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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Monday, May 11, 2020

Innerarity Island Sewer System Mess: Maybe we need to Unwind the Whole Agreement and Go Back to Square One!

assorted handheld tools in tool rack photo – Free Tool Image on ...
It appears that the Board of County Commissioners got played like tools in 2015 when they had the option of bringing in ECUA as a co-receiver of the abandoned Innerarity Island  Water and Sewer system but failed to do so through the courts.  Played like tools if they knew about it.....


I stand by my quote in today's paper now even more than I did when I said it at last Thursday's meeting.  As it pertains to the disastrous nightmare of the Innerarity Island sewer/water debacle-------The BCC at that time, in 2015, got totally played like tools!

But there are some big If's that must be fully known in order for that quote to be accurate.....

The BCC at that time (prior to me joining in 2016) got played like tools IF

1.  They had the ability to have the court issue a ruling that ECUA was the appropriate entity to receive the sewer system on Innerarity Island when the private company that built that system went belly-up

2.   The  individual members of the Board at that Time  (Wilson Robertson, Doug Underhill, Lumon May, Steven Barry, and Grover Robinson) were actually told this (that a judge would issue a ruling listing ECUA as the appropriate entity to be the receiver of the sewer system at Innerarity)

At the meeting last Thursday, though, Lumon and Steven both bristled at the suggestion that they knew about any "potential" circuit court ruling that would have made ECUA take possession of this failing system.

I'll be requesting transcripts from those meetings later this morning.

We will get to the bottom of it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

GOOD!! Get to the bottom of this please. I have my reasons to want to know ALL about it.

And look forward to your blog post about it.

I did a little light research and found the letters of intent etc. I'm not even on the MSBU but this has a huge impact of how things need to be handled going forth with ECUA in other possible situations plus UnderOwens needs to be exposed.

Jeff Bergosh said...

I have now been provided the transcripts from 5 executive or "shade meetings" from February 2014 through August of 2016---all of which took place before I got on this board. I've had the opportunity to glance over them. Lots to digest, lots of issues, and a huge mess. My issue is that I voted to approve the MSBU in 2017 along with the rest of the board. I did this based upon being told by staff that the BCC "HAD" to be the entitiy that took over the sewer system by law and under the state constitution. However--these transcripts clearly illustrate that the BCC had the opportunity to, at a minimum, bring the ECUA in as co-receivers. But they didn't--for reasons I will never understand. A tremendous mistake and miscalculation from what I can tell. I have been told that I cannot release these transcripts, as they are confidential under Florida Law until the receivership issue is resolved in court--so I can't publish them here on this blog. The silver lining: since apparently this question of receivership is not fully resolved--I'm inclined to bring this issue back to the board in light of this new information so that we can resolve the receivership issue correctly and bring ECUA into the mix. Perhaps we unwind this whole terrible deal and start over from square one.......and do it right this time!

Unknown said...

Jeff, THANK YOU for all your help and support. I live on Innerarity Island and feel, like many residents, that our Commission, Doug Underhill, has abandoned us.

Kemp Evans
850-450-3559

Steve Stroberger said...

Well Underhill went ahead and released the Shade Meeting transcripts himself in an attempt to smear and redirect.

Karen Beach said...

I am not sure the release of these documents had the intended result Mr. Underhill anticipated but I am grateful for the disclosure. As a resident of Innerarity Island who has attended every meeting pertaining to the sewer/water project since April 2015, this outcome and seemingly infinite MSBU hit many of us like a freight train. What Mr. Bergosh is proposing is all we asking for....take a deep breath, review the facts and start over.