County officials discuss involvement in Paradise sewer project

To everyone it was a packed house this past Tuesday as the combatants on both sides of the Paradise sewer project convened at the Paradise Community Center.

To many, however, it was a “stacked” house featuring a host of sewer project supporters from outside the confines of the town of Paradise.

And in the midst of the often heated meeting, Sanders County officials discussed a proposal to have the county take control of the project, including using its available funds to eliminate a contentious part of the initial proposal that would require local residents to repay approximately $700,000 in loans associated with the project.

Sewer opponents have long decried such costs as an unfair burden on a community where most of the residents live on fixed incomes.

And over the course of a three-hour meeting at which one new member of the board was introduced and indications are another would be leaving soon, tempers flared and voices reverberated off the ceiling and walls of the stately center’s auditorium.

New member Pernel Chapman, who was elected to replace ousted former board member and part-time President Janis Barber in a vote the anti-sewer crowd interpreted as a referendum on the proposed and troubled $4.5 million sewer installation project in the tiny, unincorporated town six miles southeast of Plains, took a seat at the front table but was not yet eligible to cast a vote on any sewer business.

Chapman has yet to be officially sworn in, a formality that will come at the next Board meeting, was able to voice her concerns over the division the proposed project has created among residents of her town.

“We need to resolve this situation, it is tearing apart our community,” she pleaded. “One of my big questions is if completed how big a bill will we be paying?”

Money is clearly an issue for both sides of the debate, with opponents saying the project is way overpriced and with current inflation jacking up the price of equipment and installation, the $4.5 million initial price would no longer be valid.

Supporters say the economic damage and well-being of the town will increase if the project is not approved and started soon, with Sanders County Commissioner Tony Cox warning “time is of the essence” in reference to grant money and other funding that may not be available much longer.

Both sides, however, remain at an impasse, with an edge going to anti-sewer activists who have managed to stall the project, which was initially scheduled to begin construction last Spring, and push it to the brink of elimination.

And another issue involving money is a debt owed by the Sewer Board to the Paradise Water District for using nearly $50,000 of District funds to launch the project, which has been in the works for more than a decade.

Janie McFadgen, who was also recently re-elected to the Sewer Board, and Board member Terry Caldwell (who also sits on the Water District Board) said that the debt issue must be solved.

“This debt should have been handled already and handled by a court if it wasn’t,” Caldwell said. “It will come out of your (Paradise residents) pockets if it isn’t.”

McFadgen agreed.

“Paradise people will be paying back Paradise people,” said McFadgen, who is the Sewer Board President.

Sewer opponent and Paradise property owner Katy French said the former members of the Sewer Board spent the funds under contracts, and the Board is therefore liable for repayment.

Caldwell warned the issue could create legal problems for the Sewer board in the near future if a way to pay back the Water District funds is not found.

“There are liability issues involved,” French told the approximately 50 people who attended the meeting. “The Water Board has to be responsible with money”.

With the audience still abuzz over the inter-departmental debt struggle, talk quickly turned to the status of what appear to be stalled negotiations with Paradise land-owner Bridger Bischoff, who has proposed building a housing development on land he owns on the north side of the community.

The two sides have been stalemated for several weeks as neither seems willing to budge from their positions on acquisition of land for a sewer collection system and what opponents describe as a free ride financially for Bischoff involving project costs.

“We have discussed with Bridger our stance on buying the land involved at fair market value,” Caldwell said. “We advised Bridger that this would involve hiring an independent appraiser and he said this was the first he had heard of getting an appraisal by a licensed appraiser”.

During open public discussion on the issues, both supporters and opponents of the project at times became emotional and contentious.

As the debate continued, Cox sought to present a reasonable resolution to the issue in the form of Sanders County taking over the project, including costs and construction issues. And the time to act is now, he said.

“I’ve been told Bridger is going to do something with his property even if this proposed project doesn’t go through,” he said. “People need to decide if they want it (the sewer) then let’s go. If not, stop this damn charade. We (Sanders County) will step up and pay for it in full, the only thing we ask is that we take control of the project.”

The proposed project, Cox said, was on “life support” because of the standoff and lack of movement.

One of those who came to support the project was Thompson Falls Mayor Mark Sheets who said similar work being done there was going well and relations with Great West Engineering, the prime planner involved, were good.

“If you shut down the project,” Sheets advised, “the grant money will go back to the state. I can tell you we have people with holding tanks for their sewage because their septic systems have failed. I’ve been over-seeing everything and establishing responsibility”.

That did not sit well with Caldwell, who countered, “What you talk about in Thompson Falls is different than in Paradise. I’m hearing that a lot of people in T Falls are very upset about the project up there, that is not what you are saying here”.

Several supporters of the project echoed the Mayor’s comments about the project going smoothly, with one lady urging all involved to “find a way to work together for the good of us all”.

Paradise activist LeeAnn Overman took exception to that statement and Cox’s assertions that the County would pick up the tab for the proposed system.

“Nothing in this world is free,” Overman said. “If we turn the town over to the County, then Bridger will be able to do whatever he wants. The people have to have a say in this”.

Cody Lampman, who has been serving on the Board as an interim member since the ouster of Barber, asked a simple question in what was likely his last Board meeting.

“How about we put this to a full vote?,” he asked.

Cox intoned that the County would not object to such a vote, but that it needed to happen soon and there already may not be enough time to conduct such a vote.

“If it turns out people say they don’t want the project, or our proposal they can tell us to buzz off,” Cox said.

Board President McFadgen said there is no way to make everyone happy, which is something she campaigned on earlier last month.

“No matter how we decide, some people will be happy and some people will not,” McFadgen said.

To which Cox added, “welcome to the club”.

As the meeting came to an end, both sides agreed that resuming negotiations with the property developer would be paramount in breaking the stalemate and that such negotiations needed to happen immediately.

“We work for the people of Paradise, not ourselves,” Caldwell added. “We work together for the people. But we don't want to give up our rights to have control over this project”.

Then as the assembled throng began heading for the exit, Caldwell threw in a last minute observation.

“I do find it odd that the majority of people in this room who raised their hand to say they support the sewer project, aren’t from Paradise and don’t own property here”.

The battle continues.