Seeley Lake Sewer Board Trying to Circumvent the Law

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board continues its end-run effort to cancel last fall’s election results. After a solid majority voted “NO” on the $12 million bond issue last December, it is trying to circumvent the law by first shutting the public out of the meeting to discuss the $40 thousand sales effort by a PR firm and second allowing board members to advocate for the failed proposal.

If any Sewer District dollars are spent on this new sales effort it should be a public meeting to discuss the strategy and if board members are permitted to openly advocate for the project, they should be required to speak clearly and speak the truth or face legal consequences.

Past requests for information about the true costs of the project last fall went unanswered or were incomplete and confusing. We can only conclude from that the board members were either lying or did not know the numbers. The way it stands now board members can lie (either deliberately or inadvertently) and say it won’t cost much to sell the project. But once the construction bids are signed, folks, we are on the hook for ALL the unanticipated costs

So, with that in mind, residents should ask AGAIN, how much is this project really going to cost? The construction estimates alone for the first phase just jumped from $12 to $14 million. And no mention has ever been made of the construction costs for Phases II, III and IV.

Further, the board has never discussed the other unanticipated costs...construction cost overruns, administrative costs, operating costs, repair costs and regulatory costs, to name a few. I will wager construction costs alone will spiral up closer to $20 million and this burden falls on less than 400 middle and low-income users.

Remember, also, the board is banking on expanding the sewer district to get more outlying residents to help pay for this albatross of a system, yet it has never analyzed the costs for expanding other public services....water, roads, police, fire and schools, to keep up with population growth. Given the uncertainty of these costs, no resident in his right mind will ever sign up for sewer service unless forced to (yes folks, the government can force you to annex in to the sewer district and share the burden if it deems your property an environmental hazard)

Phase I residents should not sign a contract for sewer service until they get the answers. Every sewer district resident should get ready to protest this project, especially those in Phases II, III and IV who are shut out of this new discussion but will be obligated to help pay for Phase I construction before ever receiving sewer service.