The Sanders County Sewer District at Paradise will continue, even though the group has halted any progress of the community sewer project and has lost its second largest grant.

Janie McFadgen, the board president, said it was disappointing that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant of $1,437,881 was gone, but she said the board will be looking at replacing the money with other grants when they resume work on the project. The board received notice in a letter on July 5 that the state was pulling its money. This leaves the board with a balance of just over $1.9 million.

Paradise resident Kathy Gorham attended last week’s monthly meeting and wanted to know why the project failed. She also asked for the board’s mission statement, something she had asked for previously and was told to go to the board’s website. She did not locate it on the website and when she brought it up again at last Thursday’s meeting she was told that the board didn’t need one.

“Every time I’d ask a question I’d get a sarcastic answer, like it was a pain that I was asking questions. I thought that’s why the public was there,” said Gorham, whose family has lived in Paradise since 1908. Gorham favored the community sewer system and doesn’t know why it didn’t get done. She said the board constantly blamed Bridger Bischoff and his insistence of getting EDU hookups in the negotiations, but she feels it was a personal grudge by board member Terry Caldwell toward Bischoff, especially after the county offered to pay for the project and eliminate the loan that most residents were against. 

Gorham was disappointed that the system didn’t go through and believes the majority of the residents are for the system. She wondered why most of the board was made up of people who didn’t even want the system. “I don’t think they did all they could to facilitate it and I don’t think the board wanted it. I think they failed on purpose. And I feel like we were all being snowed,” added Gorham. McFadgen, however, said Bischoff would not negotiate without getting the EDUs. She also said there’s nothing they can do now because the high water levels have passed and water level testing needed to be done prior to a land purchase. She also said there was no appraisal done on the Bischoff property, which also had to be done before a buy/sell agreement. 

Only 10 community members attended the meeting, which lasted nearly one and a half hours and was held at the United Methodist Church clubhouse. McFadgen said Cody Lampman is once again on the board. Lampman had been appointed to the board in April to fill an interim spot left open after Janice Barber was removed from the board. Though Lampman was officially sworn in, he was not present at Thursday’s meeting. He was the only applicant for the position. “He did great before and I think he’ll do a good job,” said McFadgen. 

McFadgen said there is still work for the board, even if they are no longer actively pursuing the project. She noted that the board still needs to pay a $1,901 election bill and repay the Paradise water board, which is somewhere around $50,000. She said they will look for additional funding, another piece of property for the drain field, a new grant writer, and another engineering firm to replace Great West Engineering of Helena. They plan to meet again in August.