By Chach Curtis
My neighbor Sal Spinosa raises some good questions about the timing of the Waitsfield public bond vote needed to finance the proposed community wastewater project. As a Waitsfield Select Board member and board representative to the volunteer wastewater project team, allow me to respond.
Why have a vote on June 11 instead of November? Waitsfield has a rare opportunity to access approximately $13 million of federal and state grants to cover over 85% of the estimated project costs. The window of opportunity is narrow, however. We need a bond vote before we can apply for the grants, and about $6 million of the grants will no longer be available by November. We have to act now if we want to secure as much grant funding as possible, we have to act now.
While I agree with Sal that a November election with the presidency on the ballot improves turnout, it can also be a chaotic time for voters. Federal, state, and local offices, as well as the school bond vote, will all be on the ballot. There is real risk that an important issue like community wastewater will get crowded out in November and not get the focus that it deserves. A June vote allows voters to focus exclusively on wastewater, avoid the busy summer season, and meet the state’s grant deadlines. The town will be sending mail-in ballots as well as offering in-person voting to make it easy for all voters to weigh in on this important issue.
Sal warns that a June bond vote shortens the time available to fully inform the public. The select board is committed to fully engaging with the public on this important opportunity, and feels that three months (March, April, and May) is an acceptable amount of time to do so. In our view, we are better off engaging voters now during mud season than in summer, when there are many more fun things to do than talk about effluent. The project team has already kicked off the public outreach effort with a new community wastewater website that is full of project details and resources (https://www.waitsfieldvt.us/waitsfield-community-wastewater-project/). Starting next month, we will be sending mailers, posting on social media, hosting public information sessions, and engaging potential wastewater customers and voters through a group of volunteer project ambassadors.
Sal also worries that an early bond vote risks “dooming taxpayers to years of unforeseen expense. . .” Vermont has been investing in wastewater treatment for decades; 92 of our neighboring towns already have municipal wastewater systems. The technology is proven and the operating costs are well defined.
Instead of worrying about the unforeseen expense, I worry that inaction on wastewater will doom our town to a prolonged housing and public health crisis. A new wastewater system, coupled with the existing water system and the just approved new zoning regulations, frees up more land in Irasville and Waitsfield Village for additional housing that we desperately need. A community wastewater system also protects the Mad River and our drinking water wells, by replacing private leach fields that are in the floodplain or are old and at risk of failing.
The select board and the volunteer project team have been working on this effort for two years now, together with the planning commission, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, and our professional engineers. We have updated our Town Plan, updated our zoning bylaws to encourage infill development in Irasville and Waitsfield Village, completed feasibility studies and preliminary engineering, and are now starting detailed design for the wastewater project. All work to date has been fully grant funded at no cost to town taxpayers – over $400,000 to date. We will continue to work diligently with our partners to deliver a technically and financially viable wastewater project without burdening our taxpayers. We will never have a better opportunity than now, given the pandemic grant funding still available.
Finally, the town has an eleven-year track record of successfully managing a similar municipal infrastructure project without burdening its taxpayers. The town-built municipal water system went online in 2012, with 100% of its $8 million cost funded by grants and low interest rate loans. The loans are repaid by a reasonable monthly fee paid by the users who connect to the system, not the taxpayers. We have the same opportunity now with the proposed wastewater system; let’s not waste it!
To learn more about the Waitsfield Community Wastewater project, visit https://www.waitsfieldvt.us/waitsfield-community-wastewater-project/.
Curtis lives in Waitsfield.
