The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

I am in Guam visiting my husband and I hear that the council of Electric City has passed a tab law of $20.00 per yr per vehicle. Are you kidding me?

What if a resident can’t afford their fee? What then, they can’t drive in E.C.?

Wow, the council should start by not giving money if they do not have it … and why should we as E.C. residents pay for something that we have been paying for?

What about Grand Coulee water that we sell to them and then they, Grand Coulee, sells to the USBR for double … why?

Debbie Bays

Electric City

Personally I think things are regressing. We were forced into the Electric City limits against our wishes. We protested, but our opinions didn't matter to the city council. Now we are paying for a new water treatment system. (That one may be necessary, but I don't remember voting on it.)

Now the city council is going to start charging us for the cars we drive - or is it cars we have?

I know I am not alone in thinking the residents of Electric City are not represented by our city council - they do what they want and make their own rules that we are expected to abide by. They also said we can't speak up at the council meetings. (Same statements they issued said “can/can't”. Confusing.)

I seem to remember reading in history books in school that the revolutionary war started over taxation without representation. Seems to me that that is what we have now. We have regressed!

Pat Piekarski

Electric City resident

So now Electric City is going to punish me for owning a vehicle. Clearly I did not pay enough for the vehicle, do not pay enough in state taxes, not enough for gas (that includes taxes too) and obviously the fee I’m charged yearly to license just doesn’t cover it. Fine, I’ll pay your $20 a year for each vehicle I own - which will amount to $60 for me as I have three. One of which does not drive on your roads, it merely sits in my driveway but I do license it yearly as the city WILL fine me for NOT having it licensed.

However, in return - I would like to NOT be plowed into my driveway yearly by Popcorn when he does a mediocre job plowing the streets that I’m now forced to pay extra to drive on. Also, when we get a sudden downpour of rain, please kindly come and fill in the rut that the rain has created at the edge of my driveway. Yeah, the part that meets the road - because remember, anything within 20 feet of the street is not “mine” it’s the “city’s.”

And while we’re at it, as I’m sure it will surely be part of the “street fund,” please ask Jarred to no longer run his mower down the opposite side of my street to cut the weeds down. Not because I want tall weeds across from me, but if I have to replace another windshield in a vehicle I own, I will bill the city for the cost of replacement. After all, it wasn’t my personal mower that flicked the rock, nor was it my rock.

Does this extra cost also include motorcycles, ATVs, boat trailers, utility trailers and RVs? If it has wheels and you use the road then you should have to pay for it, regardless. For example, every year there is a man who drives his snowmobile up and down the street I live on, so should he have to pay this fee as well? How will it be enforced - will there be an extra sticker we get so you know who has paid and who hasn’t? What about those residents of Electric City that have different addresses elsewhere - will they have to pay?

Not to mention the huge conflict of interest with the council members also being board members. Let me get this straight, you know us Electric City residents, we’re a little slow! You voted in the “transportation district” and now you’re the members of that board as well? Shouldn’t those members who voted on it be excluded from being on the board? It would seem like the “honest” thing to do.

Jamie Holeman

Electric City

Well here we go again, now Electric City residents have to pay $20 per vehicle for license fees. They say they need the money for road improvements. Doesn't the city have all the equipment to care for the roads themselves? Why is it going to take so much money now?

When Mr. Halsey was mayor, it was reported that he had saved the city a million dollars. Where has all the money gone? Does it really cost that much more to maintain the city now? Maybe the city needs audited.

I don't like having to write about negative things all the time. I wished I could write more positive things about our city's leaders, but they leave me no choice. One positive thing that I can say is election for a new mayor is only one year away. Let's all remember to vote next November.

Maybe one day I can write a positive letter like the ones that Jess Utz writes.

Sam Stanczak

Nancy Bolyard