Don't Drink the Water II

Will health officials finally end the incompetence and corruption in the Pompano public works department?

A A A Comments By Bob Norman Thursday, Jun 19 2003

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Weber has denied he falsified the report, but there is no question he broke reporting rules to the health department when he filled in his dubious numbers on Hoffman's test sheet. Weber didn't indicate in his filings to regulators that he had found the results. Instead, he attributed them to Hoffman.

Former superintendent Scully says he believes that Weber's results were a fabrication, since chlorine levels remained low for ten days after Hoffman's findings. More damning is the fact that Weber ordered flushing of the area the day after he supposedly found the high-chlorine results, indicating that he knew there was still a problem.

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Weber's test results, simply put, make no sense. They did serve a purpose, though, in that they effectively hid the problem from the health department. If Hoffman and Fox wouldn't have complained, nobody except city officials would have ever known about the problem.

"If we find that we were given false information, it can turn into something that we could send to the State Attorney's Office," Rosen says. "We could cite them. Or nothing could happen if we find they did things within bounds. We have to find out the information first."

Prosecutors should be involved right now -- falsifying records regarding public health issues is a felony in Florida. And the investigation should delve into Weber's records dating back at least five years and include the testimony of Barrett, Gjesdahl, and Quarto.

It may be a good sign that Rosen is investigating the matter rather than Mueller, who initially failed to find and fix the problems in Pompano and refused to investigate Hoffman's complaint because he felt the employee was a "sour grape." I asked Mueller last week if he thought Weber had falsified the report. He said he doesn't believe so.

Mueller's defiance of common sense is mind-boggling, but I don't believe he's either naive or stupid. I think he's just a tired bureaucrat more concerned about not making waves with cities he polices than about public health.

And that is a very dangerous thing.

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