Monday, March 4, 2013
Keough & Sweeney of Pawtucket, chosen last week by the Bristol County Water Authority board of directors, 'will have a lot of catching up to do,' Executive Director Pamela Marchand said.
The Bristol County Water Authority's new general counsel, Keough & Sweeney, will have less than a week to prepare a legal brief in a pending court case, Executice Director Pamela Marchand explained during a recent interview. "They'll have a lot of catching up to do," said Marchand of the new firm, selected last week by the agency's board of directors in a 6-to-1 vote. In the short term, Marchand explained, Keough & Sweeney will need to file BCWA's response to an ongoing lawsuit filed by Anawan Club in Rehoboth, MA, by March 8. Anawan is suing BCWA for about $300,000, claiming that the agency should pay for the maintenance of a dam that feeds into the Shad pipeline, a supply route that BCWA has been working to complete since 2001. "The …
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/new-bcwa-law-firm-faces-full-plate
499278
/locations/8925568
Friday, March 1, 2013
The Bristol County Water Authority board of directors approved a new contract with Keough & Sweeney of Pawtucket.
After three votes, four meetings, and complaints of Open Meetings laws violations, the Bristol County Water Authority board of directors on Feb. 27 voted to approve a new legal services contract with a new firm. Marina Peterson, a blogger for Bristol-Warren Patch, reported that board members voted 6 to 1, with one abstention, to hire Keough & Sweeney of Pawtucket, replacing longtime counsel Cameron & Mittleman. Chairman Allen Klepper read a statement from Cameron & Mittleman prior to the vote, in which the firm asked to be withdrawn from consideration. The vote ended a process that took more than two months to resolve, after board members voted 5 to 2 to keep Cameron & Mittleman on Dec. 20, two days after holding a meeting to consider …
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/legal-contract-saga-ends-for-bcwa
499278
/locations/8925450
Friday, February 1, 2013
Bristol County Water Authority Executive Director Pamela Marchand said it may be late February before a third vote is taken on the agency's legal contract.
It will likely be another month before the issue of the Bristol County Water Authority's legal contract is finally settled, BCWA Executive Director Pamela Marchand confirmed. During a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Marchand said that, in response to a Bristol-Warren Patch inquiry, she contacted the attorney whom she had consulted about a conflict between the agency's by-laws and the state legislation that created the BCWA. Marchand said she learned that a letter had been sent to Board Chairman Allen Klepper, but since Klepper is on vacation, "none of us knew about it." After reviewing the state law and the by-laws, Marchand said, the attorney for Hinckley, Allen confirmed that "we will need five directors to do any actions, so that …
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/bcwa-board-will-need-5-votes-for-legal-pact
499278
/locations/8725168
Friday, January 18, 2013
Bristol County Water Authority Executive Director Pamela Marchand said she has asked for "advice of outside counsel" on whether its board needs a third vote to approve a contract for legal services.
Pamela Marchand, executive director of the Bristol County Water Authority, released the following statement on Jan. 18 on the heels of the news that a third vote appears to be necessary to determine its future legal counsel. A 4-3 vote taken on Jan. 16 by the board to retain the Cameron & Mittleman law firm appears to be one vote shy of what is needed according to the state law that set up the water authority. Two members of the board were absent from that meeting. “The executive director of the Bristol County Water Authority is obtaining the advice of outside counsel on the interpretation of language in the existing Bristol County Water Authority Enabling Legislation and the BCWA By-laws regarding the number of votes required to take …
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/outside-counsel-sought-on-bcwa-votes-82011254
499278
/locations/8630926
The Bristol County Water Authority board will have to vote a third time on its legal counsel.
A third vote will be taken on the Bristol County Water Authority's legal contract, the agency announced on Thursday. Board Chairman Allen Klepper confirmed in an interview that the 4-3 vote taken on Jan. 16 — the second time in a month that the group voted on the matter — was one "aye" vote short of the number needed to approve the contract, according to state law. "We need to take another vote," Klepper said. "Usually, in the past, we have voted on almost all issues with a majority of a quorum." However, Executive Director Pamela Marchand issued a statement on Thursday that explained the contract requires a majority of five votes. In the statement, Marchand wrote that "a discrepancy was discovered" between the agency's by-laws and the …
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/bcwa-legal-contract-will-need-a-third-vote
499278
/locations/8622431
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The Bristol County Water Authority board decides 4-3 to retain Cameron & Mittleman, specifically longtime attorney Sandra Mack, as its legal counsel.
Nearly a month after its members voted on the matter — and following an outcry by residents — the board of the Bristol County Water Authority did a do-over Wednesday evening for the hiring of its legal counsel. Nothing changed. The outcome was the same as the first time last month – although the vote of the board members was closer, 4-3. It was 5-2 the first time. Two members were absent both times. The BCWA voted to retain Cameron & Mittleman, specifically partner Sandra Mack, as its legal counsel in a special meeting in Warren. The second meeting was set up after the first meeting was challenged as a possible Open Meetings Law violation. Mack, who has been providing most of the legal services for the BCWA since 1986, said she had “no…
41.72919
-71.26597
Bristol County Water Authority
450 Child St, Warren, RI
/articles/same-bcwa-issue-same-outcome
499278
/locations/8719391
Jack Baillargeron
3:00 pm on Friday, March 1, 2013
What makes me nervous about those records Marina, is that fact that the neither board or the public know which records she will say belong to the BCWA and which records she will consider privilege information of her practice. I see a real possible problem with getting them all back in whole unredacted. more ›