Bond Ordinance Blog

By: Jaime Landis

Last night on the Council meeting agenda was a bond ordinance which would be issued at 1.9% to the municipality to provide some much-needed improvements. The bond was for upgrades to our communications equipment for the police department, improvements in the form of an HVAC system and new roof for the library, upgrades to our water supply infrastructure, and very critical repairs at our James Drive treatment plant, which is vital to the health and safety of Skyline Lake and the residents. 

In a display of political posturing, Councilwoman O’ Keefe and Councilmen Bolton and Ferretti voted no on this ordinance. The frustrating part of this situation is that this plan was discussed in the bipartisan finance committee meetings for the past year, and no one expressed misgivings throughout. This was the plan moving forward and the committee was in unison. Given that it is an election year, and that O’Keefe and Ferretti are running for re-election they chose to grandstand last night at the expense of our police department, our library, and our Skyline Lake residents. 

In a last minute and desperate attempt to rectify their error, they made a motion to use money from an emergency fund account to cover the AC for the library. With that thought process, the same funding could have been used for the much-needed radio improvements for our emergency services and residents. That is an item that truly saves lives. They are acutely aware that we have areas of town that have sparse or no communication. It also could have funded the beginning phase of the James Drive Sewer plant renovations to help the water quality of the lake thereby keeping residents safe. 

Life is all about choices, and last night O’Keefe, Ferretti, and Bolton prioritized the library AC over public safety. Sadly, Ringwood lost last night due to the democrat’s failure to put our resident’s health and safety first. All these items could have been funded if they followed through with the two-year financial plan.