{"id":12319,"date":"2015-04-07T19:05:12","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T23:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=12319"},"modified":"2015-04-07T22:32:42","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T02:32:42","slug":"my-speech-to-danville-city-council-4715","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/07\/my-speech-to-danville-city-council-4715\/","title":{"rendered":"My Speech to Danville City Council (4\/7\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As promised, here is my speech that I made at Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Greetings,<\/p>\n

I come before City Council tonight to express my opinion on the current water taste issue. I believe that the City of Danville has badly mismanaged this issue and as a result, has lost control of the message that the public is getting. Recent statements by members of council have only clouded the message even more.<\/p>\n

I’ll start with Sherman Saunders’ remarks from last Tuesday, where he said he was looking for Tim Kaine’s help and his advice because Kaine had dealt with an algae problem as mayor. Saunders was quoted as saying that he had a meeting with Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality and Chris Collins from Senator Kaine’s office sat in. I am disappointed that the media wasn’t notified of that meeting nor that the city’s own media department and public information office has even mentioned that meeting.<\/p>\n

Mayor Saunders also said he was attempting to contact the White House on this issue. Sadly, Danville has a lot of people with low information rationality that actually believe that Tim Kaine and Barack Obama can actually accomplish things regarding a water taste issue in Danville. I am not one of those people, and I consider Saunders’ statements to be false promises and bluster at best. After making that statement one week ago tonight, Mayor Saunders has not reached out to the media nor to the water customers with a follow-up on his endeavors nor with his meeting with DEQ.<\/p>\n

Next, I will address Vice Mayor Gary Miller’s embarrassing river trip expedition last week. I’ve already published a blistering editorial against Miller’s attempt to look like he was the Chief Crusader trying to solve the problem, but I’ll recap some of my problems with it for the council members and the citizens that haven’t read it yet.<\/p>\n

First, Gary Miller only notified Register & Bee reporter Denice Thibodeau and she was the only one to accompany Miller up the riverbank. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I believe Miller knew that he would not be asked any challenging questions by her… and that turned out to be correct.<\/p>\n

Second, Miller observed no visible signs of algae and declared that to be of interest. There have been no visible signs of algae detected by anyone in this second round of water taste issues.<\/p>\n

Third, Miller collected “samples” of river water and a “substance that he believed to be coal ash” and will have them tested. I certainly hope that in the spirit of full disclosure that Gary Miller will issue a statement of those test results to the public and the media so that we can push the information out.<\/p>\n

Finally and most damaging, Miller brought up the specter of coal ash contamination with absolutely no scientific justification at all. I strongly feel it is highly irresponsible for Miller (or any city official) to even approach conflating coal ash issues with the water taste concerns with no indications. Miller was quoted as saying “This never happened before the coal ash spill, so you have to wonder.”<\/p>\n

No, Dr. Miller. You can use logic and rational thinking. You can think that if this problem is now being detected in the Smith River (that has never had any coal ash contamination), that coal ash contamination wouldn\u2019t be the cause of this algae bloom. As a former microbiologist, you should know the usual causes of algae blooms. Coal ash isn\u2019t one of them. \u201cSo you have to wonder\u201d is a phrase that makes low information people justify forming and believing conspiracy theories that are being spread. It leads people to state at the mall food court that “The water is poisonous”. I heard that last week and immediately corrected the person.<\/p>\n

Miller’s lone wolf river trip was made even more morally repugnant to me when he told council members that he would be out of town on business and unable to attend the funeral of a council member’s relative… while he was floating up the river on his own agenda.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, Dr. Miller approached Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and asked if he could assist on the water taste issue. At best, Northam could make a phone call to DEQ and they would tell him that they’re doing the best that they can on this issue. These kinds of actions make Miller look like a lone wolf and the sole person trying to make things right. Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

The city has dropped the ball and as I said before, has lost control of the message to the public. I firmly believe that the city needs to recapture control of the dialog in the same way that the police department is trained to stop a brewing riot.<\/p>\n

First, you put on a strong show of force. In this case, that calls for a daily media and public briefing on the city’s website saying what happened today, test results, and any other information that the city can put together. Tell the truth as brutal and honest as you can. The answer of “We don’t know, but we continue to work on the issue” is highly acceptable, especially in the face of throwing out conjecture. I personally know that the water treatment plant is pumping out “non-stinky” water right now. Most citizens don’t know that.<\/p>\n

Second, just as the police department is trained to take out the leaders of a brewing riot, the city must directly challenge and factcheck any and all rumors that are circulating out in the community. The public is hearing and repeating rumors and outright false statements. It will not be pretty to say “This is completely wrong and here’s why”, but I feel it will be necessary to regain full control of the message.<\/p>\n

The city needs to form a task force and make sure that all officials put out a unified message that is factually correct. When Gary Miller said \u201cIf you\u2019ve got some kind of cancer and are on chemo, you should probably drink bottled water\u201d, that was factually correct… but it should have been said as medical advice on Day #1. On Day #30, people who don’t think for themselves turned that into “Gary Miller says the water is dangerous”.<\/p>\n

Finally, City Council needs to make things right with the customers who are paying for water that tastes bad and is borderline undrinkable due to taste. I strongly urge Council to add an open discussion about possible remedies to tonight’s business session agenda so that water customers can see directly some of the ideas that could be floated out. Barring that, at least discuss this issue in tonight’s work session and immediately issue a press release with a transcript of what was discussed.<\/p>\n

I hope my words tonight hit hard with all nine members of council… and with the citizens and water customers of Danville.<\/p>\n

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As promised, here is my speech that I made at Tuesday night’s Danville City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

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