BY NINA MCCOY
I would like to address the county about a very important and tough subject, but first I feel a need to express my deep appreciation for the people who worked so hard for the past few weeks (and months) to make our community shine.
The recent Christmas celebrations in Warfield and Inez have shown what a huge heart our county really has. A nighttime drive through the countryside is proof of how proud our people are of their homes and their neighborhoods. The toy-drives and angel trees show how much we care about one another. I am always amazed at what people can do when they work together.
As we move into the harsh winter that follows our celebrations let us continue to work together to address one of the most important and difficult issues that plagues our community and holds us back from being the thriving area that we could be – our public water system.
Martin County Concerned Citizens was formed in 2017 to address the fact that the people of this county were not being heard. As the third PSC investigation into the water system began Mary Cromer from Appalachian Citizens Law Center (ACLC) stepped up to help us be heard by our state regulatory agencies. ACLC is a group of lawyers out of Whitesburg, Kentucky that raise money from funders to offer free legal guidance to communities like ours who feel disenfranchised from the system.
She helped us organize meetings throughout the county to allow the citizens to explain their experiences and frustrations, up to and including the most recent rate increase hearings. Several of us have gone to Frankfort to represent these concerns and to get help from our state officials and to monitor the work on our newest projects.
About a year ago we added Madison Mooney as a community organizer. She also works with a new University of Kentucky study designed to help citizens, local leaders and engineers improve water quality in both Letcher and Martin counties. If you would like to participate in this as a citizen scientist, please let Madison or myself know.
Recently some have questioned if the Concerned Citizens have “flipped.” I am writing to assure all of you that the core group is still working hard to make sure the system gets the needed attention and that the funding we have is spent to our advantage. And we welcome all members and want to hear what is happening throughout the county.
I was appointed to the water board in April and the officers of Concerned Citizens hold regular meetings with Alliance corporate officials in order to represent the community.
The one thing Concerned Citizens has worked for throughout this whole struggle has been to keep local control over the water system. The district was forced to hire an outside company to manage the system, but the water board members represent the ratepayers and the citizens of the whole county in a way that a corporate takeover would not allow.
The people of this county have shown what they can do at Christmas when they work together for the good of all. Let’s keep that Christmas spirit in all our endeavors as a community, as a county, and as the “concerned citizens” that we all are.
(Nina McCoy lives in Inez. She is the chairperson of Martin County Concerned Citizens and was recently appointed to the county water and sanitation boards.)