After attending the Dec. 12 meeting, it was great to know that the city has so many residents who care about the city and its employees. First and most importantly, the CSEA workers who are part of the sewer department should be commended and their employment with the city protected in this deal. Hopefully, the city will do the right thing and take care of them. They should be rewarded for their services which everyone in attendance agreed has been exemplary. This deal would create an ideal opportunity for the city to expand the public works department and begin bringing back in-house some of the work which is being given to outside contractors.

Before I go any further I want to make it clear that the opinions I am expressing are mine alone and are not intended to represent the opinions of any political party.

Sometimes you're the buyer and sometimes you're the seller in the business world. Today we need to be the seller. The simple fact is we cannot run the sewer profitably. Years ago Glen Cove was a largely industrial community and sewer usage and revenue was much greater. Things have evolved and Glen Cove is no longer an industrial hub. We can discuss why and who to blame for this change in our economics but the reality is we have a sewer system which we cannot run profitably. The fact that someone else claims they can run it better and possibly make a profit only adds to the sale value of the asset. It does not automatically turn the sewer system into a profit center for us from the standpoint of our operating the facility.

We now have an agreed upon in principal valuation of $44 million for the transfer of the sewer system. As proposed the county would assume the sewer debt of $16 million and the residents of the city would receive free service for 15 years. I would suggest we tweak the proposed payment plan. In addition to the assignment of the accumulated sewer debt of $16 million, I suggest we reduce the 15 years of no sewer bills to 10 years. The remaining five years would have a value of about $7-8 million which I would like to see the city receive over a period of three years beginning in 2008. The $2.5 million received annually along with the reduction in debt service (approximately $625,000 annually) and elimination of the sewer fund which runs an annual deficit of about $3 million should allow the city an opportunity to hold the line on property taxes, increase our work force, reduce our debt service and improve our infrastructure.

It's time to move on. Selling an asset is not what anyone in business wants to do. It wouldn't be my first choice but right now it's our only choice. Let's take this lemon and turn it into lemonade!

Reginald Spinello

(Ed. note...Mr. Spinello submitted his letter prior to the Dec. 18 special city council meeting.)