Far from negative (April 19, 2017)

Joan Walters states that it is a plain fact that we in Apple Valley “are being taken advantage of” by Liberty Utilities (“Negative letters have a purpose,” Daily Press, April 19, 2017). Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Our water company has been providing water for our community for nearly 75 years. As the new owner, Liberty Utilities is clearly committed to serving our community in an expert and professional manner, and has backed that commitment by investing millions into ensuring it can delivery safe water from reliable sources.

The negativity mentioned by Ms. Walters begins and ends with Town Hall. They could stop all this madness in a heartbeat if they would simply resolve to be honest with us from now on, starting with what it’s been up to for the last decade.

Unfortunately, Town Hall’s negative campaign against our water company has been successful, as can be seen in the often-repeated fallacy that supporting our locally-controlled water company is a terrible thing compared to sending hundreds of millions of dollars to some faceless bank somewhere in the form of massive bond payments.

Ms. Walters also mistakenly believes the Town is not breaking the law in promoting this hostile takeover, as in fact Town Hall has squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars via hidden payments to various companies in the hopes of convincing residents to buy its snake-oil cure for the malady it has created out of thin air.

Greg Raven is Co-Chair of Apple Valley Citizens for Government Accountability, and is concerned about quality of life issues.