Great Barrington Fire District’s Prudential Committee, at its October 20 meeting, offered no firm deadline for HWW to pay up its overdue water payments or face a shut-off of the water connection that’s been in place since last December. The meeting made clear, however, that Commissioners intend to keep the shut-off option front of mind as they move forward.
Selectboard Chair Steve Bannon and Vice Chair Eric Gabriel and several community members were also in attendance, but representatives of Housatonic Water Works Company were not. GBFD Chair Buddy Atwood and Clerk Cynthia Ullrich stated at the outset that HWW had paid a first $10,000 payment — toward an overdue total of more $116,000 - on October 7. A second $10,000 payment is due on November 3, the next on December 3, and another in early January, with on-time payments apparently being sufficient to avoid a shut-
By the first of the new year, it’s assumed, HWW will have received from the Department of Public Works an approval for the rate increase it’s betting on, and will then be able to pay GBFD the remainder of what’s due.
HWW customer Kate Van Olst, seeking clarification on the timing of a potential shut-off, asked, “Are we looking at December 31?”
Atwood would not be pinned down on specific dates, however, saying, “I have no idea,” reiterating that there were three more deadlines before “we do something drastic.” He also reiterated the assurance first made at the GBFD’s October 6 meeting that in the case of a disconnection, water would not instantly stop flowing out of faucets but would likely take at least a week to run down, and made a further assurance that ratepayers would have plenty of lead time before any shutoff.
Great Barrington resident Sharon Gregory presented to the Committee a financial analysis she’d done of where HWW revenue has gone over the past thirteen years, the highlights being that the company paid engineering, accounting and legal consultants a total of $1,460,000, or 17% of revenue, over that time period, and Jim and Fred Mercer paid themselves salaries totaling $2,734,000. She ended her presentation by suggesting that thanks to the company’s expenditures on salary increases and lawyers, their stated debts are “not bona fide liabilities.”
To the question of where unhappy ratepayers should send their HWW payments if not to the water company, both the Fire District and the town stated that they’d be refusing to accept payments.
“That’s for a lawyer to handle.” Steve Bannon commented.
Great Barrington resident Eve Schatz said she was concerned about HWW’s debt issue, since, “not being able to pay a debt does not relieve you of the debt.” She asked what’s being done to collect it. Atwood said the GBFD’s leverage consisted of a property lien and the proposed water shut-off, but made very clear that the Fire District had no interest in taking over the HWW by eminent domain or through any other mechanism.
Commissioner Ken Schumacher asked Bannon if there had been any updates from anyone at the state level on a plan to head off a shut-off crisis, and he said, simply, “No.”
Gabriel elaborated, saying, “It’s going to take something drastic, like a water shut-off, for the state to go into action. He [Jim Mercer] is going to limp along like he’s limped along for 50 years.”
Bannon acknowledged that at the October 6 meeting Leigh Davis had assured the board that she and state officials had requested a 30-day reprieve to work on a solution, meaning that there are still sixteen days remaining in that period.
Great Barrington Selectboard meets Wednesday, October 21 to discuss in executive session the potential acquisition of HWW along with ongoing litigation with Morais Contracting, the Springfield company suing the town for unpaid invoices related to nearly $1,000,000 in unauthorized DPW work orders.