2 days Ago
Housatonic resident Maureen Quigley holds up a bottle of water collected from her home in 2022 in Berkshire Superior Court last year. The crisis of trust in Housatonic Water Works Co.'s system has led to a special town meeting at 6 p.
m. Thursday for voters to decide whether the town should acquire the company and operate it. GREAT BARRINGTON — Opposition is growing to proposals that the town acquire either, or both, the Housatonic Water Works Co.
and the Great Barrington Fire District Water Department. Voters are about to decide on the measures, which are intended to cut waste, save money and deliver better water to Housatonic residents. But amid a number of unanswered questions, three Select Board members this week have voiced their opposition, and the Fire District’s leaders are urging residents to vote “no.
” Board member Eric Gabriel on Monday night said “rushing such a significant transaction would be unwise.” Member Ben Elliott expressed agreement with intent of calling a vote, he isn’t in favor of doing it this way. Board Chair Stephen Bannon said he will be voting “no.
” Voters will weigh in on these proposals at a special town meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Monument Mountain Regional High School.
The vote stems from two petitions filed by resident Sharon Gregory: one that asks if the town should acquire the Housatonic company for no more than $2.3 million and another if the town should acquire the Fire District for no more than $2 million. The petitions are a response to a crisis of trust in the Housatonic company over a manganese problem that causes bouts of brown water.
They are also intended to push town officials to be more aggressive in solving a problem that is expensive and difficult for many families in Housatonic, Gregory said this week. If the town were to also acquire the Fire District, Gregory says, the two systems could be managed as one. Gregory's idea is that the utilities would be placed into what is known as an “enterprise” system — one in which only the users pay, much like Great Barrington’s Wastewater Department.
But the Fire District's commissioners say that merging the companies will double costs for its customers and also affect all taxpayers. Gregory counters that it is possible to merge the systems and carve out costs for Housatonic’s upgrades for only Housatonic residents to pay. But there is still much uncertainty about how all this might play out if voters approve it.
Nothing in the meeting warrant spells it out. Gregory acknowledged this week that the details will have to be hammered out later. Also, voters won't know until the town's attorney explains at the town meeting whether their vote on the proposals obligates the town to act, or is merely a suggestion to act.
Housatonic's co-owner and Treasurer James E. Mercer supports a town acquisition of his company “at a fair market value,” which would be negotiated with the Town if the proposal passes,” he wrote in a letter to the utility’s roughly 850 customers. “It will unlock resources and structural advantages that a small private utility like HWW cannot access on its own,” Mercer said.
Mercer’s company is in the middle of a legal battle with the town that he says is delaying a filtration upgrade. Fire District commissioners, in a letter to their 4,250 customers, raised multiple questions that have not yet been answered, and that Gregory says will be dealt with later. One is, “Where is the money coming from to purchase the HWW and GBFD?” Bannon said that appropriating money to buy anything always has to pass muster with voters at annual town meeting.
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