The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I am very disturbed to read, yet again, that the city council voted down the flood control dis- trict "because the council mem- bers believed the citizens would not support a new tax."

The volunteers of the flood control district put in their time and energy to line up grants that would have paid for the levee work. All they needed was to be ratified by the council as an entity, so that they were legally able to receive those grants, and then to submit a plan.

There was never any intention of a tax, and the volunteers had made it well known, their plans and also their willingness to work with the Waitsburg City Council.

What was apparently not understood by the council, until moments before the vote, was that the flood control district would have the power to enact it's policies without the council's approval. The council was told that, as a taxing district, the flood control could impose any tax they desired.

Whether the council was simply unprepared, intentionally misdirected, or whether they balked at the idea of giving up absolute control over all things "Waitsburg" the result has been that the grants were passed over, and that this myth persists that the flood control volunteers intended to enact a tax.

Once again, the council has our collective back against the wall. They have very limited funds with which to maintain the levees, they threaten us with high flood insurance rates--something the volunteers were trying to spare the citizens of Waitsburg- -and the council itself, will probably have to propose a tax soon, or the Core of Engineers will assume control over our Waitsburg waterways. (One need only to look at what happened when the Milton Freewater levees were de- certified, to see what a disastrous effect that would have on us, here in Waitsburg.)

I believe the citizens of Waits- burg understand the gravity of the situation.

They do not need to be cod- dled, but want the chosen course of action to be practical, to make real sense, and to make a lasting contribution to the problem of flood control.

I, for one, am very proud of the volunteers for their hard work and their willingness to step up and deal with this difficult and very unpopular problem.

I only hope that the barriers they encountered will not stop them from volunteering again, should the opportunity arise.

M.A.Bond

Waitsburg