Star-Journbal Editor
Since no Secret Service agents have been seen welding shut manhole covers on Main Street, it's safe to assume that the President of the United States will not be coming to Hillsboro at 2 p.m. Thursday to celebrate the completion of the city's water plant improvement project.
The apparent snub did not go unnoticed at Monday's Hillsboro City Council meeting.
"We should have invited Hillary," council member Byron McCarty said.
That the leader of the free world might have more important things to do than nibble yummy honey-baked treats from Golden Heritage Foods or sip the city's sparkling clean water was not lost on city administrator Steve Garrett.
He was under no delusions that the President would come to the event, but he was hoping for a souvenir.
"We mailed out over 150 invitations to all the folks in the state that are important," Garrett said. "The girls made fun of me because I sent one to George Bush, but usually they send a little card back that says, 'Sorry I can't come.'"
Garrett added, "I should have sent one to Hillary just to be fair."
Who knows how many people will show up to tour the water treatment plant, remade with $3 million in improvements.
The project, completed this month, will expand the amount of water that can be produced by the plant as well as vastly improve the quality of water distributed by the city, officials said.
Many local and state dignitaries have been invited to the open house, as well as the firms that worked on the design and construction of the facility.
"This is a big project that is very important for our future," said Mayor Delores Dalke. "It seems fitting that we have a big celebration to recognize the completion of the project."
Even though the invitation doesn't specify what should be worn to this gala, a "wet bar" will be flowing, and snacks are free.
"There will be fruit and cheese trays and there will be some kind of bars made with honey from Golden Heritage Foods," Dalke said.
"And there will be very, very clear glasses so people can drink the water to see how clean and pretty it is."
In addition to the President and state-level politicos, the hoi polloi (that is, everybody else) also is invited to attend.
In other business,
— After adding verbiage that would give the next recreation director the authority to hire and evaluate personnel, the council gave Garrett the go-ahead to begin a second round of interviews for the vacant position.
The council also asked Garrett to make sure that the recreation director's job description makes it clear that he or she will be responsible for the Family Aquatics Center facility, and will oversee the manager of the pool next summer.
Garrett told the council he had four or five qualified candidates for the recreation director's post.
Dalke suggested that copies of their resumes be given to the Recreation Commission, after deleting the applicants' names and personal information.
Garrett said he would ask the commission for some questions they would like to have the applicants answer. But council member Matt Hiebert questioned whether or not the commission had earned the right to be so involved.
"If they're going to want to be involved in this, then they need to be involved through the course of their terms; so business can actually be conducted," Hiebert said.
Dalke said the commission was appointed to meet monthly, but had met officially "maybe two or three times" in the past year because it could not muster a quorum.
"They need to be more involved if they want to have that input," Hiebert said. "Our last director was basically getting no guidance and a lot of grumbling from people.
"The [meetings] I showed up for, there wasn't enough people to make a quorum. It was just getting together to drink coffee."
— In a decision charged with political implications, the council agreed to ask the mayor to sign a letter to the top colonel of the region's Corps of Engineers, telling him that the city would like to participate with the Corps in a water quality management study for Marion Reservoir.
The letter reads, "Blue Green algae blooms have and will continue to create health and safety concerns for recreational, sporting and other public uses for users of Marion Reservoir.
"The purpose of this letter is to express the intent of the City to jointly develop an initial scope of work and negotiate a feasibility cost sharing agreement with the Corps of Engineers
"We look forward to working with the Corps of Engineers to address the continuing Blue Green algae problems and other concerns caused by Blue Green algae blooms."
By sending the letter, the council is sending a message to other government agencies in the county, which, according to Dalke, have been unwilling to include the Corps of Engineers in its study of water quality issues at the reservoir.
A copy of the letter sent to the Marion County Commission was not well received, said Garrett, who attended the commission meeting Monday.
Garrett said that the tone of the questions made it clear that the commission thought Hillsboro was being divisive by sending its own letter to the Corps.
Clearly agitated, Hiebert said it was the county commission that was trying to "drive a wedge" into the issue.
Garrett agreed, saying, "Apparently, unity to them means 'You do as I say.'"
The issue of who should be involved in the process to find a solution for water and drainage problems at the reservoir has become a battle for control between Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS), funded by a state and federal grant program and managed by former City of Marion Mayor Peggy Blackman, who is being paid to administrate the WRAPS program.
The WRAPS group has determined it should make its feasibility study independent of the Corps' input; but the City of Hillsboro, led by Dalke, says the WRAPS group has made a mistake by not involving the Corps in the process.
Dalke credited Garrett as having come up with the best way of describing the city's position, when he said, "the state does own the water in the reservoir, but the Corps of Engineers owns the bowl that the water is sitting in."
"We have to work with the Corps," Dalke said. "The Corps still owns it, and they have to be involved."
— In a related matter, saying the City of Hillsboro had already paid taxes to the county to pay for the project, the council voted to send no more funds to pay for a sedimentation study. The county had asked Hillsboro to voluntarily pay an $18,200 share of the $72,800 project.
Garrett told the council that the city had paid more than that amount in taxes to the county.
— Saying an elected official would "carry more weight" than a regular citizen, the council appointed Hiebert to be the city's representative on the new County Water Advisory Board. Dalke will be the alternate.
— In the city administrator's report, Garrett told the council he was conducting a study to make sure residents living at the edges of town could hear the city's emergency sirens.
With the expansion of the city in recent years, some of the sirens should be relocated to better cover outlying areas, he said.
While Dalke agreed that every citizen must be able to hear the sirens, she suggested Garrett ask a company that sells sirens to send a qualified engineer to determine the best locations.
"That way if somebody doesn't hear it, it's not our fault," Dalke said.
— In a related matter, Garrett reported that the electrical generator that backs up the emergency sirens and provides power for City Hall, was in such disrepair and so weak that it could not provide enough power to do both at the same time.
The generator is more than 60 years old, and the company that made it says it no longer has parts to fix it, Garrett said.
The council asked Garrett to begin looking for a new generator that could be counted on in an emergency.
