The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued a gag order to Carver County Commissioner Tom Workman, telling him to cease and desist in commenting on the legality of the septic system at the county-owned Waconia ballroom because he is acting too much like a licensed inspector.

The agency sent a letter of warning to Workman late last week, ironically just days after it ordered the county to get an independent inspection of the septic system in response to Workman's complaints. The agency has told the county it is not convinced that the system complies with state law, and it has ordered the county to complete the re-inspection by Oct. 28 and submit findings to the agency by Nov. 3. The County Board will consider the matter this afternoon.

"Bizarre" is how Workman described the gag order on Monday. "If it wasn't on the surface such a silly, hilarious charge ... I'd consider it a sad, pathetic attempt to intimidate me," he said.

MPCA officials weren't laughing, though.

"He crossed the line," said Gary Eddy, supervisor of the Metro Unit of the MPCA. "He was acting like a licensed inspector, passing judgment on a [septic] system, which only a licensed inspector can do."

The county bought the ballroom, also known as the Waconia Events Center, last year for $2.5 million, and almost immediately Workman questioned whether the septic system was legal because he believes it is closer to the groundwater than the MPCA-mandated 36 inches. Throughout most of this year, Workman has asked his colleagues on the County Board to authorize hiring an independent inspector to examine the system.

The matter took on some urgency when it was discovered that the inspector hired by the seller, who also had installed the system, had erroneously claimed that the pipes in the distribution box were coming out of the side. Workman proved otherwise.

What has the MPCA so upset is that in July, Workman -- in front of TV crews and other news media -- went to the county-owned site and lifted the lid of the septic system's distribution box. By doing so, he was able to show that the inspector was wrong when he told the county that the pipes came out the side, which could have increased the likelihood that the system had the proper clearance above the groundwater table.

"I was tracking a lie," Workman said.

On Monday, Workman said it seems the MPCA wants to punish him for blowing the whistle on the county. The MPCA denied that, saying that Workman should not have gone public with his concerns.

"If he has a concern about the system that's one thing," Eddy said. "But he's making a judgment, like an inspector, based on what he did or what other people are telling him."

In its letter to Workman, the agency also took issue with him because he "generated and/or provided written materials to the MPCA to support [his] earlier statements that the [system] was not in compliance."

"The compliance status of [a system] can only be determined by a person who is certified and licensed ... as an inspector," the letter states.

Workman said he has simply been doing his job as a county commissioner.

He points out that he has never claimed to be an inspector, licensed or otherwise, that he has never been paid for any septic inspection work, and that he has never submitted any official reports on official forms to any government agency regarding the validity of a septic system.

It doesn't matter, Eddy said. "Based on his actions, we're concerned about how he arrived at that conclusion."

Workman questioned whether the MPCA's gag order is even legal, considering that he is an elected official doing due diligence on a controversial piece of county property.

"What they are missing is that I am a duly elected county commissioner from the great County of Carver, who happen to own this thing," Workman said. "I think this is harassing someone who is trying to get to the bottom of this thing."

Heron Marquez Estrada • 612-673-4280