New sanitation board deals with critics

New sanitation board deals with critics

November 24, 2001

By Gail Binkly
Journal Managing Editor

Several critics of the new Cortez Sanitation District board came to Tuesday’s meeting to challenge the reasons for the recent recall election in which three incumbents were thrown out of office.

"I want to ask the three new board members what you think the problems were and what you’re going to do about them," said Dan Belt, a former board member himself who was unseated by G.W. McCutcheon in a regular election last year.

Stan Pierce, Jim Bridgewater and Sam Jarvis were recalled on Nov. 6 and replaced by Fred Blackburn, Norm Hall and Ted Stearman.

Bob Diederich, an incumbent who was not targeted for recall and was elected chairman Tuesday night, said what he had heard in the community was that "there wasn’t a respectful manner of the manager and sometimes the board in dealing with the public and with contractors. There was also a feeling that sometimes rules and regulations were questionable."

He also noted that the old board had had a special meeting with several contractors in May. During that meeting, the contractors said they would pursue a recall unless the board terminated Manager Bill Smith.

"That was the opinion of that committee, not necessarily the opinion of the public," Diederich said. "We did hear Bill Smith wasn’t handling things in a very customer-oriented manner."

Smith resigned Nov. 13 after an executive session with the newly elected board.

Belt said Smith couldn’t have been the only problem, and demanded to know what the other problems were.

Hall, one of the new members, said he was still learning and had "no for-examples at this point."

Blackburn, another new member, said better communication was the main issue.

"One of the things this board does and does well is communicate," he said. "We want to start to communicate with each other and work toward extending hands to the public that hasn’t been communicated with."

But Belt said he had served on the board for seven years and "I don’t ever remember a problem with communications."

Belt, who was accompanied by former board chairman Pierce, former city councilperson Darlene Dennison, her husband Don, and Dave Rucker, also questioned the board about language on the recall ballots that said the three recall targets had each "failed to follow the laws of this state in discharging his duties."

"What state laws did they break?" Belt asked. "How could three (members) break the law without the other two breaking the law?"

"I don’t have the least idea how that statement was made," Diederich said, explaining that the language on the ballots and in the recall petitions came from the recall committee and that none of the current board members had been a part of that committee.

Rucker questioned Black-burn on his proposal to have a surcharge or donation on sewer bills to help indigent customers pay for service.

Blackburn said, while the new board has more pressing concerns, he intends to pursue the idea.

"It could be donations — a checkoff, maybe a dollar," he said. "I don’t know what it’s going to be or how I’ll present it to the rest of the board. But it will be a five-person decision, not just mine."

Don Dennison, an inspector for the sanitation district who had supported the incumbents, grilled the new members on their comments that they might consider having the city take over the district.

"I don’t think the city of Cortez can offer this district anything and I think we ought to maintain a clear separation," he said, adding that if such an idea were proposed, there should be "plenty of public notice."

Diederich said there would be.

In other business Tuesday, the board:

• Was told by secretary Linda Deavers that the total amount in arrears to the district had dropped from $14,000 last month to $10,000. The board had worried that delinquent accounts were skyrocketing because the district had begun putting liens on such properties instead of cutting their sewer lines.

• Approved the 2002 budget except for the section on capital construction. Diederich said that, under the capital-projects fund, Smith had budgeted $883,000 for planning and engineering for the new sewer plant, the same amount as in 2001. However, Diederich said, that was the total amount for planning the new project, and some $128,000 has already been paid to Arber & Associates this year for planning, which should have reduced the total.

Diederich said there was another problem with plant-construction costs, which had likewise just been carried over from 2001.

"If you guys are having a problem with the budget tonight, why not redo it from scratch?" Belt demanded.

Diederich, however, said that wasn’t necessary because most of the budget was fine.

• Was told it would be receiving a cost estimate from the city on how much it would cost to have the sewer bills included with the city’s monthly water and trash bills. The city would collect the money and give it to the sanitation district, Diederich said. A similar system is followed in Qwest’s monthly phone bills, which include billings from different long-distance providers.

Blackburn said it would allow customers to receive one simple monthly bill instead of separate quarterly notices from the sewer district.

• Agreed to release Jim Kreutzer, developer of the Southern Bluffs Subdivision, from a letter of credit on his subdivison after he provides certain information on his plats. Kreutzer said the first phase of his project, totaling about 140 units, was complete.

Kreutzer said the board and Smith had been relatively easy to work with in the last few months and praised Jay Conner, now interim manager. However, he said, he had been working on the project since 1997 and "I’m not happy" about most of his dealings with the district.