Blog: 'Anything delayed will be further delayed'

Few would disagree with Lincoln’s words, who’ve waited anxiously for something to happen in their lives-like an overdue delivery of a product they’d ordered-only to find them delayed for the longest time.

And that’s often the case when it comes to the prolonged delays in reaching decisions at all levels of government, who drag their feet so long that they’ve been tattered and torn.

That’s ever so true here in Carroll, where the BOC has put off making decisions for so long on such immensely important issues as the adoption of a master plan, and in deciding whether or not to honor the partnership agreement (eight pages long) signed in 2009 with Frederick County, calling for the construction of an incinerator for the disposal of solid waste, that would produce electricity.

As regards the pending master plan, the likelihood of the BOC and the Planning Commission (PC) resolving their differences in the foreseeable future on what the final product should be like, is as uncertain as a new kitten, whose not quite sure of itself, in a house where they don’t care much about kittens.

For since the time, that the BOC rejected the Master Plan document on January 11, 2011, approved by the PC on October 19, 2010, the only progress-if you can call it that-is the PC having painstakingly gone over it line by line (over 20 or more sessions), making mostly editorial rather than substantive changes.

Few, if any of which would meet the set of goals provided by the BOC in turning thumbs down on the initial version.

So, the only way I can see for that logjam to be broken up-short of the BOC taking it upon themselves to rewrite it to their satisfaction-is for the state to intervene, who must approve it.

But therein lies the rub, for it would not approve a master plan submitted by the BOC that took the PC out of the loop, by not reflecting its concurrence.

Turning to the incinerator question, that’s been on hold for so long it’s a wonder Frederick’s BOC haven’t told their counterparts in Carroll to get lost, what with its president, Blaine R. Young, requesting an answer as to whether Carroll was in or out  of the partnership as far back as April, 2011.

Granted, it’s understandable that our BOC is faced with choosing between “a rock and hard place” about it, mainly due to its members having campaigned against the project because of its costs-$500 to $600 million, with Carroll on the hook for 40 percent of the final cost, of $200 to $240 million. And that ain’t chump change!

And if it were to pull out, it’d be obligated to find another partner to fill the void or be responsible (the taxpayers, that is) for the $3 million that the contractor has put in to the design and permitting stage.

As it now stands, the BOC is awaiting the recommendations from the Solid Waste Study group it created many moons ago, before finally “getting off the dime” and deciding to go or no-go with the project.

Wonder why I can’t help but think, that the leaves will have changed color and dropped from the branches, or not even until the first snowflakes have fallen, it’ll be made.

Quote of the week: “Even if you’re on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.”  Will Rogers