By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
Like the calm that follows a mighty storm, it’s been mighty quiet at the Town of Waterford Sanitary District since an Aug. 14 recall election ousted Bill Gerard from the WSD board in favor of former commissioner Dan Dickinson – an event that dominated the local news cycle for months.
Now, behind the scenes, wheels are turning quietly.
Dickinson said he spent his first post-election weekend delving through past WSD budgets and developing his first data information request to Debbie Nelson, the district’s administrator.
That entailed multi-year details of receipts and checks, lawyers’ bills, detailed worksheets used for budget preparation, insurance policies, an agreement with Western Racine County Sewerage District and other documents Dickinson said must be reviewed before commissioners can begin moving forward with the 2013 WSD budget.
“Now that I have the information asked for, I will be asking for more,” Dickinson said, adding: “Sometimes there are things you don’t even know you don’t know, but pretty soon things get into focus.”
Before moving forward with preparations for the 2013 budget, commissioners need to take a look back at previous budgets to see what’s been happening over the years, Dickinson explained.
Any kind of backward look to check on how and why things were handled in the past won’t end up being a blame game or witch hunt or anything of that nature, Dickinson predicted.
“If we’re going to look forward and do things in a forward-looking manner, we at least need to look back over our shoulders now and then,” he explained. “It’s for the intent of lessons learned.”
Dickinson said he is definitely interested in talking further with Jim Filicetti, a local certified public accountant who appeared before the town and WSD boards this month.
Filicetti said that 15 years ago he conducted a free, courtesy review of the WSD books, which he found to be financially secure at that time. He then offered his expertise to “lend a hand with the facts” by again taking a look at the WSD finances.
Filicetti is one of three candidates who sought to replace former WSD commissioner Donna Block, who resigned in July. Rick McNeiley was subsequently chosen to fill Block’s position.
The WSD board next holds its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 12. Expect a long session, Dickinson advised.
“It will be a very full agenda,” he said. “I have a full list of things to be put on the agenda.”
Dickinson noted that during the recall campaign he promised to hold WSD commission meetings as transparent, working sessions before the public.
“The way I envision this, for at least the next six months or more, hopefully all of us walk out of there feeling tired,” he said.
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