Chapter 545

Not only did Kurt Allen step out of the elevator but also the town’s commissioners, town manager, Mayor and the head of the sewer and water department. They all were carrying files, folders and blueprints.

“Oh my, what have I gotten myself into,” I thought as we showed them to the meeting room.

The blueprints were maps they had drawn up today with the proposed location of the truck stop. The Mayor and town council obviously wanted to lock down an official agreement before anyone could stop it.

The town engineer - Charlie Backwater - had all the numbers and estimates for water and sewage flow for the project. They wanted to make me aware that there would need to be a pressure booster for the water supply and two pumping stations for the sewer.

I informed them that they did not have all the information on the proposal. I explained that the water for the site would be supplied from the Morton Field water tower. That would reduce the cost and what I wanted was to connect the Morton Field sewage and the truck stop to the plant.

Charlie countered and asked if we would be open to connecting the Morton water tower to the Qtown water system. One of the town’s wells was marginal and needed replacing at a cost of over a million dollars and two years worth of delays and permits. If the Morton water met state quality standards, Qtown would be willing to negotiate on the sewage treatment cost and pay the cost to run the fresh water pipe from Qtown to Morton.

I knew that Marcy would negotiate aggressively.

I also explained that I knew about the pumping stations and the extra cost associated with them was expected. Jake had told me that they would be needed.

I already knew that the water met the standards; it was tested quarterly because of the restaurant and the Crash Motel.

With the extra information they left and with the good faith check. They were going to start the plant upgrades immediately because of the long lead times. The town was going to begin the process with the state for the permits to place the pipe along the highway. A JBG contractor would install the pipes.

I was sure we could get it done a lot cheaper than letting the town getting it done, and then reimbursing them. Everybody likes to overcharge government and that never ending bucket of taxpayer cash.

Once the sewer pipes were in and operational, the town would accept the ownership of them and all maintenance costs for the sewage pipe and pumping stations. JBG would retain ownership of the fresh water pipes from Morton to the truck stop. It was a better deal than I had hoped.

The pumping stations would be built with the same equipment as the town already had; spare parts would be on hand in case of failures. I wanted no part of sewer repairs and keeping spare parts on hand.

The second meeting group had been from Cville; they were sitting in the lobby when the Qtown group left.

“Unless you change your sewage plans and the grant for the proposed site to the town of Cville, we are going to sue and tie your project up in court for years and also fight the zoning,” the town commissioners said.

“You will never get it built,” one of them added.

“You are the ones that eliminated yourselves from consideration and did it in the most public way on the county TV channel. The contracts have been signed. Our attorneys are prepared for anything you try to do. So go ahead - make my day - and I will make yours just as miserable! I’m sure the taxpayers will remember all of this in November,” I replied.

We spent two hours in the gym before going to the house, but not before refusing to give a statement to the media that came into the lobby, demanding that I do so about the torture allegations. I wish I had personally shoved Balthazar into the furnace against the President’s wishes. It was too late for that now.

I stopped by the EIT as we made our way through the basement headed home. Robert had a file tray for Vicky, Ching Lee and me for things that we needed to look at; critical things were handled by phone calls as soon as they were unencrypted.

The Iranian web sites were getting more active. Robert and his group were busy trying to find the ISP locations of those in the US that were posting or commenting on the sites. I read the pages and put them in my portable office to study tomorrow. There was something about them, but I could not put my finger on what it was.

I worked the smarter than smart phone all the way to Washington; by the time I arrived I had finally mastered the updated version. In the process I sent a text to Robert that I wanted him to call me closer to lunch.