Key West The Newspaper

Dear Editor:

The spin artists at FKAA have convinced some of the public media that because the lawsuit was settled over unresponsive and apparently falsified data provided in answer to public records requests, that “there’s nothing to see here, folks.” That is not the case. There is plenty to see and plenty to be concerned about. The suit was not settled because everything was okay. It settled because a lawyer became ill and the data requested (but never delivered) would have arrived too late for the shallow well case.

I reviewed the same data that the former FBI agent reviewed – what FKAA provided back in June 2014 and after. There was interference and apparent monkey-business. Rather than providing the water consumption records for 2011-2013 for the Cudjoe Regional service area, FKAA provided a report in scanned PDF format. That was annoying in that the numbers had to be tediously transferred one at a time into a spreadsheet for analysis. It was immediately obvious that the report had not been generated directly from the billing database- unless the billing database was severely corrupt. That should be a really big concern, right? One indicator of bad information was that some consumptions were to the gallon, but consumptions are billed and stored as even hundreds.

The US Census reports a seasonal vacancy rate on Cudjoe of nearly half. Locals see that variation in population on the highway. FKAA’s Annual Financial Reports show the variation. The data provided during design to Brown & Caldwell for 2003-2007 shows the variation. But the seasonal variation in water use was noticeably absent on the Public Record data reports.

When I made a quick graph of the water consumption, it showed that the treatment plant was about a third of what it should be. One anti-shallow well group gave the graph to FKAA and asked if there was a mistake. Naturally, FKAA said yes and produced a “corrected” report in PDF- well, actually multiple “corrected reports”! When asked why the original was incorrect, a ridiculous explanation was given that accidentally included the draft version of a letter from the database operator that included the sentence “The 8-6-14 data results were reviewed by (who do you want put here?)”.

Another PRR requested meter readings for the transmission main tap meters that supply each island. The water through the taps should correlate with consumed water, but there was no correlation at all. Sometimes FKAA sold more water than was available, sometimes they sold half.

The bottom line is that FKAA once again violated laws by never providing what was requested and substituting bogus reports. What are they hiding, and why? All data that was provided showed evidence of tampering and database corruption. Even with attempts to obfuscate, data showed water consumption higher than the collection system or treatment plant were designed to accommodate. What happens with excess sewage that can’t get to the plant?

Deceit permeates FKAA. Why? Who benefits? Why is there no criminal investigation?

John Prosser,

Big Pine

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NOTE from the Editor:

Below, once again, is the independent analysis, by former FBI agent Jon Lipsky, of records provided by FKAA in response to a public records request.