OCUA Meeting, Quite an Experience

The headquarters was clandestine. Had to use a phone to get an electric gate to open for entry to the premise. It's out in the middle of nowhere at the very end of Hickory Lane in Bayville. (Next public meeting is January 26th, Thursday at 4 p.m.)

After I got inside the gate just before 4:30 p.m., the receptionist said I was the first person to attend their public meeting in the two-an-a-half years that she has been there!

I looked around....amazing....frosted glass with the OCUA emblem on it, wood trim everywhere, skylights- beautiful. The employee kitchen looks better than most peoples. They have a LARGE stainless steel fridge, a large stainless steel flat top range/stove/oven. Beautiful white cabinets, and TWO stainless steel microwaves. Nice tables and chairs and GRANITE countertops! And 15 x 15 ceramic tile floors. Very posh for a place that deals in sewage disposal.

So after I made mention of their top of the line kitchen, one of the commissioners came over to me after the meeting and said their employees did all the installation and they "saved" on labor. And I said a regular enamel refrigerator and stove would have worked just as well and saved several hundred dollars...she said only a "couple of hundred" but what does it matter if it's not "her money?"

So I asked for the OCUA to post their new budget on the website. First the director said he probably could do that and then after the meeting one of the commissioners piped up and said, "We're not obligated to do that," and told me to come in and pick one up from Mr. Warren. They did not have one available at the meeting even though it was on the agenda to be adopted. It was $13,045,000. It certainly needs to be looked at and they weren't so willing to have it published...have to wonder WHY!

They are also spending $5.1 million to refurbish an aeration tank. I asked how often is this done and the engineer replied it was the first time in 30 years (and the utility is more than 40 years old). Born around 1970.

It's perfectly obvious they spare no expense at the OCUA. I saw no evidence of penny pinching at all.

I told them the ratepayers in Lacey are tired of hearing the LMUA claim they're raising their rates because the OCUA is raising their rates!

Lacey Patch definitely needs to attend the next meeting on Jan. 26 at 4 p.m.

Website: http://www.ocua.com/PublicMeetingSchedule.html

Respectfully submitted,

Regina Discenza

Forked River