Deerfield is faced with a looming catastrophe, both environmental and financial. How we choose to respond affects generations to come. Our wastewater treatment plant is on the brink of failure. Even opponents of the current vote admit this.
The Selectboard, under the leadership of Trevor McDaniel, have clear goals and identified needs. In technology engineering, we call this “agile development.” By working towards goals and deliverables rather than rigid specifics, the engineers can respond to the inevitable unexpected findings that occur in any complex project.
The current proposal includes USDA oversight, as well as grant funding. Clearly, they approve of this agile approach. This is the plan and funding mechanism that we approved in Town Meeting this spring.
Many opponents demand to “see the final plan” before they will vote “yes” on the debt exclusion question. Their adherence to out-dated methods threaten to bankrupt our town. If the debt-exclusion is not approved on Sept. 9, when the plant fails we will spew sewage into the river and be fined $10,000 a day until it is fixed. In just three months, that’s $1 million dollars from our pockets to Boston, with nothing to show for it but a polluted river and horrified neighbors down river!
I urge all voters in Deerfield to turn out on Sept. 9 and vote “yes” on funding our wastewater treatment plant upgrades.
Lili Dwight
South Deerfield