No empire building (August 26, 2015)

Pat Orr

Folks who oppose town takeover of the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company usually end up charging that the Town is trying to expand their government empire on the backs of a private company.

Pointed criticism is often aimed at Assistant Town Manager Dennis Cron who has been the operational point man on the planning and discussions from the Town side. He also was called to testify in Montana during the trial there involving the City of Missoula and Mountain Water, another Park Water subsidiary, who, like AVR, is battling the local municipality for control of the water company.

When you stick your head above the wagon train, you’re going to catch a lot of arrows, goes the old pioneer saying and Cron has caught his share.

Most detractors put him at the center of a power grab to build his empire at Town Hall. Bad news for all those empire builder people, Cron is retiring in December so they will have to find someone else to tag with the empire builder label. I suppose it wasn’t his dream to run the water company since, by choice, he will be long gone before this issue is adjudicated and laid to rest, one way or the other.

Based my on infrequent conversations with Mr. Cron, I don’t believe he will miss the day-to-day in public service, the ongoing AVR issue or the eventuality of having to manage a newly acquired water system one little bit.

[…]

Source: Pat Orr, Apple Valley Review, applevalley-review.com/no-empire-building