Mayor, staff need to follow the rules

Ralph Bartholdlt’s article on testing (Backflow test deadline set, July 17, 2010) reveals the willingness of the mayor to ignore the process of government and create her own law. Councilman John Reuter is quoted as saying that the mayor gets to decide how an ordinance is administered but in another quote, he makes it clear that she has overstepped her authority in setting an arbitrary date for inspections of backflow devices.

The law states that citizens and businesses have until Dec. 31 to complete the inspection. The mayor states that because hot tubs and sprinkler systems are blown out after the summer, they must be tested on Aug. 6. Most sprinkler systems aren’t blown out until October or later, so there is plenty of time to complete the inspection after Aug. 6. More important, the majority of devices are installed on boiler systems or in commercial operations like restaurant soda machines, Litehouse manufacturing, the hospital, etc), hospitals, not on residential sprinklers and hot tubs.

This particular matter may be small, but the principal isn’t — the mayor and her staff must follow the rule of law, like the rest of us. She has shown that she puts herself and her opinion above the law.

KEN SANGER

Sandpoint