commentary

As I said before, I am not sure the FOP has thought all of the annexation issues thru completely before they made their opinions known. They had an issue with one of the candidates- fine. All I have heard from them is that annexation will provide more career oppurtunities for them. That much is true, but those are not ALL the issues involved in annexation. What about the possibilities of annexing polluted properties? WHY would we do that? They cant be built on, so we cant tax them, PLUS we could get hit with a big cleanup bill. Billing TEN bankrupt businesses back 40 years will NOT result in ANYBODY to pay for a cleanup! The County says there are currently 27 openly polluted sights that they are remediating or monitoring. Until the County signs a contract saying THEY will be responsible for cleaning up any more pollution in the proposed areas to be annexed, I am NOT comfortable for US to take that risk. One million-dollar cleanup could wreck us. What about mitigation fees? Zoning? Accurate and current tax revenue information? To take a stand on a major issue without doing the research, homework, and due diligence required to be well-informed about ANY major move could easily be seen as hasty, woefully unprepared, uninformed, and self-serving, if not irresponsible. While it may very well be the result of a LOT of political pressure from above, only having one reason for being for annexation is hard to comprehend and justify. This has shoot-from-the-hip feel to it that may be justified in an emergency, but this isnt an emergency and there has been sufficient time to study all aspects of this potential action for months. It is hard to point a finger at the FOP for not doing due diligence however, when the Mayor and Council havent done due diligence either. Dr. Mel P. Johnson