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Town Government
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Fortunately Mayor Stewart Willis toned down the resolution passed by the Town Council at their organizing meeting July 6 before passing it on in the form of a letter to Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke.
The letter requested Mr. Luke to“conclude” the investigation rather than calling bn him to halt it, which 1 seemed to be the intention of the motion passed by council.
Mayor Willis apparently realized, even if some on Town Council did not, that the Town Council cannot order a halt to a criminal investigation, even if only civil, rather than criminal, penalties are being sought. i
( It seems that the transition from one council to another could not have been more raggedy.
The consequences for the future of the water system and of the town’s fiscal integrity may be serious.
Throughout the process of installing the new water . system Mr. Morehouse has acted as administrator of the ' project. Since he did not accept the $42,000 designated for the administrator, the funds were able to accomplish more. More pipes, more fire hydrants were included in the system because of his generosity.
He has offered to continue in that capacity until the project is completed. The council needs to formally take him up on that offer. If Mr. Morehouse does not continue to act as administrator the town will have to find someone else with 1 Mr. Morehouse’s construction background who can be certified as administrator. They will need to satisfy the Farmers Home Administration that their administrator can complete the job. The original project is basically complete, but there is still a gigantic job for the administrator to do to satisfy the Farmer’s Home Administration that the grant and loan fimds were well spent.
In addition the former council asked Mr. Morehouse to explore the possibility of extending the system by installing main lines for 400 feet on S. Main Street, 700 feet on N. Main Street and 250 feet south on Gay Street. He is pursuing financing for this which is expected to cost another $135,000. Mr. Morehouse said he is close to getting grant funds to cover half this cost. Another loan would cover the other half, but to pay back that loan, it will be necessary to increase water rates slightly. The new council needs to decide if they want this addition and are willing to increase rates to pay for it. With the extensions fire hydrants would be accessible to more of the town.
Whether they do the jobs themselves or oversee an administrative assistant to do the jobs performed by the former mayor and treasurer, Mr. Willis and Mr. Zumwalt need to learn how the jobs are done. They need to get together with their predecessors, and soon, and everyone in town needs to stop refighting the election.
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