Letter: Until BCWA Management Changes, Nothing Will Change

I cannot understand why Ken Marshall and David Barboza have no anger or outrage at the current situation of mismanagement. Either they are not big enough leaders to admit that they may have "backed the wrong horse" and are going to hold on to their views for the sake of their pride, or something else is going on. They obviously do not have the best interest of the rate payers and their constituents at heart and I am sure they will pay for this in the next election.

I was pleased to see so much agreement that it is time to come into the 21st century and that maybe whatever plans we had in 1993 may no longer be applicable now. A veering away, of sorts, from "but we always did it this way". Many alternative sources of water were discussed including purchasing water, if needed, from Pawtucket.

Tony Tiexiera was an active contributor. He had his facts together, he was prepared, and he asked the tough questions. He called for the elimination of Executive Director Pasquale Delise.

Mary Parella stated that "it's 20 years later and the job is still not done".

Juan Mariscal stated that the value of PUC oversight is that it is open and transparent. It is true representation of the public and ratepayers and would focus on efficiency first. He referenced violations in the printed water study notice that is mailed to ratepayers and noted that the violations were because the BCWA "did not know what to do or how to do it".

Pete Hewitt commented that the Executive Director should have been there and that it is very telling that he wasn't. I also find it absolutely incredible that the Executive Director chose not to appear at all three of these meetings..... talk about arrogance!

Joe DeMelo was passionate and to the point! It starts at the top and Delise must go. He made reference to the fact that Mr. Jannito stated that it would probably be impossible to get 7 votes to unseat him.... and THAT is the key issue! If the directors can't do it.... we need new directors.

We need to remember that Joe Rego stated in February or March that if the report was not good he would resign.  Well????

Gary Morse spoke on the flaws in the Pension portion of the report, along with other items such as B&E using a flawed Rate Study, misleading compensation comparisons, and limited thinking in their PUC recommendation. He asked about the feasability of the Rehoboth project when the contract for the Anawam water is a year-to-year contract. Mr. Janitto replied that they didn't even need a contract; the water was free-flowing over the dam. My question, is it free-flowing over the dam in the summer when water supplies are low, or is it controlled at that point (which is probably when we would need it)?

Jeff Black, a CPA,  offered a list of inadequacies that needed to be looked at and asked the Town Council if they would read them if he provided them.  The response was unenthusiastic, to say the least.

Halsey Herreshoff commented several times that more than enough time had elapsed for the upgrade of the plant to be completed and demanded answers.

John Jannito said that they were "trying to work on the problems".

And of course, we had the usual opposite views as to where the funding for the remaining BCWA projects will be coming from. I think we all agree that before any projects are worked on from here on in the ratepayers have a right to know where the funding is coming from. To date we receive answers like "Hopefully, the state".

It was brought up by several speakers, including town council members, that Mr. Delise may be a brilliant engineer, but he is NOT a good manager and change is needed.

I went to the "new and improved" site this morning and clicked on "contact us"... no email. I called and spoke with Sharon and asked if they were planning to have an email contact for ratepayers. She put me on hold and checked, and came back and said "No, there will be no email." This is hard to believe and it seems as though email should be established at least for communications between directors and town council members, even if it is not put on their site with a link. This is the 21st century! Snail mail no longer "cuts it" for important, timely communications!

Many of us feel that the report, while it did highlight expensive contractual issues with the union, ignored other issues of importance and appeared to be slanting the blame towards the Union. The workers are not the problem. The problem is management!  Management negotiates the contracts.  Management creates the work schedules, including overtime. Poor management is the answer to the issues facing the BCWA and until the management is changed.... nothing else will change.

Marina Peterson

Bristol, RI