Council at full strength

By DAVID W. PYATT, Mayor, Town of Mt. Airy
As published Sept. 2, 2009

Following my July column and the response, including a letter from the Secretary of the Environment, I’m asking Becky for a raise. Apparently, the Messenger is a must read in Annapolis and Westminster. Who knew? Talk about staying under the radar.

I’m glad we are up to full strength on the council, and I am looking forward to working with Chris Everich.

Chris would normally have drawn the straw to work with our Water and Sewer Department. This could be a full time job in itself and, since Chris already has a full time job, I agreed to be the council liaison to the Water and Sewer Commission with the caveats below.

“Water and Sewer” involves day-to-day operations of a fairly extensive water pumping system from our aquifer via 10 wells, water treatment, and transmission from an extensive pipeline system to residential and commercial units in town plus operation of a sewer plant, and discharge to the Patapsco River. All of this is governed by strict environmental standards mandated by the state and enforced by training and required certifications of key town employees.

On top of this, we have an aggressive water acquisition program. Probably five or six top notch experts (probably a dozen when consultants are added) are doing all of this. Fortunately, we have some of the best folks in the state. In the end, much of this activity comes through the auspices of our town administrator and eventually the mayor.

I’m trying to determine how this can be done in the most expeditious manner yet providing some accountability to the public. For now, it probably will be via the Water and Sewer Commission. I also plan to take steps in the next eight months in removing as much political yo-yoing as possible, possibly including my own biases.

I am finally taking a long-needed vacation, and, along with my HLH, will take a 9-day Caribbean cruise. I definitely will lounge around the pool and will read at least read three or four books.

My HLH “to-do” list is headed by a mayoral responsibility to secure two deck chairs just after breakfast in a suitable location—sunny but not too sunny. HLH likes all the sun she can get. I’m fair skinned and burn easily, so this is one of the trickiest maneuvers of the whole operation to get it just right and requires some highly sophisticated navigational calculations.

I met an Israeli couple a few cruises ago, and they were telling me how Mossad assists in security maintenance in international waters. I said that monitoring deck chairs was the most difficult challenge, and that’s how they were actually used, but that it was a big secret.

Secondly, I have to explain to the dinner table every night why I’m relatively relaxed and unassuming, am the mayor and why my dynamite HLH (who by now knows all 2,000 on board by first name and has made plans for future cruises) is not the mayor. This requires some fancy footwork.

I’m seriously looking into that “behind every successful man is …” adage as it has some merit.

Finally, I think Westminster and Annapolis should lighten up a tad, since we’re on the “must read” list. I am truly awed that we’re the 53rd “most desirable” place to live, regardless of whether the Pathways Plan stands or is totally redone.

I think humor has a lot to add to this, but I also think the town has a strong message, and that’s a serious issue.