Getting and being informed

Recently I got a call from some one asking what he could do to change things in Pocomoke. He is upset because he had written the mayor about how bad the water is in Pocomoke and had not gotten any response. He stated that his water in Pocomoke was undrinkable and could not be used for cooking because it had bacteria in it. He had been told by someone that the only way to correct his problem would be cost prohibitive because the old water lines need to be replaced. He said he had lived many places and this is the first place he has lived where he could not drink the water.

I advised him to visit the city’s website (cityofpocomoke.com) to read the charter and the council minutes and then read the Pocomoke blogs and comment. I also suggested he attend council meetings. Solving problems starts with identifying and discussing them.

Turns out there may be some good news for my caller.

I saw the May 20, 2009 Daily Times article about Stimulus funds skipping Worcester County. The last paragraph of the article is “Grants to Pocomoke City for an enhanced nutrient removal system for the town's wastewater treatment plant and local public safety services and $97,000 slated for Ocean City in justice assistance funding make up the rest.” How much being granted is not stated.

Then I did what I suggested my caller do – I checked the city website and found the following in the April 9, 2009 council minutes.

“Mrs. Debbie Underhill, of 1509 Princess Anne Lane, to discuss water quality problems
Mrs. Underhill and Charlotte Lee (neighbor) stated that the water had an odor and if they washed their white clothes, they become discolored. They asked if more could be done to correct the water problems in their neighborhood.
Mayor McDermott stated that the City is currently planning on pigging the lines and that looping of the lines was just completed. He hoped that would correct some of the problems. He continued to state that at this time the City could not replace all the water lines in the area and he knew that pigging the lines was putting a band-aid on the problem. He thanked the ladies for coming before the Mayor and Council with their concerns. Mayor McDermott stated that they could contact Congressman Katovil and the Senators to let them know that Pocomoke is asking for money though the Stimulus Plan to help with the water infrastructure within the City.”

In a very nice post on May 24, 2009, CL Marshall followed a list of good things about Pocomoke with “But with all this going for us we seem to always shoot ourselves in the foot.”

One way we shoot ourselves in the foot in Pocomoke is by not being better informed. We as citizens have responsibility to be informed. There are things that our city officials could do better to help us be informed. The council meetings could be telecast or recorded and streamed on the internet (using You Tube would be low cost). The city’s website we now have is good but could be much better used to keep us informed. More frequent updates would be helpful. Responsiveness by the mayor to citizens concerns is also helpful.

I would like to hear other ideas on this.