LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Posted on 29 October 2015 by LeslieM

Thanks to Parks & Rec. for Fall Festival

Dear Editor:

Kudos to the City of Deerfield Beach Parks & Recreation staff for organizing such a great event on Saturday, Oct. 17 in Pioneer Park. The first annual Fall Festival was an awesome and wonderful family event with a large variety of enjoyable activities. Thank you for providing this to our community and also for allowing us to be part of the fun! Looking forward to next year’s event!

Emily Lilly

on behalf of the Deerfield Beach Historical Society

RE: Water access for companies

Dear Editor:

At the end of the Oct. 20 commission meeting, the Mayor brought up the subject companies like mine [J.P. Miller & Sons Services, Inc.] getting water to fill our tanks at the water plant. It was reported that some individuals fill up their tanks and drive off with the water still running. This excess water caused a problem for a local company that reported that [it was] puddling on their property. The discussion then went to how much companies were paying for the water with the implication that companies like mine were ripping off the city by getting our water so cheap.

I did some research and would like to set the record straight. We pay 50 cents, according to my serviceman, to get 300 gallons of water. I found out that the city’s highest rate for water is $2.65 for 1000 gallons of water. I did the math and that comes out to approx. 80 cents for 300 gallons of water. So the big deal that the Mayor made was for 30 cents extra that the city should have been charging companies. She was comparing the cost of water at Publix per gallon to what we pay at home. This can easily be fixed by adjusting the rate to reflect the true cost.

There is something else that I would like to point out. There is a public safety issue that the city was wisely taking into consideration by providing this water availability at the water plant. With the set up we had (just like Boca and Pompano have), there is an air gap between the hose and the tank being filled. If a person filling a tank put a hose into the tank, there is potential that the contents of the tank could be siphoned back into our water supply. This is one of the most important reasons most of the cities in Broward provide this type of service. Another thing to consider is that there are over 700 pest management companies in Broward County alone with thousands of trucks on the road with tanks on them. We are not the only industry that has water tanks … pool companies, car washing and some construction companies have tanks also, to name a few.

I did vote to keep this service available to commercial companies. At the time, the conservation was such that I was focused on drivers driving away with the water still running, which seemed ridiculous to me. I may be the only city commissioner in Broward County that has personally used this source of water and I was taken aback at how quickly the idea to shut it down was approved by people that did not know it existed. I would like to think of our city as business-friendly.

Another fact people may not realize is that the pest management industry is larger in Florida than the citrus industry, with many, many registered voters and their customers.

Joseph P. Miller

(Commissioner, Dist. 1)

Deerfield Beach

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