Public Questions Board

SEELEY LAKE - Residents bombarded the Seeley Lake Sewer District (SLSD) Board with questions and comments at the board’s July 20 meeting. The “public comment” period dominated the meeting taking up three quarters of the 80-minute meeting. Topics ranged from the pending protest period to goose poop in the lake to McDonald’s coming to town.

The meeting got off to a tense start when resident Don Larson asked Board President Mike Boltz when the letter of intent to incur indebtedness would be sent out. District Manager Greg Robertson started to answer when Larson interrupted asking that Boltz answer the question not Robertson.

Boltz said he didn’t know and suggested the question be directed to Robertson.

Robertson estimated that the letters would be mailed to all property owners in October after the board takes official action on it. The letters would be the first step in the notice and protest process.

Board Vice President Mike Lindemer explained that the board members are all volunteers and they don’t know all the answers. That is why the district has hired experts, such as Robertson, to help answer questions.

The public in attendance continued to direct their questions towards individual board members.

Larson asked Board member Bob Skiles how the district is doing getting the user agreement contracts signed by landowners and how many signed user agreement contracts Rural Development is requiring before starting the project.

Skiles replied, “I don’t answer questions for him [Larson].”

Boltz replied that he didn’t think the district needed to collect user agreements. It was originally in the funding agreement but things had changed.

Later, when asked, Robertson said there is still a requirement to have 155 user agreements from Phase I signed by landowners but the district is focusing on the notice and protest requirement first. If the landowners approve the debt, collecting user agreements will be one of the next steps.

Other questions and comments:

During the notice and protest period, is each property getting one protest or does each landowner gets one? For instance a person who owns three lots, would they get one protest or three? Each lot will have a right to protest so if someone owns multiple properties, they will get multiple protests.

Is the protest given more weight for a commercial property than for a residential property? Yes, because the commercial properties will be paying a higher monthly debt service than residential lots, their protest will have more value or weight. From the Sewer District’s website: “Residential property owners will have one right of protest per parcel they own; businesses (which will pay double the residential sewer rate, should the sewer be built) will have two rights of protest per parcel they own.”

If landowners do not fill out and send in the protest does it count as a “yes” vote? It is not actually a vote. If landowners take no action they are indicating that they wish to move forward with the sewer project funding and construction.

What new business development do you envision if the sewer goes through? “Hopefully a decent café,” said Skiles. “I know there is going to be some housing and I think that’s a good thing.”

Skiles explained that during a recent conversation with a representative from Pyramid Mountain Lumber it was brought up that the mill doesn’t have enough workers. A large portion of their workers commutes from outside the community due to the lack of housing in Seeley Lake. Additional housing could help their lack of employees.

All those extra millworkers and their families would be using the downtown businesses too and adding to the economy of town.

Board member Mark Butcher added that his business would be able to have a bathroom for customer use.

Boltz said it has more to do with the economy as to what will happen in the future than if Seeley Lake builds a sewer.

“I don’t believe that there [are] any projects waiting in the works for this [sewer] to be done so they can start their big giant project,” said Boltz.

When will the district start putting out information through the public relations company? Boltz said that the district’s public education process is already underway. The district has a new domain name, seeleysewer.org and their website has been updated with new information including answers to frequently asked questions.

Two public meetings have already been scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Seeley Lake Community Hall, Aug. 23 and Sept. 21.

What topics are being covered in the information from the public relations firm? The cost, the environmental need and history of how the district came to this system.

Lindemer referred the person to the website. For those who don’t use the Internet, Lindemer assured them that landowners would receive all the information in the mail as well.

The most important part of this entire thing is to get the lake cleaned up. The entire town needs to take action to do this. Another member in the audience expressed their frustration that the district does not include all the water front properties.

The board responded that there must be a starting point to any project. This is the start to cleaning up the water. The proposed sewer is designed to be expandable so future areas can be added to the district. The board has had conversations in the past with the state about hooking up cabin lease lots and there is interest in doing so.

If a McDonald’s ever came in, it would take away from the current restaurants that have been here forever. I think that would harm the community more than help. Boltz replied that he thought McDonald’s could come into Seeley Lake right now without a sewer so having a sewer wouldn’t automatically be bringing that sort of thing with it.

Lindemer said the Seeley Lake Land Use Plan would not allow that sort of business to come in without the people allowing it. He added that even though the Land Use Plan was not technically enforceable, the community could still use it to stop such businesses from coming to Seeley.

It’s not just the people that are polluting the lake, animals are too. The geese in the last 10 years have become a problem for some lakefront landowners. One person said they remove a five-gallon bucket of goose poop every day. Lindemer said that Vince Chappell, who does the water sampling for the district, can attest to how much nitrates in the lake are coming from people and how much from the animals.

A lakefront landowner asked why they should be paying 12 months a year for a sewer. They recently had their septic tank pumped and inspected. They were told that their system should last for a long time because they only use the house a few months each year. People could just upgrade their septic system instead of paying a monthly rate forever. Lindemer said that a second house is a luxury item and if the landowner didn’t want to hook up to the sewer then they didn’t need to.

Who applied for the $600,000 grant that Senator Jon Tester helped secure and what can the money be spent on? No one applied for it per se but the board feels that all the work getting the proposed sewer to the current status has earned them the funding. The project is at the top of the list in the state for funding and Tester sees that.

The next sewer board meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 17 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. At 6 p.m., there will be the annual hearing on the administrative assessment that funds the district’s current operating costs.