Rockland officials in heated exchange

ROCKLAND — Tempers in the City Council chambers were as hot as the air outside Monday night with Mayor Robert Peabody and Councilor James Raye squaring off over news of a Department of Environmental Protection moratorium on new sewer hookups.

The bitter exchange of words took place during what was ostensibly a routine meeting called to rubber-stamp the $7.4 million budget the council agreed on a few weeks ago. The Peabody-Raye squabble was triggered when City Manager Richard Michaud revealed that the DEP had pulled the plug on new sewer hookups. The DEP order was prompted by the council’s decision last week to forgo needed improvements to the city’s deteriorating sewage treatment plant.

While Peabody viewed the order as a severe blow to the city’s economic development strategies, Raye was more skeptical. He cautioned against getting upset by the DEP’s action and accused Peabody of adopting a “Chicken Little” approach to the situation.

Raye noted that the order was relayed to Michaud by telephone earlier that day and that the council should at least “wait until we see the letter … before we go into a state of panic.”

Peabody accused Raye of shirking his elected responsibility. His voice rising in pitch, Peabody questioned whether Raye had the political fortitude “to do what is right and protect Rockland Harbor for future generations.”

The city’s treatment plant is operating now without a license and is in need of major repairs. The plant was one of the state’s finest when it was built two decades ago, but age has taken its toll. Conditions are so deplorable today that the DEP has banned swimming in Rockland Harbor. Voters vetoed an attempt to implement a $3 million upgrade of the plant in 1996, and a $9 million sewer referendum went down to defeat on June 10.

Although the DEP and federal agencies have urged the council to act quickly, members last week voted 3-2 to form a citizens committee to review possible options for treatment plant improvements. They range from building a new plant to making varying degrees of repairs to the existing facility. Mayor Peabody opposed the formation of an outside committee, suggesting instead that the buck should stop at the desk of the city’s elected officials.

That sentiment was echoed by residents Glen Billington, Brian Harden and Ed Brooks during the public comment segment of Monday’s meeting.

Billington reminded the council that it was elected to do a job and that he was opposed to a committee’s handling sewer issues.

“I look to you to represent us and for leadership,” Billington told the council. “I would like the City Council to provide me with leadership. You have the information and are probably the most qualified to present it to us.”

Brooks advised that a united front coming from City Hall “properly presented” would likely result in the passage of a sewer referendum. He said he would rather pay taxes for sewer improvements than fines for pollution violations.

Mayor Peabody told his colleagues that “the DEP is looking for a definitive course of action from this council, something to be voted on by the city of Rockland.”

Raye scoffed at the DEP’s attitude and reminded Peabody that “we as councilors don’t have the ability to guarantee the passage of items on referendum.”

Despite the moratorium a bit of good news was revealed at Monday’s meeting as well. City Manager Michaud said preliminary calculations indicate that the city may benefit from a $60,000 surplus for fiscal year 1997 which ended Monday. Michaud said the surplus was created by $20,000 in unexpended accounts and $40,000 in additional revenues.

Michaud’s news represented a major turnaround from four months ago when City Hall was caught in a financial crunch that appeared to have the budget headed into the red. Although the action was controversial, the council staved off the likelihood of red ink by laying off six city employees until the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The council voted 5-0 in favor of next year’s $7,475,299 budget which begins today. Michaud noted that the budget was $85,000 greater than last year’s, resulting in an increase of 30 cents on the city’s mill rate. All of that $85,000 is dedicated to bond payments on the $653,000 capital improvement program approved by the voters earlier this month.

“I believe this is a reasonable, workable budget,” Michaud told the council.