The Mount Desert board of selectmen is to be commended for its courage in doing what is fair and right by voting for a sewer user fee.

The whole town won when the petition to recall First Selectman Jim Bright was rejected. Such unfounded actions to disrupt town government are an example of democracy out of control. One wonders if the objective of the petition was specifically to remove the first selectman, to attempt to disrupt the implementation of the sewer user fee, or to force a special town meeting so that the petition to stop the transfer of sewage from Otter Creek to the Seal Harbor treatment center could be acted on without waiting for the March town meeting.

The board will continue to be in the unenviable position of having to withstand the wrath of those who are subsidized to the greatest extent by both those on and off the system. The establishment of a user fee does not remove the entire cost of financing the village sewer systems from the taxes of non-sewer system users. Daily operational costs are covered by the proposed user fee; capital costs of modernizing or adding elements to the sewer systems will continue to be included in the taxes of both system users and non-users.

No one wants this issue to cause a breakdown in good relations within the community or to force any business to close its doors, or to subsidize their existence. It is my hope that we will not see intimidation by a few to influence the resolution of the user fee issue.

I urge all residents to attend the board of selectmen meetings, or any forum concerning user fees, to learn more about the issues related to village sewage system funding.

Robert. L. Smallidge

Mount Desert