Obsessive Compression

Middleboro's Town Charter charges the Board of Selectmen with the responsibility to act as Water Commissioners. Their failure to act to increase water rates, when Marsha Brunelle was chairman caused real estate tax bills to be sent out late.

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A Water Rate Hearing was held to increase rates and restored solvency to the Enterprise Account.

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The supporting documentation was presented during the pubic hearing, from Selectman Patrick Rogers' lap top. When I requested a copy of that documentation from the Selectmen's Secretary, I was informed that no records existed within Town Hall. When I requested the information from Patrick Rogers twice, I was finally told that he had not retained the information.

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So, water rate payers are paying increased fees and no one felt the need to respect the Public Records and Archive statutes enough to preserve information? Baffling! When issues of Transparency are raised repeatedly, this is why.

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Because the Board seems frozen in inaction and merely continues to add to the long list of items never addressed, I had suggested that a sub-committee of sorts be appointed by the BOS to act as Water Commissioners, maybe meeting quarterly to review rates, fees, ongoing projects and plan for the future.

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That suggestion was met with the predictable knee-jerk response by the illustrious Town Fathers.

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During a subsequent conversation with Selectman Patrick Rogers, he indicated that he had participated in a committee that studied aspects of combining the Water and Sewer Departments, traveled to other municipalities to evaluate their solutions.

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It was determined by that committee that the most effective solution was combining Water, Sewer and DPW.

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The Chairman of the committee was Tom White, from whom I requested a copy of the report. Never received.

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There is no indication that information or meeting minutes were ever received by the Town Clerk.

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Although this is Mushroom Farming in its purest form, it ignores that a member of the Board of Selectman is obsessed with Compression.

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That Selectman, always after the fact and oblivious to reality, waited until hiring a Fire Chief was imminent before campaigning for a Public Safety Director.

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Now that both the DPW Superintendent and the Water Superintendent have announced their retirement intentions, it might seem a good time to consider Mr. Spataro's Compression Theory. Or will Mr. Spataro wait until replacements are about to be hired before raising the issue?

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Let's not forget that Mr. Spataro, in questioning the DPW Superintendent's comment about road salt tripling in price, asked the cost. When the cost was quoted, Mr. Spataro then asked if the cost was for a pound.

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This is not the way other Towns operate.

Water, water, everywhere .....

The Town Charter charges the Middleboro BOS as WATER COMMISSIONERS.
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For a variety of reasons, the Middleboro Selectmen never seem to pay much attention to water and ignore it until a crisis is created like the one that prevented the tax rate from being set until water rates were increased.

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Last year, the former Town Manager, Jack Healey told the Selectmen that fees had not been increased in almost 20 years and reminded them that rates needed to be addressed.

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Instead of addressing the matter, the Middleboro Selectmen ignored it.

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Because the Water Department is an ENTERPRISE ACCOUNT, it must be self-supporting.

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Last week, Selectman Wayne Perkins spoke on Selectman Adam Bond's radio program and said all the politically correct and predictable things one might expect regarding the importance of water as a resource and of course, the Lakeville IMA (Inter municipal Agreement).

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Last year, I raised the issue on numerous occasions about the need to begin a public dialogue to address separating the water and sewer departments from the Board of Selectmen. Clearly, the Board lacks the time or inclination to pay adequate attention to the need and the ratepayers deserve better.

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My suggestion precipitated the immediate knee-jerk reaction from the usual whining negative crowd that insists that management by crisis has worked fine in the past and will continue to do so.

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In 2006, a town committee reviewed the method other municipalities employed with their water and sewer departments. Selectman Patrick Rogers served on the committee and indicated that other municipalities found it most effective to combine water, sewer and DPW.

Tom White served as Chairman of that committee and indicated that the report should be available prior to the end of 2007. A public records request has been submitted for that report, but I am not optimistic. Perhaps this serves as an example of why committees don't always work.

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There are future issues that require planning and consideration that are conveniently ignored at cost to ratepayers, particularly FEES. That the former Town Manager indicated FEES had not been increased in almost 20 years would seem important enough for the BOS to heed. Selectman Patrick Rogers has raised the issue repeatedly of WATER DEVELOPMENT FEES for new customers, like a buy-in fee.

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In order to better serve the region, it is likely that a regional water authority will come into being that to include at least Carver and Lakeville. As such, it would seem of greater future importance to ratepayers to ensure a separation.

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Emergency water service was extended by the Middleboro Board of Selectmen to a new residential customer in Carver last year that should have received Town Meeting approval according to the Carver IMA. Town Meeting voters were never asked to approve the new service. It would seem to be another issue that bears monitoring by a separate governing body.

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Ratepayers can submit a petition to the Board of Selectmen requesting a warrant article to be added to the Town Meeting Warrant with the signatures of 10 registered voters. Is it time to get involved?

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Since a permanent change would include a Charter change, my initial suggestion was to consider an 'advisory committee' of perhaps 3 members appointed by the Board of Selectmen. That 'advisory committee' would seem to function well meeting no more than monthly. Is that a sensible approach for ratepayers?