Free hookup not free

October 8, 2012

Richmond, Iowa

To the Editor:

With all that is being said and written about the upcoming election on Nov. 6, it is easy to forget that Washington County?s board of supervisors is very likely to undergo something resembling a complete makeover.

Therefore, citizens should be aware that a majority of our present county supervisors are engaged in a desperate and destructive attempt to subvert the will of the voters by doing all they can to commit the county to a multimillion dollar sewer system in the village of Richmond before they leave office in December.

A sad fact about this spectacle is that it has always been completely unnecessary, and it still is. With a little help from a properly functioning county government, any sanitary problems that may have existed could have been cleared up long ago.

For the past 15 years, Richmond residents have actually been prevented from maintaining, inspecting or upgrading their septic systems, thereby making the situation worse. An expensive centralized sewer system is still not needed, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) continues to maintain that proper onsite septic systems are an acceptable solution to Richmond?s sanitary problems.

With today?s technology, there are numerous options available to Richmond residents for correcting sanitary problems, and low-cost financing is available. Moreover, the county has ways of helping those residents who absolutely cannot afford to upgrade their septic systems. And remember, these people would not be able to pay the user fees for a sewer system either.

Even with millions of taxpayer dollars wasted, a centralized lagoon sewer system in Richmond is likely to be a very bad deal for both Richmond and Washington County in many respects.

The system with its lagoon would be owned and operated by Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS), a deeply flawed organization which is already starting to unravel with several member counties trying to withdraw from it. All of RUSS?s projects come with huge 40-year debts, which member counties are responsible for if RUSS cannot meet its obligations ? and this is a real possibility.

RUSS?s ?free? hookup is not free since homeowners must pay for the expensive plumbing work involved as well as for additional homeowner?s insurance protection against sewage backup. User fees are going to be very high, and future increases in maintenance costs and all future upgrades can only be paid for by even further increases.

And now, to add insult to injury, Supervisors Mangold and Miksch are responding to criticism of their mismanagement by telling Richmond residents that they should incorporate their village as an independent town so that these county supervisors can wash their hands before the multitudes and evade responsibility for the mess that they have created!

What we really need are county officials who actually do their jobs, so that Richmond residents can ensure that their septic systems meet sanitary regulations to prevent problems from developing and to correct those that already exist.

Lu Harland