Mayor unfair to compost firm

I believe it is time for all the politicians in Snohomish County, and for that matter Washington state to again get back to the jobs they were elected to do. You are elected to make sure the police, fire, and infrastructure are working and maintained. You are there to keep all of us safe and secure.

Some however do things for their own personal, or their perceived political gain. The case in point is the huge mess created by Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring and his personal works against a business he decided to damage. The problems surrounding Cedar Grove composting and Marysville had nothing to do the man-made stink created by Mr. Nehring, and his cronies. It had everything to do with Mr. Nehring being a power-hungry politician, and thinking that he could attempt to bury this local employer for his own political gain.

I only took an interest in this issue because I commute through the I-5 corridor from Seattle to Arlington consistently. I have experienced the odors; they are not only from composting, they were either sewer at times, or bark/sawdust composting. During the summer the bark/sawdust facilities are the biggest contributors’ sewer odors from Everett’s and Marysville’s “cesspools,” occur year-round.

There is no excuse for Mr. Nehring to have taken this approach, and the sad ending I see are the taxpayers of Marysville paying for his personal mistake, just like Snohomish County taxpayers have to for Mr Reardon’s. The taxpayers again pay the price, due to no fault of their own.

It is time for all politicians to get back to basics, to be stewards of our municipalities, and to look for common-sense approaches to fix the needs of our communities. You are there to make sure our roads are passable, that we are safe in our neighborhoods, that the power, water and sewer systems work. You cannot fix all problems, and many people may be in need, but they live their lives in the fashion they do because they like it that way.

Robert D Pierce

Arlington