INSIDE

Commish resigns, Calder withdraws

By Meg Olson

Water district commissioner Sue Johnson has resigned following a health scare and fire district commissioner Bill Meursing appears poised for double-duty.

“I’ve got some free time so what the heck if I can make a difference,” said Meursing, now the only candidate left for the water district position on the November ballot after Ron Calder withdrew his candidacy.

Meursing said he had considered running for the water board several years ago but learned that, while he can hold two positions with local districts, he can’t run for both in one election and his seat as a fire commissioner was up for election. “I didn’t want to leave the fire district,” he said.

At their June 14 meeting remaining water district commissioners Madeleine Anderson and Renée Coe agreed they would appoint Meursing to the vacant position on the district board but would put it off until the end of the summer. The district commissioners have 90 days from Johnson’s June 1 resignation to fill the position.

“I want to keep the momentum going here rather than bringing someone new up to speed,” Coe said. Commissioners had one work session in May to start refining a process to allocate the remaining 160 state approved water connections. Some of those connections may be set aside for developers who will help the district pay for more storage, which will mean more connections as outlined in the district’s new comprehensive plan, now being reviewed by the state department of health.

Randy Forsyth of Stanton Northwest expressed frustration the district legal staff had not yet prepared an agreement to trade connections for infrastructure help. “You can take us out of the allotment if we have an agreement but we will participate in the allotment if we don’t have an agreement,” he said. District manager Dan Bourks said lawyer John Milne wanted state approval of the comprehensive plan first. “He thinks it’s a little risky going down a path that hasn’t been approved by the state yet,” he said of the plan to build a new storage tank to increase system capacity.

Meursing said as a water commissioner he wants to see the district be a little more aggressive. “It’s time to push a little harder, whatever that means,” he said. “It’s been two years of moratorium and my personal opinion is that now it’s time to get off the fence. They have been taking their lawyer’s advice and I’m not sure that’s always been the right thing to do.”