Dear Editor:
It's been suggested that I give the voters in the Cedar Key Special Water & Sewerage District (CKSWSD) some background information about myself and my reasons for seeking election as a commissioner in the upcoming election. This letter is my attempt to provide that information. With my partner, Elizabeth O'Grady, I moved to Cedar Key in 1990. I was born in Worcester, MA in 1947. I graduated from South High School in '65, attended Butler University in Indianapolis, IN until enlisting in the U.S. Navy in '67. After being honorably discharged from the Navy in 1971, I attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA earning a BA degree in English. In 1973, I formed J. P. Dwyer, Inc., and I continues as its President. The principal business of J.P. Dwyer, Inc. is real estate management, development and consulting. Further, since 1990, through Dwyer & O'Grady, Inc., Elizabeth and I act as agents for writers and illustrators of children's books. In 1993, Elizabeth and I renovated a small house at 725 Third St. in Cedar Key. In 1992, with Rex Andrews and Rex's sister Verna Woodlief, we formed Depot Key Joint Venture to develop Atsena Otie Key. Atsena Otie had been owned by the Andrews family for several generations. In 1998, Depot Key JV sold Atsena Otie Key to the Suwannee River Water Management District so the islands could remain undeveloped and accessible to the public.
During the past five years, I've attended numerous monthly meetings of the Cedar Key Special Water & Sewerage District (CKSWSD) commissioners. Seldom is there more than one or two community members in attendance during these meetings. I've watched how the commissioners handle the district's business. I feel that my expertise in management and development will be useful to the district. Clean water and solid waste disposal issues have become primary areas of public concern.
My reason for being a candidate for a position on the board of the CKSWSD is to help the CKSWSD become actively involved in planning the future growth of Cedar Key. I feel the CKSWSD has three responsibilities to its customers. First, it must provide safe drinking water. Second, it must collect and safely dispose of all solid waste generated by the people within the district. And, it's third responsibility is to provide sufficient water and water pressure to insure fire protection to everyone within the district. If elected, I would immediately ask my fellow board members to undertake the following:
1. Accept responsibility for installing the water lines and hydrants needed to provide fire protection to every part of the district. I would move that the CKSWSD employ an engineer to design the required upgrades, solicit bids for the project, and borrow the money to pay for it.
2. Identify, purchase and install the latest state of the art system to eliminate the probable carcinogenic trihalomethanes from our drinking water. I've been informed that Cedar Key has the second highest level of trihalomethanes in its drinking water within the State of Florida.
3. Identify, remove and replace all asbestos water lines from the water delivery system within all of the district.
4. Order an analysis of the present capacity of the sewerage treatment facility and wells, water treatment, storage and distribution system to insure that the district has the capacity to accommodate five hundred additional single family homes within the next five years.
5. If, as I suspect, the capacity of the present water and sewerage treatment facilities serving the district are approaching the limits of their capacity, I would ask the district to immediately employ an engineering firm to design upgrades to the systems, and borrow the money to pay for those upgrades. I will not wait for a crisis to occur which would cause a moratorium to be instituted against future water and sewer connections.
6. Instruct the CKSWSD attorney and accountants to review the annual budget and identify which costs could be eliminated if the CKSWSD was merged into the City of Cedar Key as its Public Works department thus making available the CRA funds for upgrades to the island's water and sewerage infrastructure.
7. Present the findings of the "merger analysis," to the district's voters and place a binding referendum on the next ballot to determine if the CKSWSD should be merged into the City of Cedar Key.
8. Finally, if elected, I will not accept any payment or benefits in kind (such as health insurance) as compensation for serving as a Commissioner. Presently, Commissioners are paid either $600.00 each month or health insurance paid for by the district. I feel that serving as a CKSWSD Commissioner should be done as a public service and being paid anything for such service is not in the best interest of the people served by the district.
I am available for discussion at almost any time. Please call me and tell me what you think at 543-9307.
Sincerely,
Jeff Dwyer | 