzz ward which means unique
funding and financing options may be available.
Let’s just make sure we carefully choose the fix of our sewer
system. It has to last 40 years. Questions comments feel free to contact me:
david4delmont@gmail.com
