Eastbayri.com

BARRINGTON — To the editor:

A few months ago at a tri-town BCWA meeting it was decided that there would be one monthly BCWA director report, in writing, composed by Allan Klepper, and distributed to all three town councils. The reasoning being that this way all three towns would receive the same information.

I don’t know what they do in other towns, but in Bristol, this report is not read at the town council meeting nor is it readily available in any form before the meeting. It is simply accepted into the town meeting minutes. I have asked if this report could be made available on the town website prior to the meeting, or on the BCWA website. This has not yet been resolved.

My concern is best exemplified by the fact that in the report issued on Jan. 25, the issue of the low water pressure area that affects approximately 2900 customers in Bristol and Warren was addressed. It was mentioned that there was a special workshop held on Jan. 18 to discuss this problem and, upon discussion “the consensus of the directors was to wait six years until our current debt is repaid so that the project would not require any rate increase.”

Personally, I feel that information like this should be made available to the ratepayers. If you agree with me please contact your town council members and ask for transparency with this monthly report, either by being read at your town council meeting, or posted on the town website.

The board also voted to proceed with the RFP for consulting services for a software purchase with no discussion of the fact that the Warren Town Council members were opposed to this move. In all fairness to the board, the Warren directors did not share this information with the board. See how it works? Information is disseminated in the way that best serves the wishes of the BCWA and NOT that of the ratepayers.

I would love to see the BCWA meetings video-taped so that those who wish to stay informed would have access to the business that is conducted at the meetings. That would certainly solve a lot of the misinformation and/or disinformation problems. (Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally. It is distinguished from disinformation by motive in that misinformation is simply erroneous, while disinformation, in contrast, is intended to mislead.)

Marina Peterson

Bristol