Dear Editor,

In your scathing editorial entitled “BCWA is not funny anymore,” I admit that you hit the target with some of your comments. True, there has been a wall of unwilling cooperation; there has been tenseness; there has been gruff and refused participation. But when you referred to the BCWA meetings as a circus and called the members of the board clowns, you stepped too far out on the limb of name-calling. You need to make sure who the real clowns are in this situation.

And when you called the situation “so pathetic, so pitiful and an affront to the spirit of good civic duty…” you would have done well to have looked into all of the whys and wherefores.

Instead, you admit that you don’t have a clue where this all began and you go on to say that you “really could care less.” If you don’t care enough to get the facts straight, what makes you the expert to declare that the water authority is not operating for the betterment of Butler County?

Just because Mr. Tommie Hamilton and I, as two members of the BCWA board, on numerous occasions have dared to question and take issue with many of the questionable actions of the chairman and his three controlled board members, does that mean that we’re not acting in the best interests of the water authority and its customers? And if the county’s water authority has become such a joke, just how do you think it is continuing to serve its more than 4400 customers? I think the joke is on you in this instance.

As you applaud Giddens for his service to the water authority, here is something for you to think about. Are you aware that his four years of leadership have cost the BCWA at least a quarter-million dollars in unnecessary expenses?

Part of these unnecessary expenses were fees and expense reimbursements paid to a $5000-per-month consultant who had a personal agenda to gain control of the water authority. Other unnecessary expenses were incurred after that same consultant, with Giddens’ help, contrived and implemented a plan that changed the management of the water system.

Now, the customers of the water authority are bearing the costs of this failed leadership. Even though you say you “could care less”, — just in case you might want to have clue where this all began — I just want you to know that all of the above, and much more, is documented in the authority’s financial statements, minutes of meetings and in audio recordings of many of the authority’s monthly meetings.

The Butler County Commission is commended for recognizing the need for change on the BCWA board and appointing Mr. Jan Black to replace Giddens.

With his exit from this board, most of the remaining “past differences” referred to in your editorial have been eliminated.

Although it may take yet another couple of months to begin the process, a change for the better in the operation of the BCWA is almost guaranteed.

If it turns out that Butler County is facing a water shortage in the future, you may rest assured that the BCWA board will operate only on true and accurate information and not on information that has been provided by the clowns from another circus.

Charles Rogers

BCWA Board Member

Greenville