Nothing in writing

It was business as usual at Pine Haven’s meeting of the governing body last Tuesday night except for an item of contention from homeowners Nick and Cindy Bedsted.

According to the Bedsteds, they had given the town right of way across their land enabling the town to run the new sewer line during the project a couple of years ago as part of a verbal agreement with then-Mayor Larry Suchor for a waiver of the $3000 tap fee for the mandatory connection.

When the couple recently received correspondence from the town seeking imbursement of said fee, they asked the current council via the clerk’s office to search the records for the alleged agreement to no avail; Mayor Bill Cunningham reported, “As far as I can see from the letter that you all agreed on, there’s nothing [about a waiver]. I talked to [Suchor] and the engineer – nothing.”

Nick Bedsted asked HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville for his recollection of the matter; Turbiville responded, “I remember it being discussed, I do not remember it being agreed upon”. He advised the couple that such an agreement would have to be approved by the council.

Suchor was in attendance to answer the Bedsteds’ allegation: “To my knowledge, you requested it and I said no. I did not allow anybody in the system to be granted any tap fees. If we’re giving away tap fees in exchange for easements, we’re technically giving away that security.”

Town Attorney Patrick Carpenter explained why this agreement could not be made by the council in any case: “That [project] was on a grant and we had very specific obligations to show the funding agency where our money was going to come from to repay the debt.”

Bedsteds asked rhetorically, why they would have granted the town permission to run the sewer line across their property if there had not been compensation, namely waiving the connection fee.

“Why didn’t you write it down,” asked a perplexed Cunningham, “that’s what I don’t understand.”

With nothing in writing, but the standard agreement granting the town right of way across their land, Cunningham advised the frustrated couple that if such contracts are not in writing, there is nothing any one can do: “Everything should be in writing.”