I understand that it is often in the interest and greater good of our communities to institute regulations and processes to insure quality of life and services for our community; however, when government makes such requirements and regulations, government then becomes responsible to insure that those processes are reasonable, efficient, and sufficiently flexible. The current situation at the Environmental Department creates a "bottlenecks" at the desk of a sole reviewer (although I understand there is a single trainee in the works). This bottleneck means that all projects that require review for LP septic systems are put on hold until a single state employee has the opportunity to review and report on each submission. This means that many projects can set idle for weeks or months and thus cause great economic harm to local businesses not to mention great harm and stress on local families struggling to provide housing while a project continues to be delayed. At present the office responsible for these reviews has no accountability to a deadline and it is often the case that the expected dates for review completion are moved back repeatedly causing great hardships on families and businesses, not to mention the price paid by the county, its officials, and staff when the public becomes frustrated with a process that is completely open-ended and without apparent oversight or required deadlines. It is understood that the volume of submissions can be irregular and result in workloads that are simply overwhelming for any staff to adequately handle. This type of situation is not unique to the Environmental Department and in fact is faced daily by those in the Building Inspection Office. The Inspection office however has managed this problem very effectively and has provided a "stop-gap" measure that properly considers and balances the need for regulations against the hardship and needs of our communityâ

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