Please join me in supporting Preston Lee and Barbara Curtis for the two open Lewes Board of Public Works positions this Saturday.
BPW is facing important decisions that will affect our future. In the next few months, the board will be making a decision that will have long-term impacts. BPW must decide whether Lewes should trust Sussex County to process its future sewage volumes at Sussex’s Wolfe Neck wastewater facility in exchange for giving Sussex the permit that Lewes holds to discharge into the canal or to continue to treat our sewage in our current facility.
The board frequently must make decisions about new developments that want to connect to BPW services. During the next three years, there will be major decisions about balancing electrical demand as our grid is modernized. There will be decisions about connecting alternative sources of supply. There will be myriad operational improvements and capital projects that affect the reliability of services, health and safety. The rates we will pay depend on the board’s decisions.
For most of last year, BPW has had a committee studying the mitigation of various potential threats (environmental, weather, terrorist) to BPW facilities. Committee members came from different technical backgrounds. As committee chair, Pres was open to all points of view looking toward to consensus. Barbara was new to BPW issues but learned quickly and provided independent research that challenged the group. It is fair to say that Barbara digs into the facts for the right answer.
The committee sought new information, reviewed it and developed consensus recommendations for BPW facilities responding to sea-level rise and storms. The committee recommended hardening pump stations, elevating utilities and equipment. Other recommendations included BPW’s planned reaction to a major storm or saltwater intrusion to the wastewater facility.
Pres Lee has an extensive background in water, sewage and utilities, and 30-plus years of design, construction and operations experience. He is a professional engineer with an outstanding project resume. As a young engineer, his first project was to change Dewey Beach from septic to a central sewer system. In 1994, he was the principal engineer for the Wolfe Neck Regional Wastewater Facility that has served Sussex well to this day. He has served on the BPW for 12 years and five as its president.
Barbara Curtis has a master’s degree in environmental science from Drexel University. Barbara’s career included 28 years at Johnson Matthey, rising to the manager of Health, Safety and Environmental Affairs and 10 years as General Instrument’s director of environment health and safety. In the environmental area, her experience covered negotiating leases, agreements, audits and remediation. Barbara is extremely knowledgeable, experienced and comfortable in looking forward to innovative technologies.
These volunteer positions on the BPW take time, diligence, study and judgment. Thankfully, both Pres and Barbara have these qualities. We are indeed fortunate.
Please join me in voting for Pres Lee, the experienced hand, and Barbara Curtis, the innovator, as we entrust important decisions about our future.
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