Tempers flare at meeting
Published 10:16 pm Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Emotions ran high following the VAW Water Board meeting Tuesday night when an argument erupted between local chicken farmers and board Chairman Gordon Pigg.
The debate occurred when, after the meeting’s adjournment, two local chicken farmers confronted Pigg about the status of a petition to remove him and the rest of the board.
The petition, which was presented at the last meeting, was a response to the board’s recent rate change, which the farmers say is costing them unfair amounts of money.
Pigg blasted the farmers, claiming that their petition was presented incorrectly and eluding to a possible lawsuit if there intentions were carried further.
“In order to use that section (of the bylaws), there has to be charges made in writing and a petition to go with it. And then, it has to go before a judge,” Pigg said to Patrick Klein, a local chicken farmer.
“And if that judge rules that we should go your way, then that’s the way we’ll go. But if he doesn’t, I can sue you.”
Pigg continued, telling Klein that their petition was not valid because it did not contain a direct complaint from an individual and was not filed according to the bylaws.
Klein responded that the bylaws state “that charges have to be made in writing.
“Now there has been a petition and there has been charges made,” he said.
“No, those were allegations,” Pigg retorted.
Vice-Chairman Zane Hill also got in on the action, saying “No 10, 15 or 20 people [should control who is on the water board]. There’s about 40 names on there [the petition] that belong to people that’s dead.”
After the argument, Klein told The Times that the charge against the board members was that they had violated their own bylaws by switching from a descending rate to a flat rate earlier this year.
“Mr. Pigg is under the impression that, by threatening me with a law suit, he can intimidate me into dropping the charges, but I’ve preceded by the bylaws and I’m going to see this thing through,” Klein said.
According to Klein, the petition presented to remove the board contained nearly 900 signatures, 700 of which he said were from people that were not chicken farmers.
He also said that while a few of the signatures may not meet the criteria, the vast majority did.
Klein went on to claim that he and other chicken farmers had been discriminated against by the board because, while most customer’s bills went up about 30 percent, his and other farmers had gone up more than 130 percent.
He said that while he had not had a monthly bill of more than $500, he had friends who have had bills more than $1,700 for one month.
“That’s hard to swallow on a farmer’s budget,” said Klein.
In a separate conversation, Pigg, who is also a chicken farmer, told The Times that they had dropped the descending rate in favor of a flat rate because it was more fair to all the people who receive VAW water.
“Us chicken farmers was getting it good [under the descending rate],” said Pigg. “We wasn’t even paying what it cost to get the water out there to us.
“The 1,100 people that are on fixed income and receive our water shouldn’t have to subsidize me as a chicken farmer. It’s just a matter of right and wrong.”
The confrontation at the water board initiated itself earlier this year when the board removed the descending rate and passed on 67 percent of an 83 percent price hike from their supplier.
Under the new flat rate, customers pay $5.50 per 1,000 gallons of water.
As to the petition, Pigg said that the board’s attorney was still verifying the signatures, and that he would probably know more next week.
In an unrelated matter, the board moved to seek permission from the County Commission to lay pipe in ditches along County Road 1194.
According to Board Member Calvin Whittle, the board has been working to lay pipe in private land, away from the road’s right of way. To do this, he said, they have been asking property owners along the road to sign an easement to allow the work. Of the 70 property owners along the road, two are refusing to sign, said Whittley.
After six months of attempts, the water board is now seeking alternative solutions.
According to Whittley, the project would actually benefit the property owners because it would bring in flush valves, which would lower their fire insurance.
The project is part of a system-wide effort to upgrade all old, three-inch piping to six-inch piping.