WEST MILFORD Two time presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson Jr. once said, “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” Diane Paretti has to believe in Stevenson’s definition of a free society. Paretti is the executive director of West Milford’s Municipal Utilities Authority and has been since 1987. Council members, environmentalists and anti-development activists use her and the utilities authority for verbal target practice whenever issues of new housing developments or the quality of water outflow from one or more of the utilities plants arise. The utilities authority provides water and sewer service to approximately 1700 homes and businesses in the town. Paretti will meet with the town council next Wednesday. She wants them to endorse and send a letter to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requesting the state department drop its insistence that the utilities authority draw up a wastewater management plan. Paretti believes the environmental department is acting unfairly. “Due to the 2005 Highlands Act, the Highlands Council will preempt any plan that we come up with,” said Paretti. “West Milford is fully within the preservation area. Towns that have planning areas are allowed to wait until the master plan comes out. Where does that make any sense?” Paretti claims the current standoff between the state and the utilities authority is causing delays in proposed projects. Specifically, a bowling alley. “The DEP have taken the position that they will not look at any site specific plans until we have an adopted waste water management plan. The one that came up which was a catalyst to this letter [to the council] is the bowling alley application.” Paretti said the utilities authority have no interest in whether the bowling alley receives planning permission or not, but rather the principle at stake. “I don’t know if the council wants this bowling alley or doesn’t want it,” said Paretti. “All we did was ask the council to also write to the DEP asking them to allow us to wait until after the Highlands Master Plan is public and adopted, to address the waste water management plan.” The letter will not be the only item up for discussion, however. Among the most contentious claims against the authority is that it supports high density housing developers. The most persistent critics have been Council Members Bob Nolan and James Warden. Warden has expressed concern in the past that the utilities authority has, through its relationship with developers, worked against the interests of the township. All council members have declared strong opposition to new development in town and the effect any new housing will have on the town’s underground water supply. Trammel Crow Residential has a plan to build 100 townhouses, a project known as Valley Ridge. There was much consternation over an agreement between the municipal utilities authority and the developer to build a sewer line, known as a lift station, to accommodate the new housing. “That particular project has been around for 20 years,” said Paretti. “The well from Valley Ridge was approved years ago and in our permit. They had to re-test it but the original well has been in for years. They [Valley Ridge] have an adequate water supply and we don’t have any objection to the infrastructure there.” By working with the developer, Paretti claims, they will eliminate the possibility that the property owners build their own small sewer plant which would not be cost effective or in the best interest of the town. As for the “poop tube” as the sewer connection for Valley Ridge has been derided, Paretti said, “Lift stations are not unusual in West Milford. We have two in Highview, we have one in Olde Milford and we have one in Crescent Park.” Paretti also denies acting favorably to the developer at Valley Ridge. Paretti said, “In that regard it’s not that we are going out of our way to help this developer, it’s an MUA decision. We do not want another small sewer plant.” Paretti had some unfavorable words for anyone who takes a broad anti-development stance with regard to Valley Ridge, including those on the township council. “How do you take that position when you don’t have the legal right? The Planning Board denied it based on public pressure and immediately had it overturned at court. If someone has the right to build, what are you going to do? “A project like Valley Ridge will use about 20,000 gallons of water a day. If we don’t have 20,000 gallons per day the state is preserving the wrong neighborhood. You can’t have it both ways, you can’t say we have to save our water supply and we don’t have any water.” There have been suggestions that the utilities authority is eager for new customers and would benefit from an increase is users. Paretti denied this, “Quite frankly it’s not a major issue one way or another. To try to stop someone who has a right to build is legally and morally wrong if you don’t have good cause.” Drawing aim at those who might use the utilities authority to further political campaigns Paretti said, ““Hopefully, they [politicians] believe what they are saying. More often than not it’s for votes. We’re not running for public office; we’re trying to run a business and make sure that the infrastructure is suitable and that nobody gets hurt on this, not the buyers, not the MUA customers or anybody else.” At the forthcoming meeting, despite the clear differences that appear to exist, Paretti is optimistic. “Hopefully this meeting will go well,” said Paretti, “All we can do is explain to them, what happens from that point on is up to them.” Council President Joseph Smolinski is looking for a positive outcome. “I see it that there is a wall between us [the council] and the MUA. That wall has to be broken through by a dialogue. My goal is to conquer that wall ... I do not believe they have ill intentions or that they wish to work against the council ... I hope the meeting does not develop into a political soapbox. I’m concerned that with the council election season already started that this may become an election issue. You have to have a dialogue. After that all factors can be considered.” Council member Dr. Sal Schimmenti. Schimmenti was a board member on the utilities authority for a 12-month period in 2006 and defends those who represent the authority now. “Why are the MUA being picked on for doing their job? I don’t see the purpose ... These are good citizens trying to do something. We’d like to work together. I just don’t understand it.” Neither Warden nor Nolan returned calls for comment before going to press. The get-together will take place at the town hall on Wednesday June 6, starting at 7:30 p.m.