Shari,
Good morning. I hope all is well with you and your family. I feel that when I comment on a story on Ridgeview News, it may not go to the same audience as if I write you a letter. The letters usually end up on the Fakebook which everyone is addicted to. So, in case you forgot with fall in the air, and the smell of pumpkin spice coming out of your coffee cup, upcoming elections and everything else that distracts you, I wanted to follow up on the Mt Zion PSD saga.
As you know, a few weeks back the Mount Zion PSD had a board meeting to address the public concerns. Which in turn was a half hour of picking and choosing what questions they answered until the engineer, and yourself had to leave. This left a lot of questions unanswered as well as brought up some new questions. I would like to see the meeting minutes from that meeting since majority of the answers they chose to pick were directed at my laundry list of questions and concerns. I know that will not come from you but wanted to give a heads up that I will be looking for a copy of those minutes.
This follow up is more geared towards the October 13, 2026, County Commission meeting and comments that were made by the two-person board.
The board mentioned that a $50,000 generator was purchased but still was not up and working. Why? This item was approved for purchase well over a year ago and could have come in handy at least one time when power was out to the pump stations. The board also mentioned that there were no violations since the previous operators have left in April but come to find in the violations that were mailed to all the customers, there was a violation for exceeding the maximum contamination level for total trihalomethanes between 7/1/2026 and 9/30/2026. So, they lied. Which may come as a surprise to some. It also states that the PSD has implemented a flushing program. This brings me back to the old question of have the hydrants been flushed as required by WV State Law this year? Wouldn’t that alleviate some of the flushing concerns and the stale water issues? One would think that flowing hydrants throughout the system would allow water to flow and avoid some of these issues instead of continually going back to we need a fill station at the end of the system. Open the flushing hydrant at the park. You may be amazed what that will do.
The board mentioned that $5000 dollars was spent of safety equipment and $3000 spent on testing equipment / chlorine tester. Was any of that safety equipment associated with confined space entry which the PSD has a written policy on but does not train employees or implement it. Yet they want to continue to blame previous operators for not doing their job. They have purchased new equipment to locate leaks but still struggle to actually fix the leaks.
Which brings up another concern that the Commission needs to keep an eye on. The ARPA funds were released to assist with leak repairs, but if the board does not know how to repair leaks, how do they know how much leak repairs cost? I would request an itemized list of all materials and labor costs associated with repairing any leaks. Past and future. With the continued arrogance by this PSD team who is not accountable and does not show up at meetings, this is concerning. The PSD is responsible to maintain the system for the customers, but if they do not know what anything costs or how long a repair takes, it’s basically an open checkbook for whomever is making the repairs. Which is an issue to everyone paying a bill.
The board also brought up fluoride and manganese. They even said it causes issues in children and brain development. Yet they continue to allow their customers to drink it. I did not say it, but you should research it and question it.
The board also commented that they were carrying the Pleasant Hill board. Which is hard to believe because they are struggling to carry their own (2) person board.
I have said for years that you do not want to lose control of your water, but you have, so the only thing that I see can save the customers is Mr. Lupardus meeting and creating a new water authority / new board to take over the mess that is in place as he mentioned he is working on. I Thank him for looking at all avenues for the people. But it is going to cost all of the customers more money for the same product. Substandard water at a high cost that is chemically treated by others. But it should come out of your faucet, so what do you have to worry about, right?
Nothing to see here. Just turn your heads and it will magically be taken care of. I wonder if China will try to perform a cyber-attack on the water system. I am sure the board is prepared for that already after seeing the wheels in motion. The squeaky wheel does get the grease, so I suggest everyone squeaks as load as they can before the wheels fall off. Stay well, enjoy the day and I will see you on the Ridge.
Thank You,
Jason Firestine
