Lawlessness of sewer board

There have been few if any legal meetings regarding this wastewater improvement project in Paradise. The Paradise Sewer Board directors have met and continue to meet in violation of the Montana Open Meeting Act. They have meetings and do not notice them. They have discussions on matters of “significant importance” and do not notice them. They spend money and approve funds from the CBDG grant held by Sanders County without board approval. Over the previous four years, they have held meetings that the public had no knowledge of. No board-approved records of meetings are available. No repository of motions, reports, or supporting documentation is or has been available for public review. When these records have been sought through a written records request to the Paradise Sewer Board, they have been ignored, or they have admitted the records do not exist. Over the past four years, critical decisions were made as to the size, scope, type and need of this system. The public has not been involved in any of that discussion.

Members of the public urged the Paradise Sewer Board to revisit and reconsider these decisions in an appropriate and LEGAL meeting, and they refused. This wastewater system’s size, scope and design would be significantly different if the Paradise community had been involved. The process by which this system is supposed to proceed works, but the Paradise Sewer Board acted outside the process AND outside the LAW. Our County Commissioners MUST act in a manner that recognizes that the Paradise community has not been involved in this project and MUST not allow the approval of this wastewater system design and permit at this time. The Paradise community seeks a remedy for the Paradise Sewer Board’s lawlessness, and approval of an NPDES permit for this system at this time does not serve the citizens of this county or the government approved process.

Katy French, Paradise