SEELEY LAKE - I really feel for the “snowbirds” who make up a quarter of the non-business resident parcels of the Seeley Lake Sewer District. Unless they subscribe to The Pathfinder, they will probably miss their chance to vote down a multi-million dollar bond issue that can severely impact their futures.
The Missoula County Elections Office will mail ballots on Nov. 23 to every REGISTERED voter who is a resident or property owner in the Sewer District for a bond issue that, if passed, could potentially cost them $178 a month for the next 40 years and have bulldozers removing trees, sheds and porches from their property at their expense.
If they, like a lot of people, quit voting when Kennedy got assassinated and let their voter registration lapse, they will not be able to vote in this special election.
The Sewer Board should have notified each of the 500 property owners in the district – by certified mail, if not receiving a confirmation back by regular mail – about the coming election months ago. But the handful of enterprising merchants who comprise the Sewer Board historically do not serve clean water nor residents’ interests.
This is evidenced by where they plan to locate the sewer system -- not along the rivers or lake where they could protect water quality but to cover the business district along the highway. The lots above it were included due to a perception that they form a lower income area that could qualify the sewer project for grant money.
Residents have no representation through the board - their concerns may be voiced but are ignored at “hearings” when the Sewer Board consistently votes unanimously to continue assessments against us so they can move the sewer forward for business development.
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