To the editor;
Regarding the ongoing discussions of the proposed improvement to the water system, it is important to remember that the issue at stake is not about the mayor, or whether I like him. It is not about the council, nor a particular council member, nor whether I like them, like few or like none. It is about us; about our community.
In a recent letter, the writer mused that no clear answers were forthcoming as to future phases. Simply with respect to this project there were none. But as to the future, the probable answer is ‘ongoing’.
Feeding children, mowing lawns, painting fences, replacing roofs, are never-ending phases - unless we want the roof to fall in on us one winter night. Improvements to the older part of the water system with its 50-year-old narrow gauge pipe will have to be made sooner or later. And probably sooner.
Quite frankly, on reading the aforementioned letter, I was wondering whether the writer and I were at the same meeting.
Rather than the council having all of a sudden conjured this project out of thin air to foist upon us, it seemed to me that the engineers looked at the planned waste water project, which will disrupt and cross the roadway for various connections, and saw an opportunity to upgrade the parallel water line at the same time, and at less cost than a stand alone project some years hence.
I went to the meeting skeptical, tried to keep an open mind, but I left convinced.
This issue is not whether the mayor is a twit or not. It is about whether this project is appropriate, timely and cost efficient. I am convinced that it was. I am convinced that it still is.
Glenn M. Andrews
Barriere, B.C.