Where does the buck stop?
To the editor:
The administration has chosen to build capacity in our potable water plants that will generate 30.1 million gallons of potable water day. In 2008 we used an average of less than 10 million gallons a day; 30.1 million gallons is enough potable water to supply twice as many residents as we have living in Cape Coral today. Only God knows when the full capacity will be utilized.
Terry Stewart made a statement at that council meeting that I am not an expert on water plants. I have to concur with that, but I am capable enough to do the math that proves we have “over built” the water capacity and for no good reason. I am sure our good buddies at MWH were elated when the city gave them the work order to build all that excess capacity. In fact I think I can safely say they must have laughed all the way to the bank. It must have been like plundering a treasure ship. They would have made Captain Kidd proud. This was all done with the help and blessing of the administration and the Captain of the City (Terry Stewart).
You don’t have to be an expert to know that someone must pay for the over capacity. We, the residents, will now be forced to pay much more because of the administration’s lack of expediency and apparent lack of math skills. You don’t have to be a wizard or an expert on water plants to figure this out.
Since we the residents will have to do the heavy lifting I think we should have enough confidence in our government to know that this will not happen again. The real problem lies in the fact that no one seems to be held accountable for these monumental blunders and no one wants to admit that anything is wrong.
Mr. Burch declared that bringing these things before council tears the city down and that it should be brought to city staff. I must strongly disagree with Mr. Burch. This is the kind of “sweep it under the rug mentality” that actually does tear the city down. When elected officials are not willing and able to look at a problem, dissect that problem and understand it, there is no way to ensure that a similar blunder will not happen in the future. This was at least a $110 million dollar inexcusable blunder. We managed to get by the PSB (only because the people were allowed to vote on the bond) at $110 million and inherited another $110 million dollar faux pas. Maybe if we understood the faulty reasoning behind the Taj we might not be sitting on all this very expensive water capacity.
The residents at least deserve to see some accountability. Since we must pay the exorbitant bills bestowed on us by our current tax and spend administration and the five big spenders we have sitting in seats on the dais.
John Sullivan
Cape Coral Minutemen