During Monday’s meeting of the Chestertown Town Council, Town Utilities Manager Bob Sipes described an alternative to a Letter of Consent agreement to assure financial responsibility of the oil remediation if the process at the Chestertown Hospital fails.
Sipes says that a Local Courtesy Bill could be submitted to the State via Kent County Commissioners and other regional representatives to request that the state ensures funding in case the town suffers from a worst-case scanario—having to relocate and drill new wells for the community’s water supplies.
An earlier idea of pursuing a Letter of Consent would require all three parties—UM Shore Regional Health, Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) and the Town of Chestertown—to negotiate an agreement to set up a financial safety net. On the other hand, a Local Courtesy Bill would require a transaction solely between the town and the State of Maryland.
With encouragement from the Council, Sipes said he would gather more information for a formal request to be presented to the county commissioners with the hope that a timely request could be made at the upcoming Maryland legislature.
Here, Bob Sipes explains the benefits of this proposal.
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