Plan to privatize Lee water system hard to swallow for some town reps

By Derek Gentile

Berkshire Eagle Staff

August 25, 2004 - LEE -- Facing an angry, no-nonsense crowd of water privatization opponents last night, the Selectmen conceded that if town representatives need more time to digest a potential contract with a private firm, the board would not be averse to it -- up to a point.

"We don't want to elongate this process any more than we have to," said Selectmen Chairman Gordon Bailey.

Bailey said an informational session slated for Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. at Lee High School will go on as planned. And, because it has been posted, a Sept. 9 special town meeting will also take place.

The town is in negotiations with Veolia Water Systems of North America. Veolia proposes to take over the town's water and sewer systems and operate them for the town, for a fee.

However, opponents of the plan have become more vocal over the past few weeks. Last night, a number of citizens stepped forward to explain their opposition.

Many emphasized that they were also leery of the relatively short time period, about a week, that town representatives would have to digest the completed contract with Veolia, a contract that exceeds 1,000 pages.

"Town representatives have been asked to come to a meeting less than a week from now and try to discuss this contract," said town representative Deidre Consolati.

She warned the Selectmen not to "trade dollars for democracy."

The Selectmen did not necessarily disagree with the potential need for more time.

"We have a legal obligation to hold the [special town] meeting," said Selectman Patricia Carlino. "If the reps say we need more time, we'll take more time."

Bailey agreed, and said that the meeting, if the town representatives so voted, could be extended to a later date.

Town representative Margaret Biron told the Selectmen that "wherever we fall on this issue, we should be as educated as possible."

Biron added that she was "very skeptical" of large corporations such as Veolia. "It's not an easy decision. People need to think hard and long."

Referring to Veolia's proposed 20-year contract with the town, Biron said that "a 20-year contract is a long time. To me, that's future generations."

Indeed, many of those who stood up told the Selectmen that the concept of privatization of water service was difficult to accept. Some charged Veolia, and its former parent company, Vivendi Water, with malfeasance. Others said that the town should investigate Veolia.

Consolati said she believed the town should allow the representatives to examine the final contract and have their own legal experts look at it.

Bailey replied that town counsel was looking at the document.

Carlino, somewhat exasperated, explained that the town set up a committee to look into Veolia, and that the committee returned with a favorable recommendation.

"Which of the people on these committees don't you trust?" Carlino asked Consolati. "These are people who pay their taxes and who want what's best for the town."

"I have to seek my own opinion, as do some of the other reps," said Consolati.

But Bailey said that if Consolati and other representatives wanted to spend money to hire a lawyer to look at the contract, they could do so. He added that they then should come to the negotiating sessions, which are open to the public. The next one, he said, would be Aug. 30 at 9:30 a.m. at Town Hall.

Veolia, he said, was not happy that the sessions were open to the public, "but we insisted it be so. We wanted this to be above-board."