It was GREAT to see so many of you (about 75 people) show interest in the proposed Inman-Campobello Water District (ICWD) water contract. This is important because as a 75 year contract it is probably the most far reaching agreement ever considered in Polk County! Thank you for paying attention and staying informed!
If you couldn't be there here is the Video of the Citizen Comments on the proposed contract from Monday night.
THANK YOU to all who took the time to come AND to speak . In all their were about 25 speakers from across the county. Most of speakers were very respectful which I think is important if you want to be taken seriously. Of the speakers 100% of them were against the contract - 0 people spoke supporting the contract. ... The primary concerns?
1. The 75 year length of the contract - as one person put it 75 years ago would have been 1940. Can you imagine making competent decisions in 1940 for what Polk County's situation is today - agreements that could never be renegotiated?
2. There is still 7 years left on the current Broad River Authority-Polk-ICWD contract - why not slow this contract and bring in some water experts to review/represent Polk Counties interests?
3. The amount of water - 8 million gallons per day - this is expected to be the maximum that the Dept. of Nature Resources (DENR) would permit and the agreement would allow ICWD any off that that Polk doesn't need.
4. Concerns that Polk will continue to be on the hook for the costly dredging of Lake Adger (in the 5 million range)
5. Concerns that ICWD can sell (at substantial profit) water outside of the Polk or ICWD service areas and Polk citizens will have no say over this or share in the revenue.
But as Keith Holbert pointed out having ICWD run our water system would be way more cost effective than trying to set up and run our own system (with only 142 customer currently). He's correct that at the current time it makes sense for ICWD to be managing our county water system - luckily they already do for 7 more years (through the current contract). Why the RUSH to make a new 75 year contract with ICWD when we still have 7 years left on the current one?
Maybe we should just suck it up pay to fix the dam ourselves (around $2 million) and keep our options open - what do YOU think?
If you couldn't be there here is the Video of the Citizen Comments on the proposed contract from Monday night.
THANK YOU to all who took the time to come AND to speak . In all their were about 25 speakers from across the county. Most of speakers were very respectful which I think is important if you want to be taken seriously. Of the speakers 100% of them were against the contract - 0 people spoke supporting the contract. ... The primary concerns?
1. The 75 year length of the contract - as one person put it 75 years ago would have been 1940. Can you imagine making competent decisions in 1940 for what Polk County's situation is today - agreements that could never be renegotiated?
2. There is still 7 years left on the current Broad River Authority-Polk-ICWD contract - why not slow this contract and bring in some water experts to review/represent Polk Counties interests?
3. The amount of water - 8 million gallons per day - this is expected to be the maximum that the Dept. of Nature Resources (DENR) would permit and the agreement would allow ICWD any off that that Polk doesn't need.
4. Concerns that Polk will continue to be on the hook for the costly dredging of Lake Adger (in the 5 million range)
5. Concerns that ICWD can sell (at substantial profit) water outside of the Polk or ICWD service areas and Polk citizens will have no say over this or share in the revenue.
But as Keith Holbert pointed out having ICWD run our water system would be way more cost effective than trying to set up and run our own system (with only 142 customer currently). He's correct that at the current time it makes sense for ICWD to be managing our county water system - luckily they already do for 7 more years (through the current contract). Why the RUSH to make a new 75 year contract with ICWD when we still have 7 years left on the current one?
Maybe we should just suck it up pay to fix the dam ourselves (around $2 million) and keep our options open - what do YOU think?