At the Town Hall meeting in August, several questions were asked of Chairman Marty Ingram.  Here's a brief recap:

What is the cost for each house?
No firm answer was given to this very important question.  My view is that unless the shareholders get an answer well in advance of any vote, the proposition will not be approved.
What is the time frame for completion?

Again this is a question waiting an answer. The possible time is three years from the time we get permission from the City.

Will the project be funded as a capital item under our current by-laws?
If this is the case, each shareholder would pay based upon the number of shares owned. In other words, bigger houses pay more than small houses.

How would any vote be taken?
If the project is more than one million dollars, our by-laws require a mail-in vote so that all shareholders have the opportunity to vote. 

Chairman Ingram suggested changing our by-laws for a one-time vote, just for the sewer project.  The change would mean that the sewer costs would be on a per-site basis.  He asked for a show of hands, and this idea seemed to be split half-and-half. 

Another suggestion for raising the money to pay for sewers is to sell off plots of land for new houses.  One suggestion made is to sell plots along the oceanfront in the Breezy Point section of the Cooperative.   Again, the shareholders present split half-and-half when asked to weigh in. I suspect those who oppose this idea are those whose view of the ocean would be impacted.

There was a discussion of maintenance of the system once it was installed.  At present there is no way to estimate the difference in maintenance between a gravity system or the proposed Airvac system.  Either system would require more maintenance by our field department and possibly increased training of the maintenance people.  This is another open cost estimate item.

Airvac Track Record
I went on-line to Airvac.com.  I was interested in learning where there are other Airvac systems in operation, how long they had been operating, and how extensive they are.  When there is another town hall meting I hope that Airvac makes another presentation and fills us in on these questions.  My brief visit to their website suggests that they do not have a system as large as our community operating at present.

I suggest that before we make any agreements with Airvac, or any other supplier,  we do a field inspection of one of their systems currently operating.  I think a bus trip for the committee, and as many interested shareholders as we can recruit, would be a worthwhile investment.

We could take cameras, iPods, etc., to record our trip and then share the information with the rest of the shareholders at a town hall meeting. I know we think ourselves as a unique community - and we may well be - but before we get too hung up on how different we are, I think we need to do our homework and see how other systems handle their waste problems.
I would welcome comments from shareholders - either those who attended the town hall or those who wish they had.