Ireton Corrects Daily Times Error In Wastewater Treatment Plant Story: YOU MAKE THE CALL

In an effort to keep the citizen’s of Salisbury informed, Mayor James Ireton, Jr. would like to correct a recently published, May 4, 2013, report in the Salisbury Daily Times regarding effluent that was released into the Wicomico River from the Waste Water Treatment Plant during Hurricane Sandy.

“I’d like to inform the public of the correct facts of this case. It has been erroneously reported that the WWTP “spilled” almost 500,000 gallons of sewage into the Wicomico River due to Hurricane Sandy. At that time, due to an unusually high tide level during the storm, our fully treated water flow backed up slightly in the discharge manifold.

This back up caused about 500,000 gallons of fully treated water to flow out of the final water sampling station into an adjacent channel that is designed specifically for these events. It is important for the media to understand and report responsibly these events to the public. The staff at the WWTP, Salisbury Public Works Director Gardner, and I are on a round the clock heightened alert for issues that directly affect the WWTP and ultimately the Wicomico River and the Chesapeake Bay," said Mayor Ireton

Yet Salisbury News received the following message...

Joe,

I am one of your readers even though I live in Worcester County. 

Delmarvanow.com has reported on this waste water spill and, as usual, the city is covering their butts. My husband is the "employee" and when he reported the water to his supervisor at 5:45 am, he followed the procedure he was taught and opened the valve - which he then reported to the supervisor who thanked him and told him nothing else. He never mentioned "ground water or rain water" as the Plant says he did. The high water alarms never activated and he had checked all of the areas including the area where the overflow supposedly was occurring, both at 5 and at 7 when he collected the scheduled water samples. The WWTP told him it occurred before 8 am (The Times reports that the city says it happened at 10 am...he got off at 8 am). My husband was never consulted during the "fact finding investigation" the supposedly took 2 weeks to do. The letter he received firing him had many inconsistencies and stated he neglected procedures/protocols that were not even actual procedures/protocols. 

His supervisors Mike Banning, Maria Bailey and Doug Ehrisman have suddenly in the last 8 months begun to "write him up" for petty infractions after he had had no infractions for 2 1/2 years. This began coincidentally when Maria Bailey returned to this position and my husband applied to be a shift supervisor. My husband was denied the position twice, although the first time he was told he was their 2nd choice. One of the people they hired over him was fired fairly quickly because he was keeping notes on the way he was being treated and Ms. Bailey found it and fired him. 

My husband was the only person with a degree (in Biology) and the only person to pass the WWTP tests without cheating. Some of them had to take the test 15 times over a period of 9 years (they were told they had to pass it within one year of hire) and they could only pass it when the answers were given to them. My husband and another employee - that they let go for no reason - saw that they had answer sheet and they bragged about using it and spoke about possibly giving it to others who were hired as the supervisors (from outside and who had no WWTP experience.)

I know this is a lot of info, but I'm sure the citizens of Salisbury and any future hires for the WWTP would appreciate this being cleared up. There is a lot more sordid information to go with this.