Eight Years on Victor's City Council Taught Me to Trust Ours

Like the majority of Teton Valley residents, I've tried to stay out of the controversy over the Victor sewer fight and the future of wastewater treatment in our valley, mostly because I'm not all that interested in digging deeply enough into the issue to understand all the facts. Why? Because I trust the men and women we've elected to lead us, particularly Victor's Mayor Will Frolich, City Councilors Stacey Hulsing, Sue Muncaster, and Emily Sustick, as well as our dedicated city staff. I trust they share my values of environmental stewardship and responsible growth. I trust they are trying to do what is right. But the vitriol has gotten so ugly, I feel compelled to weigh in and voice my support for the City of Victor.

I spent eight years on Victor's city council and know that it's a thankless job. No one opts to join small-town government for power, glory or money. Too many people get mad at you. Too many people say things that are inaccurate, incomplete or false. Too many people think you are out for personal enrichment. That is just not the case. The people who choose to take part in local government opt to withstand these attacks for one reason: They want to serve their community.

The sewer issue is complex. It's also poorly understood by most of us, but I don't think it's poorly understood by Victor's elected officials and staff. They have been working on the issue for a long time. It was a discussion topic even when I was on council more than six years ago. We knew the sewer in Driggs was failing then, and we knew we faced significant financial penalties if it wasn't fixed. We knew Driggs was a challenging partner to work with. These problems have only increased in urgency since I left office.

Unfortunately, in the Victor sewer fight, the city seems to be coming off as the bad guy, and I can't figure out why. The city has proof that Driggs mishandled the treatment plant for years. It is fact that some of Driggs' practices were faulty at best, illegal at worst. We know that Victor has been overcharged. We know Victor was given no voice in management decisions.

For all these reasons, after years of trying to work with Driggs to find remedies, Victor has opted to go it alone. City officials and staff spent hours poring over reports, debating options, and talking to experts before reaching this conclusion, and I, for one, believe they chose it for good reasons. While there continues to be strong opposition from neighbors and anti-growth activists, no one has offered any clearly defined, viable alternatives.

I'm sure the city doesn't want the headache of managing its own wastewater treatment plant. I know they aren't excited about spending tens of millions of dollars to build one. But because of the history of Driggs' mismanagement, it seems like the best choice for Victor and its constituents. I also understand that the city's engineering consultants believe that the cost difference between constructing a new plant and continuing in a partnership with Driggs is basically about the same when all factors are weighed.

I'm so tired of the way our news — whether it's in the newspaper or on social media—tends to transform issues like this into a good-guy, bad-guy battle. For example, stories about the coverage of the confidential mediation meeting were spun to give readers the impression the meeting failed because of Victor. But we don't know what went on behind closed doors. It takes two to reach a compromise. Because I trust the integrity of the people involved, I'm confident both cities felt they were doing the best for their constituents despite the poor optics of the outcome.

I'm tired of the personal attacks. I'm tired of questioning the integrity of people who are doing the best they can to help ensure our waste is managed in an ecologically and economically sustainable way.

In the end, we may disagree with our elected officials' conclusions, but we should not be treating them poorly because we have differing viewpoints. For now, I recognize they have a lot more information than I have about this issue, and I believe their decision is based on what they think is best for all of us. Let's trust them to do their job.