Mayor Tilghman Won't Drink The Water! SHOULD YOU?

Those City of Salisbury employees that work at the Police Department Firing Range, Neighborhood Code and Compliance Department, Fire Departments, and the Waste Water Treatment Plant can't drink city water. Well, on the Firing Range's defense they would have to drink well water, so that's why they have bottled water. Apparently well water is bad for you. That means that my wife, Grandson and I should all be seriously sick very soon. The real kicker is that there is a yearly price tag of over 2 grand spent to keep bottled water available to those who work, or visitors of those departments. And the poor employees at the WWTP can't drink their water because of contamination! I wonder what folks living in those close neighborhoods would have to say? Harbor Pointe, Turtle Creek and the rest or you folks had better start listening up.

The only employees not on the list are Public Works, City Hall, Water Plant, and the Zoo. They all have water fountains plumbed in somewhere in their work environment. Why, because it is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

So my question is since the average city taxpayer is paying a small fortune for that same water that few city employees are drinking, why doesn't the city purchase, instead of leasing, it's own water coolers? Sam's club and plenty of other vendors sell them. These same vendors sell the bottled water too. But I guess that would be fiscally responsible and we can't have that in the City. The City can't say that the bottles are too heavy to handle since every job they post has at least a 40 pound weight requirement.

Better yet, lets have these same departments try something really environmentally friendly and purchase some ice trays and a couple of plastic pitchers and have them provide their own water. How much time can that take? They have to have indoor plumbing! And I can guarantee that they all have refrigerators available, so what would the harm be?

Just a little effort on the departments part and look at what they can do for the environment and taxpayers who work so hard for that money. How about the city start practicing what they preach? Fiscal, environmental responsibility, and of course lets not forget the Mayor's quote, "the city does not pay for bottled water." Maybe she just meant City Hall?

While the question, "Does the City pay for bottles water" was brought out on PAC14 addressed to the COUNCIL, the Mayor immediately butted in and said the City did NOT purchase bottled water. Considering this Mayor has been in Office for some 10 years, I'd say with confidence she knows what she's talking about, right? WRONG!

Not believing and or trusting what she said, I filled out a PIA Form and asked for all receipts of bottles water. Here's what happened. Not only did it take LONGER than the State Mandated 30 days to deliver me this information, (as mentioned in another Post weeks ago) I just got my hands on it yesterday. The 100 page, (+ or -) report not only showed the Mayor didn't tell the truth, it showed the City is buying bottled water from all sorts of companies and they're paying a fuel surcharge on each and every delivery above and beyond the cost of the water.

The request included the reason as to why each department was purchasing the water and when I saw the WWTP claiming their water had been contaminated, I sh*t a brick just like I'm sure ALL of you are doing as well.

Now, the "Dirty Dozen" continue to challenge this Mayor and in the end we're not only spending hard earned money, we're learning we're regularly right in doing so and the Mayor is regularly wrong and loses. Remember the Old Mall Case? Yes, the "Dirty Dozen" won that one too, while the Mayor PAID the Developers expenses for legal fees to defend illegal activities.

OK, so this is bottled water. Granted, it's not a major expense but I was forced to pay out close to $52.00 in fees to get the information and I can assure you that this had nothing to do with the $160.00 per hour expense towards Attorney Paul Wilber. I wonder how it's going to look in Court when my Attorney asks this question again under oath and holds the CD of the PAC14 Council Meeting showing her real answer?

I want my $52.00 back and don't think for a second that I won't be taking this to Annapolis because the process for receiving this information was also illegal. They are supposed to warn taxpayers ahead of time if it's going to take longer than 2 hours. It's supposed to be delivered within 30 days and the Mayor of a City is not supposed to mislead or lie to the Citizens and cost taxpayers money to get to the truth.