Thu, 05/23/2024 - 1:00pm

As I travel our local roads, I'm seeing a lot of signs talking about haste and waste relative to Rockport's effort to solve our future wastewater issues.

Having served on Rockport’s Select Board back in the time when Rockport entered into an inter-local agreement with the town of Camden, the challenges that were in front of us at that time were immense. They appear that way still.

Having paid attention to the meetings that have taken place between the Select Boards of both towns and the current condition of the Camden wastewater system, it is in Rockport's best interest to keep all options open.

I know that all the necessary committees that have a recommendation to the voters have unanimously voted to support Article 3. For that reason, with a lot of smart people recommending that we do approve Article 3. I am going to vote for both Article 3 and Article 15.

It seems that the "haste and waste"signs on the side of the road are recommending that we vote against Article 3. The problem with that is that if we do vote Article 3 down, we've eliminated any option that Rockport has to build our own system. That seems very foolhardy.

If we eliminate our option of building our own system, that means that the Select Board in the town of Camden can regulate the flow of wastewater into their system, which again it currently is outdated undersized and will cost probably in the vicinity of $100 million to upgrade so that it would accommodate both towns. Who will pay for that?

So think about Rockport in the next 30 years since it's been 30 years since we've been with Camden and Rockland serving us as the treatment system for both sides of town.

If we think out 30 years, what about Route 90? What about Route 17? Do we want commercial development along these highways and what are we going to do about workforce housing?

We know we need more people to work in our businesses and serve the public in many ways and currently many of those people have to live in Central Maine as far away as Chelsea, Washington, etc. some of my employees live as far as Augusta and travel here daily.

Most people that know me know that I'm a bedrock conservative and I don't want to spend money. But honestly, whether you look at a $35 million system plus interest, which I guess brings it up to $52 million, that cost over the long-term will probably be a bargain when you think about it. Honestly, when we set up our wastewater system back in 1993-94 that cost was deemed very expensive but now honestly it was a bargain.

So I recommend that we vote for both articles so that the select board is not hamstrung with one option. And let's see where things lie. So why don't we vote for Article 3 and Article 15. Thank you for reading this.

Bob Duke lives in Rockport