10-30-96 If it is a "vote" it will be harmful to your pocketbook.
As of this writing (10-30-96 am) Lillian Smith has refused to allow anyone to see the final Water Question which is being mailed (3rd class bulk rate on 10-30-96) to the community by Smith and Julie Feuerheim. New 11-1-96 never sent but printed in the Country Journal .The Agua Dulce Town Council voted on 10-23-96 that the Water Question was to be a non binding opinion survey and instructed the Water Committee to issue it as a survey. Lillian Smith at their meeting stated "yes it will be a survey" and the president, Jim O'Keeffe, was asked "If it was a vote" and he responded "No, it's an opinion survey only, Not a vote".
We assume what Lillian Smith is sending the community is a binding vote based on: New (11-1-96) yes her paper is out and it is a binding ballot not a survey
1. Her refusal to give anyone, including Agua Dulce Town Council members, a copy of the "Water Question" she is mailing.
2. The version printed in her paper (Volume 6, issue 25, page 10) received on October 26 stated: it was a "ballot initiative", and a binding "official controlled ballot". Apparently controlled by Lillian Smith!
This indicates that she has overridden the Agua Dulce Town Council, killed the opinion survey and changed it into an official Town Council vote. She wrote it, had it printed, and mailed it and is falsely claiming it has "Official Town Council" approval.
Lillian Smith, who has headed this water committee for seven years, has done her best to force her agenda of a Regional Sewer System and a Municipal Water System (at cost to residents of $100,000,000) on the community. She lied and told the Town Council that it was an opinion survey and in her paper made it a "ballot initiative". Ever wonder what else she has lied to the Government about? Remember, she supported the County purchase and expansion of the Airport.
It is her goal to kill any inexpensive, voluntary water testing program. She wants a heavy handed, expensive plan requiring you to give up control of your well and septic system to this "Water Steward". She wants you to pay for him with a new tax. Buried in her "ballot initiative", under some fairly good recommendations is this disaster waiting to happen.
If you vote for her plan, you will have to do and spend whatever the "Water Steward" she hires tells you. He will control your well and septic system (and your pocketbook and property values).
And she will tell the Government "The community voted for it".
She has told Regional Water Quality that she wants everyone to replace their well seals, pump their septic tank every year, and to rebuild their septic systems to make them "more efficient" at an estimated cost of $10,000 to $20,000 per home.
We believe that no consultant has the right to come onto your property and tell you what to do. If your well and your septic system were built to the existing County code, no one has the right to force you to spend money to change it. Therefore we are recommending a strong position against the "ballot initiative", and we think you should express your disfavor by placing a large X across the initiative.
Some of the ideas, such as voluntary well testing and voluntary manure removal are very valid and doable. Smith, in her drive to get this sewage treatment plant for the community, will do anything she can to screw up the deal. The offer for a large discount (half price for the manure bin!) from AV Rubbish for manure pick up, which Howard Carlip obtained in May, was suppressed by Smith. She even called AV Rubbish to try to cancel the deal! (WHY? Probably because Howard got the deal!)
The Agua Dulce Town Council should have real survey with multiple questions. Then they can fairly represent the community. Vote for Howard Carlip and write-in Vinne Lampton who are committed to do This Survey.