Committee or commission? : Public will have final say over who runs water, sewer services
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
TONTITOWN - Voters will get to decide whether they want a water and sewer commission.
At a special Tontitown City Council meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Joe Edgmon stumbled over vague reasons why he wanted to disband the commission and turn it into a council-run committee. It was enough to convince four aldermen to support an ordinance abolishing the group and setting up a committee. Aldermen Becky Alston and Ken Robertson were the only votes against it.
The council then voted unanimously to send the ordinance to the public for approval. Citizens will have the final say on the issue during the general election Nov. 4, City Attorney Mark Dossett said.
Dossett said that until the people have spoken, the commission will stay intact and keep its autonomy over the water and sewer systems in Tontitown.
Edgmon spoke out against sending the ordinance to a public vote. He said he was afraid that if the council sends one item to a citywide vote, it would have to send all its decisions to the public.
"This is not a banana republic," Edgmon said. "If we get (an election ) on one (ordinance ), we're going to have to get one on every (ordinance ). "
Alderman Henry Piazza said in his mind sending the council's decision to the public was the logical thing to do.
"This community belongs to the people, and the water and sewer system belongs to the people," he said. "I think the people should have a voice in this."
Both Alston and Robertson told the council they didn't see any solid reason why the commission needed to be disbanded. Alston said the group was the most efficiently run part of the city and she doesn't think a committee wrapped up in the council would be able to make the headway a commission, with no political ties, is making.
"Look how much trouble we had getting our budget together," she said.
Alderman Sunny Hinshaw said her support for the ordinance was solidified after recent events involving the commission moving its offices out of City Hall. She said she was upset that the group chose to move to a location that will cost the city about $ 45, 000 a year in rent instead of moving to the Washington County Sheriff's Office substation, where the city is already paying rent and the commission holds its regular meetings. She said there was little communication between the city and the commission during the move.
"That's what really hit me in the nose," she said.
Commission Chairman Bill Brandt defended the decision to move to the other location, saying the substation offices were inadequate. The lighting and offices were bad and public access was difficult, he said.
The discussion boiled down to a common theme - Mick Wagner, a consultant hired by the commission at $ 2 a year to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the system.
Edgmon said he has heard reports that Wagner was rude to citizens and that he ran off former Building Inspector Shane Harrison. He also said that Wagner upset state officials and failed to turn in the commission's 2007 audit to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
When confronted by Robertson for specific names, instances of rudeness and evidence of Wagner's failings, the mayor was unable to produce any. Edgmon did say that he holds the commission responsible for Wagner's actions because it hired him to run the system.
Robertson reiterated a feeling he expressed at the May 6 meeting. Wagner may lack tact and people skills, Robertson said, but he points out when something is done wrong and he helps fix it. Robertson said he doesn't want to be the one to tell anyone not to point out something when it's wrong.
"That's a pretty scary equation to me," he said.
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