Chatham County commissioners continue to blow county funds on non-essential expenditures

Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2020 12:44:08 -0500
From: Mark Stinson
Subject: Taxes for waste or water

 In a perfect world I wouldn’t object to a quarter on a $100 purchase if our tax dollars were spent for  things we really needed and what the tax payers paid for .   When county water came through years ago our family collectively dished out over $8000 not to get the water for our homes but a functional fire hydrant. We have a good well , my aunt had a good water supply , we didn’t need the water nor want it . What we did need and still do is a functional fire hydrant . The man form the county  marked the spot in front of my daddy , grandma , great aunt and myself .    

The county wanted to supply our road with water while th email line was being put in place .  It was a hard sell on their part as we didnt want county water we have plenty but as I said we didnt have a fire hydrant and daddy couldn’t insure his upholstery shop without one . We paid and the line went in and daddy was continually lied too for several years . It was always ,, we have it on schedule or the weather or some other BS .    In 2000 5 years after daddy passed they paved the road and the ugly lie came out .

First Chatham county had no legal right ( easement ) to install a water line plus they put it in the wrong place under the road bed instead of the ditch bank . After the line was damaged during construction I learned that it was under size for a hydrant and under code .  A minimum line should be 6 inches and they installed a 2 inch line . It was not enough that it was a 2 inch line its not even pressure rated . Part of the broken line clearly has Charlotte foundry  non pressure drain line only printed in bright red print on the side of it .  I learned this wasn’t just a fluke on our road but a county wide issue with secondary roads and rural areas . The entire water system is pieced together by the lowest bidder with little or no inspection or supervision .  

I know the current commissioners are aware of this but yet will continue to blow county funds on new parks and other non essential expenditures when we need functional fire hydrants , up to code water lines and good water WE PAID FOR .  So no I will vote against giving them one red dime more until they fix the current infrastructure in this County .   Some of the same contractors are installing water lines around the big developments ,, I cant wait to see what hits the fan there in 20 years when they cant deliver the water they promised all these rich developers building in Chatham.   GM