Dear commissioners,

After years of no acceptable offerings of a solution from the board for our landfill problems, it was a beam of Heavenly sunlight when the proposal was made to form a panel of intelligent, concerned citizens, to look into options and make recommendations to the board. Especially as that panel includes two members from the Springhill community, as it ought to.

At last, by naming a citizens panel, some open, transparent process will allow broad input and exploration of consensus building resolutions. Hooray!! A real solution, while no doubt difficult, seems possible — and possible in the only way it could happen — with full citizen participation, not behind closed doors (like the unacceptable Green Hill P3 regional landfill deal).

The task of this panel will be very difficult and the individuals who have volunteered their time are to be commended for taking on this challenge. They deserve the support and cooperation — and thanks — of all in the county.

Undermining them by questioning whether they are able to take on this role, with its potential for scrutiny, or claiming that the board probably won’t listen to their recommendations anyway (as they often don’t to recommendations from the planning and zoning board), or expressing doubt about how it is going to work, shifts their task from very difficult to almost impossible. It scuttles their ship — our ship — before it has had a chance to sail.

So, I ask you, in humility and with apologies for any misrepresentation of words or intent, to please — please for the sake of our county — give these fine people a chance. We, the people, need a resolution and that panel is the best chance we’ve got. Don’t add to the years of failure to resolve these issues, yet another failure by undermining the sincere efforts of this panel. Rally, and rally your constituents, to support their hard work towards a resolution and bringing their recommendations before the board and the people.

Sincerely,
Steve Brown