Five seek election to sanitation board if recall succeeds

Five seek election to sanitation board if recall succeeds

Oct 20, 2001

By Gail Binkly
Journal Managing Editor

Five candidates are seeking to be elected to the Cortez Sanitation District board to replace any of the three incumbent members who may be recalled in the Nov. 6 mail election.

Voters will be asked whether they want to recall any or all of the three members: Stan Pierce, Jim Bridgewater or Sam Jarvis. Then — regardless of how they voted on the recall — citizens will have the chance on the same ballot to select up to three of the five candidates to replace any recalled members.

The top vote-getters will fill any slots vacated by recalls for the time remaining on the terms. Pierce has 2 1/2 years remaining on his term, and Bridgewater and Jarvis have half a year left on theirs. If no one is recalled, the five new candidates will be out of luck.

The Journal will feature interviews with the incumbent board members on Tuesday.

FRED BLACKBURN

"A poorly run sanitation district manifested by the current board members proposed for recall has caused a chain of problems beyond the issues of disconnection of sewer taps," reads the opening line of a four-page statement Blackburn has prepared on the sanitation district.

A Cortez resident since 1987, Blackburn has followed the district for about seven years, he said, and believes it has a plethora of problems, including low employee morale, inaccurate measurements of available sewer taps, adversarial relationships with customers, and lack of consistency with builders and plumbers.

Not one to mince words, Blackburn is highly critical of many of the district’s recent actions. He believes the board has not tried hard enough to resolve a dispute with Aileen Maxwell, an 85-year-old woman from whom the district wants to purchase 4.67 acres for its new sewer plant south of Cortez. The district is now seeking to condemn the parcel because negotiations have failed.

"They’re trying to do it through intimidation, just the way they do everything," Blackburn said. He said, while condemnation might be necessary in extreme circumstances, he thinks something could still be worked out with Maxwell. He also believes the district should reconsider the site for its new $10 million plant and make sure it would accommodate further expansion in the future.

"Is that the place we want the plant? I don’t think there’s enough room to grow without taking more of her (Maxwell’s) ground."

Blackburn also believes the district was wrong when, in March, it cut the sewer line of a woman whose husband had suffered a stroke and who had paid half her bill but was delinquent with the rest. The district charges $500 to reconnect a line.

Blackburn said there should be a hardship fund set up for genuinely impoverished persons through a small surcharge on sewer bills. In cases where persons can afford to pay their bills but don’t, he said, putting a lien on the property is sufficient. (The current board recently began trying that practice.) If the district doesn’t get its money and interest for a year or two, he said, "So what?"

He also believes sewer bills should be mailed monthly, rather than quarterly, as they are now.

Blackburn questions why the number of taps available at the southern plant has changed frequently. Beginning in January 2000, sales of sewer taps were severely restricted because the plant was believed to be near capacity. In May of that year, district voters approved a mill-levy increase to build a new plant. Recently, however, the district rescinded its tap-sales restrictions, saying a new analysis showed more capacity was available than previously believed.

"Why has the number of taps fluctuated so frequently?" he asked.

Blackburn also wants to review employee policies, improve relations with the city of Cortez, and create more consistent rules for developers.

An author, guide, historian and educator, Blackburn said he would not be representing special interests, only the people. "I think I understand the needs of Cortez pretty well, and I can work as a team with the other board members."

NORM HALL

A resident of Cortez for five years, Hall is the general manager and co-owner of La Plata View Homes, a 26-lot subdivision where he also lives. Originally from Illinois, he worked for 29 years as supervisor of marketing for the Illinois Power Company, then did consulting for heating and cooling firms and worked for a manufactured-home dealer.

His considerable experience in construction, home-building and utilities would serve him well on the sanitation board, he said.

Hall said he has been following the district’s activities for about four years and attended several of their meetings. His main concerns are ascertaining whether construction of the new plant south of Cortez is needed and working toward finding the most efficient way to operate the sanitation district.

He said it was "totally wrong" when the district cut the sewer line of the woman in March. However, he said there might be times when it would be appropriate to cut sewer lines for customers who have no justification for not paying their bills, but only as a last resort.

"You have to take each case individually," he said.

Hall said he would like to see the district’s staff evaluated to make sure they have the requisite experience and knowledge, and suggested the district’s management needs to improve its relations the public.

Another problem, according to Hall, is the fact that the district does not allow licensed plumbers to make the tap into a main sewer line, but requires that the district’s workers do it. "Does the man who’s getting the tap actually have a state plumber’s license? These are all things I want to find out," he said.

He also expressed concern about the fact that Pierce, the chairman, has been on the board 33 years, saying it’s time for a change.

ROBERT KNOLL

Knoll was motivated to run for the district board after he "had a lot of friends tell me about the problems they’ve had with the district." One friend, he said, fell behind in his payments and was threatened with a sewer cut-off. The friend called the district office to say he was receiving a check in two days and could pay his bill then, but the district said no.

"So they cut his line and then he got paid and it cost him $542 to get hooked up again," Knoll said. "That’s one of the things I’m going on."

The board recently decided to try placing liens on delinquent properties instead, but Knoll is skeptical of the motive. "Why are they changing now? The only reason is they’re just about forced to." Widespread publicity over the case of the woman in March resulted in considerable criticism of the district.

"The way they treat their customers is terrible," he said. "There’s no compassion whatsoever." Treating the public better would be one of his goals, he said.

An Iwo Jima survivor, former postal clerk and former teacher at the San Juan Basin Technical School, Knoll is now retired and said he could devote plenty of time to the board.

Targeting Pierce, he said although he likes Pierce personally, 33 years is too long for anyone to serve on the board.

He voiced concern about the confusion over the number of sewer taps available at the southern plant and said he didn’t think a new sewer plant was even needed.

Knoll said he didn’t know enough about the potential condemnation of the Maxwell property to comment, and that he would have plenty to learn on the board. "I’d be going in there blank, without knowledge, and keep my ears and eyes open and my mouth shut."

TED STEARMAN

Fairness is the theme of Stearman’s candidacy. "I work strictly on a fairness basis," he said. "If it isn’t fair, you don’t do it. That’s why I’ve survived in business for 30 years."

The sole owner of Dolores River Builders, Stearman has lived in Dolores for 12 years. He is eligible to run for the sanitation-district board because he owns property in Cortez — a subdivision of around 20 lots near Tucker Street.

Stearman said he doesn’t believe the current board has been entirely fair in its dealings. The best example, he said, is the way the district charges builders to hook up to the main sewer line.

"You pay $4,000 for a sewer tap and then you’re still responsible, whether a builder or a homeowner, to go all the way to the sewer line, dig it up at your own personal cost, and then the sanitation district doesn’t allow a licensed state plumber to tap in. You have to pay them to tap it and then you have to go back in and cover it all up. If you pay the $4,000, then the sanitation district at their expense should bring all the construction to the property line. That’s the way it is in the rest of the world — except for here in Cortez, Colorado."

Stearman said he has built homes across the West, and this is the most expensive place to build he’s run across. Building the same home in Cortez instead of the county costs an average of $8,000 more, he said, and the sanitation district is part of the reason.

Stearman said he has followed the district’s situation "a little bit" and believes the longtime practice of cutting and plugging sewer lines of delinquent customers was "a joke."

""You just aren’t going to be in any business where you don’t have a certain percentage of clients that are behind in their bills," he said. "You shouldn’t have the right for any reason to go out there and cut their line. It’s not only having no compassion for a human being, it’s just unhealthy."

Stearman said, if elected, he would work for the interests of all the public, not just builders.

"I don’t know that many builders here," he said. "I told them, ‘If you think I’m going down there just for the builders, you’re probably have a rude awakening’."

HAROLD FOSTER

Foster, who was appointed to the Cortez City Council in March, was not available for an interview.