Dear Councilor Holle, I know you told the newspaper that you felt bullied by the Public and you had your heels dug in. Is that childish attitude stronger than whatever impulse you had for originally going into public service? Is your petulance worth blocking Council access to the information any reasonable manager would need to provide a safe and efficient utility?
You have diminished the community’s asset by millions of dollars with the loss of half of the permitted capacity of the plant. You actively pushed to misappropriate over a million dollars of infrastructure money on behalf of the former Mayor for a waste collection system that will never serve the Town of Edgewood. You have unnecessarily obligated your neighbors to millions of dollars of reparations by starting design, build, and permitting all over again, if the plant is determined to need a new process to serve the community as originally hoped.
All you had to do was pay attention and do the things that are necessary to make the plant work like it should have.
There was a notice published in the local paper referencing the draft waste water permit, allowing 30 days for comments. Due to irregularities, the notice will be reissued at a later date, possibly the first of July, but possibly earlier. The Town has a copy of the draft permit. The Permit is quite different from the previous permit. The delay would provide valuable time to make the decisions that would guide the success of the plant going forward.
The Council which is ultimately responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the facility need information to assess the impact the change will have on the Town budget, and probably, staffing. By obstinately refusing to allow the Council hear a report from the plant operator or see the laboratory reports, you are forfeiting an important chance to start a conversation that would allow you to respond to the permit process to make it work better for the town. Even at the next meeting in three weeks, you will almost certainly be wasting some of the thirty days allocated by NMED for a response. Worse, you will not leave enough time to actually understand your obligations.
I do have good news. I have looked at the Permit. By forbidding significant future growth, NMED has minimized the damage this pathetic administration can do in the time they have left. There will be opportunities for the next administration to fix your mess. I have faith they will be honest, open, capable, and caring. I know NMED is open to working with people of good faith.
Thank you for your consideration.
