Meeting with Town Engineer and Document Delivery

Representatives of the HBA (Hillsboro Group Advocates) met with the Town's engineering consultant, MR. Douglas Mann on Wednesday, May 14. The Mayor authorized a one hour meeting between our group and Mr. Mann. The purpose of the meeting was to explore if and how we can cooperate in completing the Inspector General (IG) requests he is tasked with writing by the next Commission meeting. We had lots of questions, as did Mr. Mann. Notes of this meeting were taken by the Town Clerk.

Most of the hour was spent in wrestling with issues surrounding the Boca Inlet and Deerfield groins, facts versus opinions and perceptions of permit violations. Mr. Mann said he had not filed an IG request before. At one point he questioned if that was the right step to take, and asked if we had pursued formally any of the errors and violations through the normal channels before addressing the IG, or if the HBA had realized that there could be adverse consequences to filing the IG requests. We had not, partly because we are not a government organization.  Therefore the HBA has neither the resources, nor the staff contacts (which apparently Mr. Mann has), nor the standing as a governmental body to pursue individual staff in these organizations.  Thus we do not have the same access or resources as say our town does, but also because we are not intimate with the process. Very little time was spent on this in our one hour so we asked Mr. Mann in an email subsequently if he could elaborate on these issues, since they could be germane to the filing. We are awaiting his response.

The HBA group met on Friday to review what transpired on Wednesday then decide what could or should be done. It was agreed unanimously that Mr. Mann should receive the current drafts of the IG requests, for both the DEP and Army Corps, as well as a set of questions to explore which could lead to further permitting errors the HBA had. Mr. Mann was also informed that additional information, further potential data on permit violations and a great deal of documentation was available for the asking. We did not want to flood him with  every detail the HBA has in fear of overwhelming him in the short time he has to prepare to respond to the Commission. Last, we offered to work with him in any capacity to help in getting these requests completed and to make them as robust as possible.

The HBA sent the documentation out in an email a little while ago. We are hoping Mr. Mann will ask the HBA to review the filings before it comes up at the next Commission meeting so we can offer advice or analysis. It should be ready for the next Commission meeting in June.

We will continue to inform you of developments as they occur.
Thanks for your continued interest and support for our cause.