To the Editor:

Renee McDermott claims in her previous letter to the editor that the prior Board of Commissioners had a badly flawed water line policy and played politics with the water line extensions.

I am going to give you the truth which is backed up with the facts obtained from the Polk County Government offices and the North Carolina Board of Elections website. You can check these for yourself.

The prior Board of Commissioners was approached by several families that were out of water, low on water or had drilled several wells with no luck. This was during the drought. These families requested extensions of nearby county water lines so they could receive water.

The Board of Commissioners at that time had no water line extension policy and these requests prompted the board to work on a policy. Not wanting to keep these citizens from getting water we, as a board made up of both Republicans and Democrats, decided the following:

Silver Creek extension cost was $28,800 of which the county paid $18,800 and two families paid $5,000 each. That is a 34.72 percent participation share by the citizens. Until Renee made the accusation of them being big Republican donors I had not checked their voter registration. After checking I believe they are registered Unaffiliated (Independent).

Blackwood Road extension cost $23,000 of which the county paid $13,800 and the families paid $9,200. That is a 40 percent participation share by the citizens.

When I left office, our Board of Commissioners had a draft water line policy that we passed on to the current board. The current board made some changes and adopted on June 8, 2009. The current policy requires a 40 percent participation share by the citizens receiving water. Same as what we charged the families on the Blackwood Road extension.

So hopefully the above information will help Renee get her facts straight.

Tom Pack