There was no shortage of questions, concerns and opposition expressed during last week’s Oxford Village Council meeting as officials discussed the possibility of adopting a resolution supporting the development of an ordinance and process for selling bulk municipal water to outside parties for everything from bottling to filling swimming pools.

“I wouldn’t be so eager to try to sell this water off,” said village resident Lou Sera, who views it as achieving “a short-term gain” that could lead to “a long-term problem.”

“I just think it’s a foolish idea and I don’t think we should go down that road,” he noted. “We’re already selling water . . . Our water is sold to this community and let’s just focus on this community before we start looking (outward).”

Village resident Gary Ledger wants to know if there’s adequate groundwater to sell and “still have enough” for future generations. He’s concerned about his children, their children “and so on, down the line.”

“I’m 74 years old. It’s not really going to impact me (for) that long,” he said.

Ledger is also worried about how selling water could potentially affect local lake levels. “Are they going to go down? I hope you’re taking this into account and really, really checking this out,” he said.

Ultimately, council voted 3-2 to set the proposed resolution aside until the 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 8 meeting.

“I think in one month we can get information from our resources, (the township’s) resources, and present you with some answers to make a proper decision,” said Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth, who serves on a committee formed in August 2016 to explore the potential of selling bulk water.

It’s one of three committees that council tasked with finding new revenue streams to shore up the municipality’s water fund and stave off having to increase rates.

The last time the village raised rates was October 2014.

Village attorney Bob Davis made it clear if council ultimately approves the proposed resolution, the bulk water sales issue is not a done deal.

“This resolution does not mean that we are going to sell bulk water, that we have made a decision to sell bulk water or that we are going to pursue . . . selling bulk water,” he explained.

The proposed resolution states council “supports the development and implementation of a bulk water sale process and requests that the village attorney prepare, for village council review and potential action, documents and potential ordinances necessary to effectuate an acceptable and well-supported bulk water sale program.”

“This is simply a resolution that says gather up the info because we’re kind of interested in pursuing this,” Davis said. “This resolution does not commit us to an ordinance change or to anything else.”

Prior to council setting the proposed resolution aside, there was some vigorous debate among officials.

Councilman Erik Dolan expressed strong opposition to selling bulk water.

“I am not in favor of this,” he said. “I will not support it, even at the resolution stage.”

Dolan explained he has “some pretty significant concerns about even starting down this road.”

For one thing, he was critical of the lack of information that’s been provided to council.

“Now, there might be scientific data that suggests we have an infinite amount of water, but I would question the wisdom of . . . taking that at face value,” he said. “At this point, to this date, the only information that I’ve received from the committee . . . is that there is interest from a purchaser.”

According to a written report previously submitted to council by Rose Bejma, chair of the committee, Tim Dabish, president of Intrastate Distributors, Inc, a Detroit-based beverage company that owns and bottles Towne Club brand soda, has expressed interest in potentially purchasing water from the village on a regular basis.

When contacted about this back in May, Dabish told this reporter, via an e-mail, “We have not committed to the water source. The story would be premature.”

Dolan wants to know more than simply who wants to buy village water.

“I’ve been provided with no impact information whatsoever (pertaining) to the environment, to our water table, and that’s somewhat troubling to me,” he said.

Dolan indicated members of the community have reached out to him to express their concerns, so he’s not alone on this.

“While our concerns might seem naive to some, I think they’re worth pursuing,” he said.

Helmuth noted over the years, the village has lost a number of commercial water customers along M-24 as they have switched to the township system. The village is poised to lose Oxford Middle School and Lakeville Elementary School as water customers once the new township water main running along Lakeville Rd. and through school property to the Lake Villa Manufactured Home Community is complete.

“We need to offset (those losses),” she said.

To her, some of the water the village is now considering selling in bulk is “water we were already using” before the municipality lost these customers, so it represents “no additional strain on our wells.”

Helmuth indicated the village has a healthy supply of unused water.

“We have previous reports from when our wells were installed (stating) what their capacity was. We’re not even close to meeting that capacity,” said Helmuth, noting this information is stored in the basement beneath the village office.

Township Supervisor Bill Dunn, who attended the meeting as a village resident, told council, “We have a lot more water than we’ll ever use.”

Dunn referenced a January 2010 report on the township’s water supply. It was written by the Hydrogeologic Services Department of Peerless Midwest, Inc.

The report stated, “The aquifer beneath Oxford is prolific . . . The thickness and lateral expanse of the aquifer system produces a significant groundwater storage capacity . . . the aquifer beneath Oxford contains vast quantities of groundwater.”

Dunn told council and the audience he would be more than happy to provide a copy of this report to anybody who requests one.

That being said, Dunn noted “just because I brought up that information about the aquifer doesn’t mean I’m in favor of selling Oxford water.”

He made it clear he is vehemently opposed to the village using any tax money to examine its water supply so that private parties can potentially benefit from it.

“Please don’t spend our tax dollars to do a study for somebody else,” Dunn said.

“I don’t believe we’ve spent a dime so far,” Helmuth said.

“I’m just saying I don’t want you to,” Dunn replied.

Dolan found it “somewhat troubling” that the bulk water committee has been working for months and “we’re just finding out about it now” that “we have reams of data in the basement.”

“I, personally, did not realize you had any interest in this or I would have gotten it to you whenever you asked for it,” Helmuth retorted.

Dolan explained it was his understanding that a committee’s job is to gather information, formulate a report and inform the main body of its findings.

“That has not happened,” he said. “In my opinion, the committee has failed at this point.”

Councilman Tom Kennis believes village water is a resource that’s been “very, very under-utilized.”

Over the years, the village has invested a lot of money to improve the system and it continues to fund its maintenance, so to Kennis, it’s “definitely worth further research” as to whether selling bulk water is a viable option to help offset the municipality’s costs.

“We’re losing our shorts on our water,” he said.

After listening to everyone, village President Sue Bossardet said, “I kind of agree with all of you.”

“I don’t really have a problem investigating it. I think that’s the only way that you’re going to arrive at a decision,” she said. “But I do agree (with Dunn) that we shouldn’t be spending tax dollars to do it.”

She believes the village office staff needs to be involved in researching this.

This led Dolan to wonder who exactly would be doing this work given the village currently has no clerk and its interim manager works about 20 hours per week.

“I’m not sure that we have the capability to further research it or the expertise,” he said.

Dolan believes the problem with the village water system is, at heart, an “economic issue” that won’t be solved by bulk sales, which he views as merely “a band-aid.”

To him, a better approach would be to investigate whether the village and township water systems can be consolidated,

“without any loss of employment to” either entity, so they can benefit from “economies of scale.”

“We have two bordering communities with essentially competing water systems,” Dolan said.