Well Field regulation hinders progress, costs Dayton jobs!

If you read the previous blogs relating to the Dayton Well Field, you already know that the ordinance hinders job and economic growth, is a huge negative for business, and destroys property values while providing little, if any, protection to the aquifer.  We are at this juncture because City Management has failed to understand the implications of the ordinance and failed to question the faulty science the ordinance is built upon.  

No Oversight

Beyond that, it is now clear the Water Department enforces the ordinance as it wishes and City Management condones this behavior.  It seems the Dayton Water Department is allowed to do as they wish with no oversight, checks or balances.  While the Water Department hides behind the ordinance when it’s in their best interest to do so, they do as they wish when the ordinance conflicts with their objectives.  Here is the latest example.

The ordinance(s) specifically provide for the establishment of a Well Field Protection Board and a Well Field Protection Appeals Board. The purpose of the Protection Board is to provide compensation for property owners that have been negatively impacted by the ordinance; which is a majority of the properties in the protection area.  The compensation is paid from the $10 million piggy bank that the Water Department oversees and is automatically replenished if it drops below the $10 million mark.

No Appeals Board

The Appeals Board was established to review the decisions made by the Protection Board.  Given the Protection Board is staffed by the Director of Water and other City Directors, the decisions support the desires of the Water Department.  The Appeals Board is the only shot a property owner has at an objective decision without pursuing litigation.  Without the Appeals Board, the "fox is indeed watching the hen house."  Here is the problem, there is NO Appeals Board.  That's right, this ordinance has been around for 25 or so years and it appears the City of Dayton has never established an Appeals Board. 

So, for the last 25 years the Water Department's influence over the Protection Board has allowed them to do as they wish and force property owners into a legal battle that few can afford because there is absolutely NO Appeal process.  In fact, based on the interpretation and application of the ordinance by the Protection Board, there would never be a decision that could reach the level of an appeal.  The Water Department has the pocketbook of the City to pay for their legal fees and they know full well that few small businesses can afford the high cost of litigation.  So the pocketbook of the City has become a "favored tool" of the Water Department and allows them to tout the lack of legal challenges as evidence the ordinance does not hurt business.  Not necessarily factual, but it sounds good to the uninformed. 

No Leadership

Other municipalities understand the problems with the ordinance and have provided flexibility; but not Dayton.  Hopefully the leaders of the City of Dayton will see the light and address the many injustices this ordinance has, and continues, to create. A Great City deserves Great Leadership that is willing to change the city for the betterment of all.

Stay tuned, we will be covering other examples of inconsistencies and injustices in future weeks. We will share examples of companies that have left Dayton and moved to the suburb, taking with them hundreds of jobs.  We will also show how this ordinance, and lack of oversight by the City Manager and the Commission, kills property values.

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Steve Staub is a Dayton native and an avid manufacturing industry supporter. He is the President of Staub Manufacturing Solutions and serves on the board of OhioRobotics.org, a non-profit student workforce development organization.