Joint meeting in works on Andover water fallout

Published in the February 15, 2018 edition

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Still smarting from the poke in the eye the town received after Andover voters rejected a provision to solidify a 99-year agreement that would have enabled North Reading to continue purchasing its water from Andover into the next century, the Selectmen on Monday night debated the value of continuing negotiations with Andover or turning its focus back to joining the MWRA.

Andover’s Board of Selectmen have requested a joint meeting with North Reading’s Board of Selectmen to discuss the next steps between the two towns. Selectmen Andrew Schultz and Kathryn Manupelli were ready to focus solely on the MWRA option after Andover’s voters spoke by a margin of over 700 to under 400 to alter the agreement they will petition the Legislature to approve, which now differs from the one North Reading’s voters approved in October to bring before the Legislature.

Given that North Reading has been an excellent water customer of Andover for 27 years, Manupelli was surprised that more consideration was not given to value of that relationship by Andover’s town meeting voters.

“Their voters have locked them in,” Schultz said. “We owe it to Reading, who feels like we have left them at the altar” to re-enter the MWRA negotiations he believes.

Selectman Bob Mauceri wanted to give North Reading’s residents more time to attend another one of their meetings before the Andover route is passed over, especially those who wish to voice their apprehension over joining the MWRA and to help them become more informed about how it might impact them.

Selectman Steven O’Leary actively sought to have the two boards meet as he did not see the harm in hearing any options that Andover may be able to offer as a palatable alternative solution. Much to his “consternation,” O’Leary said it was pretty evident at the Andover Town Meeting that not enough effort went into explaining to the general public the value of the relationship between the two towns or about the potential of Andover’s water rates increasing by 28 percent for their own customers if North Reading is no longer purchasing water from them.

Selectmen Chairman Mike Prisco was also inclined to return the board’s focus back to the MWRA, but ultimately, out of respect for the time invested by North Reading’s negotiating team thus far in the Andover alternative, he agreed to offer two possible joint meeting dates — Wednesday Feb. 28 or Thursday, March 1 — and the meeting must be held in North Reading, he said.

Pisco’s caveat is that a decision will be made at their meeting on Monday, March 5 whether to stick with Andover or pursue MWRA, without exception. Since the March 5 meeting is already pretty full with budget hearings for the June Town Meeting, Prisco suggested that they not hold an executive session prior to their regular meeting that night so they could start as early as 6:30 p.m. for this agenda item.

Regardless of the final outcome, Prisco told the Transcript that it is in the best interests of both towns to work together cooperatively on this matter going forward as both towns still need to come to agreements as sources of back-up water supplies for each other in the event of emergencies.

Fallout in Andover

Meanwhile, north of the border the fallout on Andover’s own Board of Selectmen boiled over after one selectman accused two colleagues and the town manager of “lying” about the 99-year agreement and the bailout clause with five years’ notice, the Andover Townsman reported last week.

According to the Townsman, Andover Selectman Bob Landry accused Town Manager Andrew Flanagan and Selectmen Paul Salafia and Laura Gregory of “misrepresenting the terms of the deal” after Flanagan supposedly informed the board members Jan. 11 that a “five year termination right” was still part of the deal when it had been eliminated in September.

Landry was referring to a clause originally proposed by Andover last summer that would have given either town the right to back out of the 99-year lease after 20 years with a five-year notice and hefty financial penalties. But this was a deal-breaker from the get-go for Nort h Reading’s Selectmen who insisted on its removal, in writing, or the deal was off.

North Reading got what it wanted when a Summary of Terms of the Inter-Municipal Agreement for Portable Water Services, dated August 28, 2017, was signed by three of the five Andover selectmen — Landry, Gregory and Salafia, as well as T.M. Flanagan — with the term spelled out: “99 years pending each town’s Town Meeting and Legislative Approval.” This summary also spelled out that Andover would reimburse North Reading for the nearly $1M in costs the town had incurred to join the MWRA, payable as credits at $95,300 per year.

A contingent from Andover, including several selectmen, subsequently attended North Reading’s Sept. 5 selectmen’s meeting when it was North Reading’s turn to sign the Summary of Agreement. The board discussed the terms and reviewed the project with the town’s water consultants from Wright-Pierce, Utilities Superintendent Mark Clark, T.A. Gilleberto and Selectmen Mauceri and O’Leary, all of whom were part of the negotiating team that spent hundreds of hours reviewing the entire project with their Andover counterparts last spring and summer.

All five North Reading Selectmen signed on to the summary of terms — Chairman Michael Prisco and Selectmen Andrew Schultz, Kathryn Manupelli, Mauceri and O’Leary — which was followed with much fanfare, handshakes and congratulatory back-slapping between the town towns.

Opposition derails deals

According to Gilleberto, the only two Andover selectmen who had not signed the Aug. 28 Summary of Terms were Alex Vispoli, who had participated in the Aug. 28 meeting by telephone, and Dan Kowalski, who had publicly opposed the initiative from the get-go and led the opposition on the floor of Andover’s Special Town Meeting on Feb. 5. That opposition succeeded in derailing months of negotiations by approving an amendment on the floor of Andover’s Feb. 5 Special Town Meeting to re-insert the back-out clause after 20 years with five years’ notice.

By contrast, in October 2017, by approving a series of warrant articles, North Reading’s Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to support a dual path that would enable the town to continue its negotiations to see the Andover connection come to fruition and putting the MWRA plans on hold.

Concurrently, an evaluation of future wastewater capacity possibilities for key sections of town, either via MWRA through Reading or via Greater Lawrence through Andover, would move forward in an effort to get some Concord Street properties and perhaps some Rte. 28 and Martins Pond properties off septic.

Also included in this process are revisions to the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) in order to formulate a Final EIR reflective of the town’s ultimate choice — Andover or MWRA — which is required by the state permitting process. The town has also given itself a self-imposed deadline of April 30, 2018 to make a final decision on which path to take.