I watched the Sanitary District Board candidate forum. While informative, I am dismayed by the behavior and false statements made by our mayor and Councilman Tolis at the end of the official question/answer portion.

First, the mayor lied about conditions that the AZ Land Department required for the land to be released to auction. No existing conditions are required by the District prior to the release of the land to auction.

Then, in a typical boorish manner, Tolis refused to accept the response to his question by Chairman Thomson. He incorrectly argued that the Sanitary District in a meeting on April 18 promised to pay for a capacity study. When Tolis said that the minutes reflect his position, he lied as well. In fact, not only do the minutes reflect clearly that the District will not pay for a study that should be the developer’s responsibility, a follow-up May 1 letter from the District to the Town confirms the District’s position.

Further, candidate Tom Reski shared with me that “our FHSD attorney reviewed the Thursday video…and stated the following: ‘I did a little research and did not find anything that obligates the District to pay for a study that benefits State Trust lands.’”

This forum and the ill-advised feasibility study for the lagoon has blown up social media. Following his wrist-slap for a possible ethics violation, Tolis responds by posting public record search results on people who criticize the lagoon project.

If a study is necessary to attract a potential developer, maybe the mayor and Tolis should have instructed the Town Manager to use his discretionary funds for this rather than Art’s pet project – the lagoon.

Clearly the mayor and Tolis are trying to undermine the incumbents in this election in favor of candidates that will ‘do their bidding.’ Don’t let that happen. Vote Reski.