Mr. Morse, with all due respect, I ask why it is that you continue to claim that I or others look to "squash" resident concerns? You have again in public with this letter of opinion claim that I am working to "squash" resident and rate payer's concerns. Please answer yes or no for the Public, in public, whether or not you and any other resident have not been allowed the opportunity to voice concerns or express opinions at any and all of our meetings and workshops. Have you or any other been not been allowed to speak or provide documents of evidence? I have respectfully asked you on more than one occasion to provide your legal, financial, and engineering backup data to the Councils for analysis and review and you have since yet to provide it. Our responsibility is to gather and verify facts and make recommendations based on facts. One of our Directors stated clearly last night that the Executive Director review process will be further discussed at today's BCWA meeting. I respectfully ask you again that you please spread factual information to the Public at large and not speculative information.

Gary, While the series of events may not playout in a fashion suitable to all it is still a move forward by the Board. They most certainly needed to hire the CFO first because that position is in fact vacant. The director hasn't left yet! Either way the Board is doing as the Three Councils asked of them. And I have to agree with what Kris said, after a while the continuing rant by the only same individuals tends to lose it's legitimecy. Sometimes less is more. I for one am convinced that the Board has enough on their plate, and they most certainly have been attempting to respond to everyone's needs. Perhaps not in the speed that everyone would like, but still they are working on the concerns. The Holidays are coming and a recess from the already known problems would certainly be a plus rite now. People tend to work better under a little less stress, the continued assualts are begining to be counter productive.

Too many councilors looked the other way for years. This was brought to fruition only because some council members spoke up and were ostracized in the end anyway. Unreal. Politics as usual.

it not only a handful of people

1 - How much of the cost to upgrade the water pipes on Ferry Rd for the RWU water tank did the Water Authority pay for and what was the total cost?

2 - Why did the town or water authority agree to take on a lifetime of maintenance for the RWU water tower when other customers must pay for their own equipment when they have water pressure issues?

There are a lot of Bristol residents with poor water pressure and neither the town nor the water authority steps in for them when their water tanks etc break down and need replacement.

The former BCWA figure head said flatly that the water pressure is not the responsibility of the BCWA which frankly is as ridiculous a statement as I have ever heard. The State Fire Marshals office laughed when I repeated that to them.

Agreeing to maintain one customers private water pressure equipment (purchased by them due to poor water pressure) while telling any other customer they have to pay for their equipment upkeep is certainly preferential and probably illegal.

These are reasonable questions but I do not believe that ratepayers should be paying nearly $400 an hour to get an answer to them.

Maybe one of the councilors or a BCWA employee could step in and tell us free of charge why RWU is treated differently than any other customer.

You seem to have amnesia , Mr. Marshall.

Please take a look at the "evidence” in your own minutes:

Excerpt from February 16, 2011 Bristol Town Council meeting minutes under “old business”:

“Ms. Peterson again informed the Council that all she wants are '“straight answers'. Council Chairman Marshall stated that he is concerned that there are too many people calling and raising red flags indicating problems when no problems exist.”

We are thankful that, in spite of another of Ken "Spanish Inquisition" Marshall’s rebuke, Ms. Peterson continued looking for “straight answers”.

Because the B&E report proved Ms. Peterson right.

And Mr. Marshall wrong.

I'm flabbergasted that the BCWA is now in attack mode in order to deflect any criticism of them.

http://www.bristolri.com/news/2011/nov/09/water-authority-gathering-information-about-reside/

I'll repeat my mantra here: Any business that requires an attorney to answer any and all questions has something to hide.

Mr. Marshall, why is the BCWA and it's lawyer, wasting time and you know eventually money will be involved, on investigating ratepayers who merely brought problems with the authority to light of day.

There is nothing they can do abot commentss being made about government officials, it is my a right we all have, or so I thought we still did. It however appears the BCWA and their lawyer think we do not. It is obvious by their recent actions on blaming the messengers and not looking in the mirror.

I agrre with Jim also that, when you cannot answer simple questions at meetings or request information from the BCWA without having to deal with a lawyer, there is something wrong and it is the appearence of secrecy. This has been proven for over a decade or more now, with tons of examples.

To John, sorry but I disagree, we need no break. The stress has been of the BCWA's own making, and yet they still do not get it. They are the problem, not the citizens!!! The Board to my understand is not the ones doing the actual search for replacements, nor are the interviewing applicants yet. In anycase they should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time like we all have to do.

These are stressfull times for everyone in this Country. That is not an excuse to not be diligent in sticking to te task at hand, ALL of THEM, the filling of these 2 jobs well important are far from the rest of the task, that need to be accomplished. Yet they are wasting resources on investigating people.

Gary, Im not trying to minimize any of what has happened, but I do feel that there is an abundance of stuff out there rite now, and quite frankly I dont expect a lot of things to get accomplished w/the list being so long and the holidays coming up...I keep my expectations small. There are nine people up there, three from each community...they will have to explain themselves if they are unable to rectify the problems. I to dont like that they use Attorneys to answer everything but I think the present enviroment causes that. They are entitled to a little breathing room to catch up. You have to admit they have been bombed with stuff, they only meet a couple of times a month, so with that in mind one has to give people time to recitfiy the problems before them. They dont work fast to begin with. I am not trying to minimize, just afford them the time for some change. I just dont believe the wheels of progress happen as quickly as all would like, and at times the list of problems seems a bit relentless (But valid of course) . The present enviroment would lead one to believe that no matter what response they give, it will be unsuitable. Im looking forward the hire of a new director and then you will start to see things improve. There are plenty of problems out there already. And a new director will most certainly want to rectify them for everyone.

John, there has been an "abundance of stuff out there" for years that the board has not dealt with properly even though they have had that same attorney with them all the way.

They've had years of great "breathing room" with millions of state dollars flowing. And still they neglected so many things.

There's no legitimate excuse for them to be where they are right now & they certainly should not be wasting precious time and other precious resources to attack the East Bay Four and other members of the public who have raised the issues.

There is only one thing that they can give that will be suitable now- they can diligently do their duty.

It's time for a realistic look at what's been going on over there all these years. It's time for the Tri-Town Council to hold the board members responsible for running the place properly.

No more excuses.

Also, John, regardless of the magnitude of the BCWA legal expenses, they continue to have open meetings problems.

For example, Mr. Jannitto's probing letter of October 19, 2011 did not result from any agenda that we can find.

Not to mention that fact that Mr. Jannitto at least twice denied that Mrs. Mack was involved and then he finally admitted that she WAS involved.

Of course, this admission from Mr. Jannitto came after the East Bay Four obtained a copy of Mr. Jannitto's letter and pointed out to the press that Mrs. Mack's work was indicated right on the bottom of the letter. (Her computer file address was there in small print.)

Mr. Jannitto apparently did not notice that until confronted with it by the press so he had to 'fess up. 'Cause that's the kind of guy he is, obviously. That's what the East Bay Four is dealing with - a guy who doesn't tell the truth unless he's caught.

We’re hearing feedback on the BCWA meeting tonight:

The BCWA board did not go into Executive Session after all. So ….uh…no vote to sue the East Bay Four.

A member of the public asked the Board whose idea it was to have Mrs. Mack and Mr. Jannitto write that October 19, 2011 probing letter to various state agencies asking for emails written to and from the East Bay Four.

At first, Mr. Jannitto said that it was the board’s idea.

But Director Joe Demello spoke up and stated that he had not been involved in that decision.

So then Mr. Jannitto was caught. Again. And so Mr. Jannitto had to admit that it was his idea.

He admitted he did it on his own (with Mrs. Mack).

This is very bad.

No board agenda. No board action. No board vote. Mack & Jannitto on their own. Going after the East Bay Four. This is bad.

To John, this is what I mean about the board not working on what they should be or even knowing what the right hand and left hand are doing. If this is true of what happened tonight on this information gathering on citizens who are doing no more than excersizing their right for redress of a government agency, There is a need fo even more replacements with in the management and oversite of this board, not to mention the legal representation who should never have this kind of power over the inner workings of a government agency.

Mr Jannitto is quoted in the East Bay Times article: “We’re doing this on behalf of the ratepayers,” We’re trying to show the public that. ." .“I feel that we’re looking out for the welfare of all the ratepayers, all the people of Bristol County.”

So in the end there was no "we're", and there was no vote.

This conduct by Mack & Jannitto, and improperly abusing their positions to carry out their personal vendetta, cannot be tolerated in the USA.

The manner in which they did this makes one think that maybe it's not isolated behavior on their parts.

It's time for Mack & Jannitto to go.

The Tri-Town Council needs to intervene and fix this now.

At a minimum, Jannitto & Mack owe the East Bay Four a public apology.

Not to mention all the time and resources Mack & Jannitto wasted with their "probing" October 19, 2011 letter to all those state agencies.

And if they had not been caught with their illegal agenda, they would have been encouraging the board to sue the East Bay Four? And BCWA is paying top dollar for this caliber of "legal" advice?!

could someone tell me what comment was deleated. Also where does Kris fit in. I don't see a post by him or her. tks Brian

was unable to stay for meeting so I don't know what I missed. Was a labor attorney selected?

Brian, the comment deleted was from a "http://bristol-warren.patch.com/users/kris-wetterland.

Who decided to berate some of the posters for being so hard on the BCWA.

Apparently the poster did not like the reply's to the post so they deleted it themselves which also deletes all the reply's to it that used the reply button.

To the labor lawyer it has not been mentioned tonight if that was voted on. Proably have to wait tell tomorrow to find out, oops, today ;-}

tks for the update. The search for executive director was expanded to New England Water Works Assoc. which should produce excellent applicants with knowledge of the water industry and managerial skills.. I suggested this at a meeting a while back.

Were the Barrington Town Council Liaisons at the BCWA meeting last night?

For the coffee shop crew to be telling Marina with confidence that the BCWA was going to sue the East Bay Four, it would seem to mean one of two things:

Mr. Jannitto was very comfortable that he could just tell everyone what to do, including telling Mack to sue the East Bay Four

and/or

some of the BCWA board members had a walking/rolling meeting.

Either way..

IT'S TIME FOR THE WARREN TOWN COUNCIL TO REMOVE JANNITTO FROM THE BOARD.

But Jannitto's friend Stanley is the new Chair of the Warren Town Council. This could be a problem.

Mr. Jannitto has no respect for: open meetings laws, BCWA Bylaws, etc. and he was using his office (letterhead, title, resources, etc.) to carry out his own personal vendetta against the East Bay Four.

This is very, very bad.

Also, per the Bylaws Article 3(c) Executive Director:

“In the event of a vacancy in the office of Executive Director, the Chairman shall perform the duties of Executive Director.”;

There is cause to say that Jannitto & Mack have got to go now.

Brian,

I heard that last night when the BCWA pension actuary got a question about calculation of the "lump sum" payments, he had to dance.

The problem may be that if you read Government Accounting Standards Board Statement 25 reporting requirements for pensions, you might find why he was dancing around the lump sum question.

Sandra Mack of course wanted to again put lipstick on a pig announcing how this latest report should answer any questions. Don't rely on me for an answer, you should go to your union head office to ask about this issue that the lump sum payments are made based on 417(e) segment rates, but the liabilities are being reported using an 8% discount rate. Then ask if this is a violation of GASB Statement 25 reporting.

It's your pension!

tks Gary, have a meeting with our attorney and will have him look into this.

Nothing will change until they change the law firm and the chairman of the board. When I read the story, water authority gathering info on residents I thought I woke up in old Russia. Time for people to go and go fast. This really makes the water authority look like a bunch of idiots. Sad. They still don't get it.

Manifold your so right. As long as the same people are there nothing will change. Now can someone tell Ken Marshall this?

To answer the articles question who is running BCWA. It seems like Sandy ka ching Mack.

Just wondering out loud on this, It seems to me that the applicants for the Director job will have a hard time thinking about taking this job. When you see the way the oversight is on the BCWA, which has also led to many of the problems, who in their right mind will want to deal with that except for a heck of a lot of money and a lot of contract stipulations to cover their butt.

The Director was to blame for alot of it, no doubt, however the infection runs very deep in the BCWA and trying to straighten out decades of infection takes more than one person also. I doubt a man like Lee Iaccoca exist to take this job. ( only guy I can think of off hand who went into a nightmare like this and succeded). But time will tell.

This is far from over as proven in the last week of the priorities of the board and the silence of the councils on all this. This BCWA is not a so called whipping boy as they say, but rather a failing experiment, that should have been endedlong ago. I would rather see the new Director be doing the transition of the BCWA to the care of the State and RIWRB. Take this lemon nd it's white elephant treatment plant and get it out of these three towns perview. Sure save a lot of headaches for everyone involved.

The problem isn't Morse, Peterson, Black & Black (the East Bay Four).
The problem is clearly Marshall, Stanley, Jannitto & Mack.

And so we must ask (to music):

How do you solve a problem like “Maria”?
How do you catch a clown and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means “Maria”?
A billing machine! A “watch me bill”! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her go away?
And listen to all they say?
How do you keep a wave… away?

I'd like to say a word in her behalf
“Maria” makes me laugh

She's never late for meetings
But her presence is a steal
She's always there for everything
She’s got h’self quite a deal

I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel
“Maria's” not an asset to the A’tho’ty.

Oh, how do you solve a problem like “Maria”?
The board they vote they simply raise their hand.

Hey...theoretically, how does a water authority switch out their attorney? The attorney's plopped in the chair running everything.

Do they ask the attorney not to come to the public meeting so they can vote without the attorney telling them what to do? But the attorney is always there.

And it's a public meeting.

Hey....Maybe they can pull a "Chris Stanley" and tell the attorney NOT to talk about BCWA! Yeah! That would work! Look how it's working for Chris Stanley!
Be-ee-eautifully! (Would they still have to pay the attorney for that? Probably. After all, the bum's in the chair...it's only fair, right?)

Wow...it's a good thing we have Chris Stanley (Jannitto's buddy) to show everyone how things work!

Mr. Jannitto caught in lies.

And caught misusing that expensive BCWA lawyer.

And caught using his position as BCWA Board Chairman to pursue personal vendettas.

And caught gossiping about threatening to slap lawsuits against the East Bay Four.

And caught defaming the East Bay Four. And worse.

And caught on a risky frolic where he acted like he had the board on board. But he didn’t.

And there’s other words for what for what he did as well.

The BCWA board didn’t do it.

This is now ugly and out-of-control for Marshall, Stanley, Jannitto & Mack.

Time for it to stop now.

Time for resignations now.

Time to let the rest of the BCWA board move ahead with their business.

Yes Jim. It is at http://www.bristolri.us/documents/council/BCWA%20Performance%20Audit%20June%202011.pdf
Happy reading!

Jim: Here you go. Thanks for all the good comments.

http://www.bristolri.us/documents/council/BCWA%20Performance%20Audit%20June%202011.pdf

HI! Take a look at these and see how far we have come!
You will need to cut and paste them.

http://eastbaypatriots.ning.com/video/bcwa-audit-by-risc-ocg-13

http://eastbaypatriots.ning.com/video/bcwa-audit-by-risc-ocg-23

http://eastbaypatriots.ning.com/video/bcwa-audit-by-risc-ocg-33

On the last one.... Ken Marshall's rant begins at 24:49 and his Spanish Inquisition remark is at 28:45.

Marshall, Stanley, Jannitto & Mack appear to be the entrenched ones who seem to be endeavoring to conceal things. Is there any "fifth man in" to join that group? The East Bay Four certainly don't deserve to be kicked around by the likes of Marshall, Stanley, Jannitto & Mack.

Ken "Spanish Inquisition" Marshall gets curb-to-curb paving for a good distance in each direction for any cut in Bristol roads or they won't issue a permit. Maybe Warren & Barrington should enact their own similar ordinances so that the ratepayers are treated fairly.

Maybe the BCWA could put out an RFP for legal services (like the July 5, 2011 Barrington Town Council directive said to do) and get some pro bono work from lawyers who would like to get their foot in the door. That's how Mrs., Mack got her foot in the door at Prudence Island Water Authority - pro bono. Hey, she's a Bristol resident. Maybe she could volunteer like the rest of the public has been doing. Nah. Given how she's acted, even if free she's a risky liability.