Draft Proposal
Plan for optimized public operation of the Wastewater Treatment System.
Holyoke, Massachusetts. December 13, 2004.
Prepared by members of Holyoke Citizens for Open Government (HCOG.)
Summary: HCOG has prepared the following document to suggest alternatives to privatization of the Berkshire Street wastewater treatment facility.
Purpose: A proposal for a public-public partnership and a labor management team to optimize operation and improve the wastewater system to meet the needs of Holyoke citizens and to clean up the Connecticut River CSO’s (Combined Sewer Overflow.)
Goals:
- ·
Continued operation of the wastewater system by the city.
- ·A plan to improve current operations and invest in a more efficient public wastewater system.
- ·Public involvement and review of the decision-making process.
- ·Modernize and maintain existing system and meet all DEP/EPA requirements to clean up the CSO outflows polluting the Connecticut River.
- ·Keep and add necessary staff as employees of the DPW and the City. These are good livable-wage civil service jobs and are important to the community.
- ·Use local, union contractors for construction work.
- ·All DPW-related employment should be available first to city residents.
- ·Use a competitive bidding process on all city projects that are outsourced.
Actions:
·Create a Public-Public Partnership coalition with involvement from the Mayor, City Council, DPW workers and management, labor unions, community and environmental organizations, and interested citizens. Role will be to provide oversight and local accountability, allow for citizen input, and broaden the decision-making process around water and wastewater.
Create a Public-Public Partnership coalition with involvement from the Mayor, City Council, DPW workers and management, labor unions, community and environmental organizations, and interested citizens. Role will be to provide oversight and local accountability, allow for citizen input, and broaden the decision-making process around water and wastewater.·Do an optimization or efficiency study that would identify best practices and suggest actions to improve current operations. HDR Inc. helped the city of San Diego with their nationally-recognized public Bid-to-Goal program, saving the city $90 million over 5 years. Contract or hire HDR or another firm to help develop a realistic public plan to clean up the CSO’s, make the system more efficient, and save Holyoke residents money.
Do an optimization or efficiency study that would identify best practices and suggest actions to improve current operations. HDR Inc. helped the city of San Diego with their nationally-recognized public Bid-to-Goal program, saving the city $90 million over 5 years. Contract or hire HDR or another firm to help develop a realistic public plan to clean up the CSO’s, make the system more efficient, and save Holyoke residents money. ·Create a joint labor-management team, with equal numbers from labor and management, to implement study recommendations, create productivity initiatives, and reengineer the system for maximum cost efficiency. Solicit suggestions from the years of institutional memory and work experience of the current employees.
Create a joint labor-management team, with equal numbers from labor and management, to implement study recommendations, create productivity initiatives, and reengineer the system for maximum cost efficiency. Solicit suggestions from the years of institutional memory and work experience of the current employees.·Create a Bid-to-Goal program: “Bid-to-Goal departed from conventional thinking to focus on the development of a cost- and service-conscious collaboration between public employees and management. In this new approach, administrative rules are spelled out in a formal, mutually accountable labor agreement modeled on the desirable aspects of private contracts. These include detailed descriptions of scope, competitive budgets (based on independent mock bids performed by private-sector firms), gainsharing incentives for performance, and default provisions allowing for immediate privatization if performance goals are not met.” http://www.excelgov.org/displayContent.asp?NewsItemID=3510&Keyword=m2001
Create a Bid-to-Goal program: “Bid-to-Goal departed from conventional thinking to focus on the development of a cost- and service-conscious collaboration between public employees and management. In this new approach, administrative rules are spelled out in a formal, mutually accountable labor agreement modeled on the desirable aspects of private contracts. These include detailed descriptions of scope, competitive budgets (based on independent mock bids performed by private-sector firms), gainsharing incentives for performance, and default provisions allowing for immediate privatization if performance goals are not met.” http://www.excelgov.org/displayContent.asp?NewsItemID=3510&Keyword=m2001Conclusion
No independent optimization study has been made of continued public operation vs. privatization. But one thing is certain: Aquarion is coming here to make money. The city is proposing to nearly double Holyoke’s sewage rates. This is a regressive way of funding city projects that hurts the poorest families in Holyoke the most.
Ultimately the city is responsible for what happens. Other cities where water companies have been fired or sued include Lynn, MA, Atlanta, GA, Stockton, CA. and the island of Puerto Rico. Lawrence and Lee both successfully blocked privatization of their water systems.
We all agree on the need to clean up the river. The city has known about the need to clean up the river for years. Private corporations cut corners to make money, and their final responsibility is to their shareholders, not the river or the residents of Holyoke.
The people best equipped to run the Wastewater Treatment Plant are the current employees, who have successfully operated it for many years. Aquarion was purchased by Kelda Group in 2000. US exchange rates made Kelda lose $2 million on Aquarion this year, and if they continue to lose money may sell the company. What does that mean for Holyoke?
85% of the water systems in the US remain public, and the record of privatization in cities like Atlanta, Stockton, Lynn, and in Puerto Rico show a pattern of malfeasance, ineptitude, corruption, and disasters that the taxpayers end up paying for. HG&E, the DPW, and Holyoke Waterworks are public utilities that have offered the lowest rates and best service in the interest of Holyoke. Why are we selling off a slice to a corporation?
Workers will lose civil service protections and will be bargaining with a private corporation that is unaccountable to the local community. The workers will be employed by Aquarion and may be transferred elsewhere, so we would lose their expertise and operating licenses here in Holyoke. Aquarion forced their workers in Bridgeport to a strike vote last November. RH White, the construction firm that Aquarion will use to build the new facility, is a notorious non-union contractor. These jobs should go to local, union firms and workers.
Resources:
San Diego
Phoenix
Miami-Dade
Seattle and King County
Public Public partnerships
More resources on privatization: http://water.homestead.com
Contact us: Holyokewater@hotmail.com
