That the Auburn Water District Board of Trustees (AWD-BOT) decided recently to hire a public relations team to handle the public outcry regarding the Lake Auburn Watershed is laughable, but understandable given the direction they appear to be headed in.

Lately, it seems as though the control of every board of governance in the city of Auburn is headed away from the people and into the hands of those few who are destined to have it their way whether the people like it or not.

Matthew Leonard, one of the two people hired to handle the board’s public relations issue (Sun Journal, June 11, “As Lake Auburn petition effort continues, the Auburn Water District hires public relations team“) and to update the Water District’s website and social media pages, helped craft the message on the site encouraging people to “pause to understand the facts.”

Well, here are some facts.

A quick look at the Auburn Access Zoning Viewer reveals the ownership of the land within the Lake Auburn Watershed. Daniel Bilodeau owns 16.22 acres along West Auburn Road, all of it in the watershed; Bilodeau sits on the AWD BOT. Across the road sits 32.12 acres owned by Eric Gould and approximately half of his land on the road is in the Lake Auburn Watershed; Gould sits on the AWD-BOT. Finally, we have Councilor Stephen Milks, the hand-picked mouthpiece of Mayor Jason Levesque, serving as the mayor’s representative and president of the AWD-BOT.

Does anyone think that board is capable of making an unbiased decision concerning the Lake Auburn Watershed?

Does anyone see an issue here? You decide.

Roland Rancourt Jr., Auburn

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