The results of a community survey in Clancy so far show that close to half of those who responded do not support any action toward building the centralized water system being proposed by the Clancy Water and Sewer District.
The results were reported at the Feb. 23 CWSD meeting, where the Board voted to continue to accept late survey responses prior to the March meeting.
Michelle Pond, Technical Assistance Provider for the Midwest Assistance Program Rural Community Assistance Partnership, aided the board in creating the survey and compiling the results.
“So far 30 of the 92 surveys have been returned. Please note that with such a small sample size, you shouldn’t extrapolate much,” Pond said. This small sample size led the Board to support extending the deadline for surveys in the hopes of receiving more public comment.
According to the responses received so far, seven surveyed would support the centralized water system, 12 would support a public wastewater system, and 16 supported the Board taking no action at all.
Some respondents answered in the affirmative for two of the three questions.
A public wastewater system was part of the discussion in 2012, but never did gain traction. The Clancy community was unable to generate enough support at the time to form a wastewater district. The focus then switched to a centralized water system due to the elevated levels of uranium and nitrates in some private wells in the community.
At the February meeting, President David Leitheiser said he found the results and comments to be “significant” and that he believed it showed that most of the Clancy residents did not support moving forward with the centralized water system project.
The comments left on the surveys were by those who did not support the project — and that was largely due to the cost. Previously, Leitheiser estimated the cost to be $111 a month plus the cost of water used, based on a 2018 preliminary engineering report.
One Clancy resident surveyed wrote, “At the unaffordable cost of the water project I would likely sell my place and move into Helena. At least I would pay less for water/sewer/garbage service than just for water alone. Please drop the water project so I can remain in Clancy.”
Another person surveyed, and who identified as a senior citizen on a fixed income, would not be able to afford the added expense of the centralized water system.
Steve Marks, who identified himself on his survey, did not support the centralized water system, writing “I think that this is a misguided issue, why are the powers that be so insistent on spending millions on a water system that could be taken care of with either bottled water or reverse osmosis. If it is such a “public health issue” I would think that the county health department would have taken the necessary steps to get bottled water or reverse osmosis systems in place.” Marks also stated that he wanted to be removed from the water district which would entail a lengthy legal process.
The CWSD agreed to wait for additional surveys to be returned before going forward with making any decision on the future of the centralized water system. A notice has been mailed to all stakeholders in Clancy urging them to send in their surveys prior to the next meeting on March 23.
