To the editor:

I have lived in Cape Coral for nine years and every time the UEP issue comes up there is a major confrontation between the city and its citizens. I am tired of hearing the pros, cons and arguments over this project.

Over the years council has continually “put the cart before the horse.” Voting for commitments and expenditures that force successive projects to be committed without any options. This type of legislature forces the citizens to finance a project that is not needed nor wanted.

Previous councils committed current council to a water treatment plant for ($91 million) that was a prerequisite to any future expansions of the UEP including SW 6&7. There is also an expenditure of $6.5 million on the engineering and design for SW 6&7 before the project was approved. The council knew that to pay for these two items they would have to approve all future expansions.

If they do not approve future expansions these costs and probably more would have to be borne by the 51,000 current customers of the UEP. Using simple math, the current customers would each be liable for an additional $1911 if no other areas were approved. The plan to install “water only” north of Pine Island Road is a smoke screen to cover up administration mistakes and cover the costs of previous commitments that should never have been made before additional expansions were approved.

The same issue came up with the police and fire building project. Counsel by eminent domain acquired land and other expenses before they and the citizens had approved the cost of the project. Luckily they were able to change the direction and cost of this project that was acceptable to the citizens of Cape Coral.

I believe that all costs associated with projects should be established prior to approving any one part of a project. All dependencies within a project should be clearly laid out so people can make an informed decision. If our city staff can’t do that or is not willing to do that then we should get staff that can and will. Incurring additional cost by consultants or contractors to manage our affairs is a total waste of our finances and does nothing for our economy except to drag it down.

The recent stirrings to resurrect this project should be quelled until we here from the federal economic stimulus initiative. But no, the council again wants to put the horse before the cart. I don’t think any of the UEP projects should go forward unless there is a known and validated risk to public health or safety.

John Huber Jr.

Cape Coral