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Sewer
ordinance
passes but
not without
some rancor
By Stephen Dareing
Rappahannock News StaffWriter
The Washington Town Council at last Wednesday’s meeting passed unanimously the much debated and criticized sewer ordinance, service district and easement agreement in another tiring session which lasted nearly four hours.
In the end, the one section which had caused so much anxiety - Section 5, paragraph D - which had allowed for council to make fractional assessments at its discretion, was removed.
Inn at Little Washington attorney David Fiske was still not happy with the service district ordinance or easement agreement and suggested that if terms were not agreeable to his client, that he would be prepared to take the town to court.
“What you are passing, if we don't agree, we go to court,” said Fiske saying the ordinance gave the council and its legal counsel the right to make “declaratory judgments” if people did not agree to the easement terms.
“I have never had a problem negotiating easement agreements,” countered town attorney John Bennett in another round of sparring that has flared up at previous meetings. “But this could be the first.”
“Things will get real ugly, real fast,” replied Fiske. “I would want council to build in some protection besides going to court."
Council member John Sullivan, however, had clearly had enough.
“Every time there’s talk about a lawsuit, our friends at the paper print that,” Sullivan said.
“At the end of the day, you legal gentlemen will figure out how to solve this. Suing each other doesn’t make a lick of sense,” he said.
Many issues raised during the hearing were the same ones that had come up repeatedly in past meetings - mostly about fairness and liability for damages.
Even while the planning commission was voting on its recommendation to council for the three items - sewer ordinance, service district ordinance and easement agreement - there was still debate among the members and from the audience.
When the council was finally able to vote, all three passed unanimously but unceremoniously. People were tired, and most started drifting out after the sewer ordinance was passed.
Sullivan gave a short presentation on where the council
See SEWER, Page A9
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