Politics & Government

Commissioners Have Heated Argument Over Sewer Tank Talks

Two commissioners go head-to-head over whether or not the public was properly informed of the work session meeting on Monday night.

Tempers flared at Monday night’s township work session meeting as 1st Ward Commissioner Steve D'Emilio accused board president and 9th Ward Commissioner William F. Wechsler of “backdoor politics” for not announcing to the public that the work session would discuss the proposed storage tank.

D’Emilio told the board that he opposed having RHM Sewer Authority solicitor Bill Toal giving a presentation of an underground 1.5-million gallon sanitary sewer storage tank because months ago the board promised residents that they would be made aware of any topic regarding the tank.

Wechsler noted that the work session meeting was being televised for people to watch it. That is when the two commissioners had a heated argument.

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Answer me this Bill (Wechsler), what happened to your promise that you would you were going to have the residents here. What happened to that?” D’Emilio asked.

Wechsler: I don't remember … You made the promise by ...

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D’Emilio: No, you did.

Wechsler: No, you said we will and this is not a voting meeting. This is an update meeting.

D’Emilio: It doesn't matter.

Wechsler: Yes it does.

D’Emilio: This is backdoor politics. You are allowing this to continue when the right thing to do …

Wechsler: Excuse me, you just interrupted me. You're saying "backdoor politics." This is an open meeting, advertised and televised, if I hear the term "backdoor politics …"

D’Emilio: You know nobody saw this Bill. You know no one from the 1st Ward saw this.

D’Emilio stated had he known that the storage tank issue was going to be addressed at the work session meeting he would have told the residents who attended a .

Wechsler replied that the work session meeting is not a public hearing but is televised and if they were voting on an issue, it would have come up on a public meeting.

Toal and RHM’s engineering consultant Fred Williams gave a presentation regarding the proposed storage tank, which they suggested should be placed where the volleyball courts are located at Glendale Park.

The proposed $2 million tank would be an estimated 4 to 4 and a half feet above the grade and that flowers, planters or even a sod roof were suggested to cover it so children would not play on it.

"When the tank is filled, we are going to pump into it and fill the tank when we have a surcharge condition. And then when surcharge condition is not there and we have normal flow, we are going to drain by gravity out of that tank and back into the interceptor,” Williams explained to the board the operation of the tank.

The commissioners told Williams and Toal to survey other locations for the tank so it would not be so close to the park, such as the wooded area around the park, which Williams said there might be a wetland concern.

The proposed location would cost an additional $600,000 more because of additional excavation and being close to a treatment plant.

Toal also added that later this month he expects to hear about the H2O grant that RHM applied for. RHM does not know how much the project will cost without knowing if the grant will be rewarded and “other funding sources” need to be taken into account.


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