Warren Town Council Takes Strong Stance on BCWA

Thoughts on the Warren Town Council meeting Tuesday night ...

Walter Edge from B&E Consulting reported to the board that the BCWA board members have to be changed starting at the top. He said, "if you send the same people back and nothing change s... something is wrong!" He commented that, in general, he felt BCWA employees never give a thought to ratepayers. He gave an example of collecting water samples at overtime rates (cost of $30,000 per year.)  When he approached BCWA about doing things differently, they replied that they had no idea it was costing so much! If they don't know, who does?

He also stated that BCWA ratepayers are, in fact, paying for two total systems, the pipeline and the Warren treatment plant. It might be a good idea to close the plant for a designated period of time as future plans are worked out.

He stated that in 45 years of doing audits he has NEVER seen a contract as lucrative as the BCWA union contract! Never! This is a contract that was negotiated by the directors "to save money on a lawyer."

It is my understanding that Chairman John Janitto had the idea to negotiate the contract themselves and appointed John Veader and Bill Gosselin to perform this task. They negotiated with a union lawyer and saved the ratepayers approximately $6,000 to $8,000. The immediate result of the first year of the contract was an increase in $80,000 in expenses, moving to $100,000 the next year, etc.

When the vote was taken on whether to approve the contract, Barrington director Allan Klepper was out of the country, and Bristol director Ian Morrison had been ill so he abstained. The vote was six for the contract, one against. John Saviano was the dissenting vote.

Mr. Edge also said the BCWA medical plan is comparable to something from 20 years ago! BCWA even pays the TDI for employees, which may or may not even be legal. Councilwoman Cathie Tattrie raised a point on this that she was quite sure employees had to make that contribution themselves. BCWA was "not sure of legality" of it.

First and foremost on his "to-do" list was to get new software for tracking rate blocks and ratepayers. Currently there is no way to run a report on which ratepayers are on which rate. Chairman Janitto stated that every year it is on their list of things to acquire, and every year they decide not to purchase it to "save the ratepayers money." The cost is estimated to be about $50,000. Over $30,000 was spent to collect water samples alone! Throw in another $20,000 or so from the savings for overtime pay for cleaning the office ... and PRESTO! You have enough to purchase the software.

All but one member of the Warren Town Council stated that the executive director needs to be replaced, and the three directors from Warren were told that they need to look at that.

A six-part motion was made and carried that, among other things, called for the BCWA to present a detailed plan including cost and where the payment is coming from BEFORE they take any action on any projects. The directors were also asked to bring back a discussion about the job performance of Executive Director Pasquale Delise.

It was generally agreed by all that there is very little trust between the community and the BCWA.

The next meeting is in Bristol on July 20th.  Let's see what Bristol will do!