Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Sewer Districts

CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SERVICE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005



REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

7:30 P.M.

C. WASTEWATER UTILITY MAINTENANCE:

(1) Sewer back-up issues - Update

(2) Review and discussion regarding Taranto?’s Pizza

(3) Review and discussion regarding EPA 208 Plan

John:

I think you should step back and look at the big picture first before making judgments on the County Utilities. Clearly in 2001 there were a number of tap fee reductions given to these developers to encourage them to annex into to Pickerington. Part of the long standing problems with Pickerington and the Township was that these developers played both sides against each other. In 2001 Pickerington could offer much higher building density and they could offer big discounts in tap fees. Today that is not possible on the surface. In November 2002 the Citizens of Pickerington made it very clear that they didn't want these give a ways to continue. They said that in two citizen's initiative ordinances. Also in 2003 the former City Administration was planning a huge sewer plant expansion. If you think the discounts were huge in 2001 then what would you think would have happened if they had expanded the current plant to provide for over 7000 new homes?



I will agree that the County Utilities has engaged in some risky sewer expansion in its own right. When a public utility takes on this kind of debt they must then sell sewer taps to pay for that debt. That mean NEW HOMES.



For those that don't know I have cut and pasted the an agenda item above on discussions of the EPA 208 plan. Even though the former administration claimed to have one it was regularly violated and ignored. I believe you will find a written agreement soon to outline and define the sewer districts. The Wellington Park was and is part of the County's sewer district.



Why is this 208 plan and a written agreement so important? Because the two initiative/ordinances passed by the voters in November of 2002 can be ignored by any future council. If they choose to annex and give big discounts the council has that power under home rule. See below and tie in the Emergency Charter Amendments that any future council CAN NOT IGNORE. If the current council signs a sewer district agreement with their neighbors then those neighbors have a very strong legal tool to defend themselves in court. Hopefully in the future the population will not allow these kind of deals to happen with out strong public support.

Repeat offender

Again I say - pay close attention to who is bringing these issues forward and who supports them, who is against them and what they say. It is a long time to November and I want to keep your memory fresh.

$1,000,000.00 ''Risky''???

Beware of the BIG picture!

Mostly, when people tell you to look at the big picture, they really want you to see things from their perspective. And usually, that perspective is a self-centered greed-driven philosophy perpetuated to protect the ?“not-so-innocent?”. With that in mind, allow me tell you a story?…

There once was a large group of family-focused folks in a small town that made it possible for a small group to make a large sum of money. Unfortunately, for that to happen, this large group of family-focused folks would have to pay a small amount of money to a ?“laundry shop?” so as to ensure a huge profit margin for that small group. When word got out that the ?“small group?” was taking advantage of the large group of family-focused folks via the ?“laundry shop?”, the large group of family-focused folks decided to look at the BIG PICTURE and let it be?… for a while anyway. Does this make the large group of family-focused folks look incredibly dumb or are they just going-along-to-get-along while hoping for a brighter future? Hmmm.

We're not talking about chump-change here, Anonymous. Fairfield county utilities, the same folks that I send a good chunk of my money to every third month, decided to cut a back-door-deal with a homebuilder, Virginia Homes, to subsidize water & sewer lines for hundreds of homes to the tune of $1,000,000.00 (That?’s One Million Dollars!) To add insult to injury, these hundreds of homes are in none other than?… Pickerington Local School District!

What we have here is several county water and sewer officials and county commissioners making extremely poor decisions, such as expanding county water & sewer capacity when the need did not exist, then, to cover their collective butts, they cut a $1,000,000.00 back-door-deal that will cost each and every current Fairfield county water & sewer user (me & my neighbors) dearly. Who authorized such a deal? One would have to believe the county commissioners approved the facility expansion and the back-door deal.
Hey, I'm all for cooperation and going-along-to-get-along, but Pickerington city officials made this pre-annexation deal with Virginaia Homes. They should pay Fairfield county $1,000,000.00 and then the county could do the work.

I understand Kerry Hogan has already left his position, probably because he knew the lights would eventually come on and we poor sap-suckers who pay the bills would discover this tremendous business blunder. But what about his deputy and managers below him? Why are they still gainfully employed? Why haven?’t they been fired? You've got to ask yourself, Anonymous, if you or I would have made these kinds of incredibly costly mistakes, would we still have a job? Well, only if we worked for Fairfield County. In Fairfield County, you can squander $1,000,000.00 and still keep your job! I think we need to clean house at the highest levels at our county - starting with the commissioners!

I really don't know what happens when government officials use other peoples money to do government business. It is almost as if it is ?“Monopoly money?” to them. It's like they're saying, ''Never mind that we can't keep deputies on the streets, let?’s give away $1,000,000.00 to Virginia Homes so they can swamp Pickerington Schools!''

Like I said, it is no wonder we can't pass a school levy. We're being soaked by Fairfield County!
~

Accountability. That?’s all I?’m saying, Anonymous, and more heads should roll. You call $1,000,000.00 ?“risky?”. I call it a firing offense!


By johnb