This is a response to Roger Adams’ letter in the Aug. 10 edition.

I live in the Orcas Highlands. I do not know you, but I am voting for you. I ran for the Eastsound Sewer and Water Commission last round. My friends call me “Mr. 13 percent.”

You may not know that when the Rosario water system was sold to Washington Water Service Company, which is owned by an out-of-state company, most of us in the Rosario and Highlands area were not happy that we had lost local control of the system. We approached Eastsound Sewer and Water to see if they would take over the system if the rate payers voted for annexation. The sewer district agreed. We had an election and enough people wanted annexation that the vote was positive and we were annexed by the sewer district. The sewer commission was expanded from three to five members.

At this point, Washington Water had just paid Rosario $1,000,000 for the system. The correct course of action would have been condemning the system. The sewer district is a public agency and had the legal right just as any municipality, county or state has the right to condemn to widen a road. There would have been a legal fight. The sewer district would win. Bonds would be floated and paid off by the users.

The commissioners decided to roll the dice on wells in the Highlands. Had the wells come in, the board would have been heros. (No treatment plant is needed for well water, just chlorination.) The board gambled and lost.

Truman said, “The buck stops here.” In this case the buck will stop with the ratepayers of the sewer district – innocent victims of the commissioners’ folly. I own property in town. I receive seven sewer bills. As an aside, this band of leaders cannot even come up with a better rate plan than to charge the same rate for a studio apartment or a 10-bedroom house.

Their credibility was already damaged over the rate structure. The handling of the annexation should be the nail in their coffin. The entire commission should be replaced.

Harvey Aldort

Orcas Highlands