Sussex water system not on the sale block

I am somewhat disheartened by a letter from Annette Stendor alluding to our water system being placed up for sale. This is 100 percent untrue, unless she is planning on introducing legislation to that fact. Last November, the voters of Sussex by a slim margin voted to retain their system. Since then the Sussex Borough Council has been squarely focused on stabilizing and planning for much needed repairs due to lack of former councils having ever acted responsibly by being good stewards and spending the necessary dollars to keep the system up to standards.

Mrs. Stendor should look introspectively at how her own family voted over the years on kicking the can down the road for repairs and upkeep, as her family has long been involved in Sussex Borough politics.

This is nothing more than an election-year tactic to create a scare where there is none for her to try and gain your vote, an attempt to gain your vote through deception. Instead of creating a scare for the public, maybe you can organize a food drive to replenish the food banks in our town due to the heavy reliance on them. Many of our good residents are reliant upon food banks as they cannot feed their families due to our water utility being among the highest cost per gallon in New Jersey.

The spirit of the "Water Infrastructure Protection Act" is not to be used as a tool to press a sale against a town who is finally acting responsibly after years of former councils doing nothing. Provided Sussex continues on the track of finally being good stewards, the DEP will likely not step in and force you to sell. Expensive, yes. But the voters who said "No,: were well informed of future costs.

Robert Holowach
Sussex Borough