NEW ALBANY —  

A few weeks ago I wrote an opinions piece on the proposed new hike in the sewer rates. I took a somewhat unpopular, albeit logical, stance of actually raising the fee to the amount that it actually cost to run the utility. In my column I made a brief statement about what I had predicted would happen at the “Town Hall” meeting that Mr. Coffey hosted. My predictions turned out to be eerily accurate.

Ms. Vickie Whittinghill recently wrote a letter to the editor praising Mr. Coffey for hosting his meeting and accused me of trying to belittle people that I do not agree with. She thanked Mr. Coffey for taking the time for keeping the public informed. She questioned whether I really was really in attendance and why didn’t I ask a question. I do not feel my column “belittled” anyone. I felt my appraisal of the meeting was an honest look at what took place and I stand by all of my statements.

I was in attendance at the meeting and can safely say that there was a lot of erroneous information presented and absolutely no documented facts. Mr. Coffey answered zero questions and made several disparaging remarks about The Tribune, the Mayor, other City Council members, local business owners among others. When people stand up and make clearly untrue statements the councilman just remained quiet as if to agree with the ludicrous statements.

Mr. Coffey opened his meeting by attacking The Tribune for refusing to print the announcement for the meeting. He later claimed “they did everything in their power to keep this meeting from happening.”

When pressed on who “they” were and what they actually did he had no reply, except to attack the questioner. Why would I, or anyone else that disagrees with Mr. Coffey ask a question under those circumstances? If he wants to be considered a leader of this community, he must be willing to listen to all viewpoints, not just the people that agree with him.

Of the many erroneous remarks that the councilman would make that night was the actual cost of the city running the sewer plant. He made the announcement that the city of New Albany use to run the sewer system for 1.5 million dollars. He said our contract with EMC is for 3.6 million dollars.

He pointed out that the city could run the sewers much more efficiently than the company that is contracted to do so. While I do not pretend to know the councilman’s knowledge of the operations and financing of a municipal sewer utility, I believe we could not come close to running the sewers for the money he is suggesting while staying on track with the EPA mandates.

The first district councilman wrote a column that was printed in the paper (the same paper that is doing everything in their power to block this information) In it he listed his plan for eliminating the need for the sewer rate increase. He also said that he was for reorganizing the sewer board. The board has already been redone a few times in the last few years and now has two engineers on it.

What is problem with the current make-up with the board? If he feels that the sewer board needs input from the council there is nothing stopping him or one of his colleagues or any member of the public from attending the Sewer Board meetings. It sounds to me as if he is trying to stack the sewer board with people who agree with him.

The use of EDIT monies for use as subsidizing the sewer rate is a debate that will never end. One councilman even suggested using every last dollar of EDIT before raising the sewer rate. This is a very narrow minded view that refuses to look at the big picture. Any unforeseen problems or emergencies that would arise would be catastrophic if this source of income is unavailable having been pledged for running the sewers.

I am not against using a portion of the EDIT funds to complete some of the capital projects and infrastructure improvements that need to be completed under the EPA guidelines. I do not agree with using the tax money for the day to day operations of the sewer utility.

No one wants to pay higher rates than are necessary. Everyone should be willing to pay their fair share. I believe that Mr. Coffey held his “Town Hall” meeting for the sole reason of political posturing. Having served the longest of anybody on the New Albany City Council he deserves the lion share of the blame for the problems facing our community.

These are not problems that have just emerged in the last few months but ones that have been festering in our city for a generation. His closed minded approach to problem solving is what has gotten us barely by so far. Being a leader means sometimes doing what is right no matter how unpopular.