The Bristol County Water Authority, and more specifically the chairman of the authority’s board of directors, needs to immediately end its “information-gathering” effort directed against four East Bay residents.
John Jannitto, the BCWA chairman of the board of directors, recently sent a letter to numerous Rhode Island and Massachusetts agencies requesting any correspondence they had from four individuals — Barrington’s Gary Morse and Jeff and Janice Black and Bristol’s Marina Peterson. The “East Bay Four” have been critical of the water authority’s management and practices.
Mr. Jannitto’s letter — it appears that he wrote it without consent from some of the other board members — also asks for a log of calls or meetings that involved any of the four residents. He sent the letter to agencies including the Rhode Island Water Resources Board and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Clearly, the letter is designed to discredit and discourage anyone who might speak out against the authority.
Mr. Jannitto tried to explain the letter as something done for benefit of the ratepayers. He said he believed the “East Bay Four” had cost the authority unnecessary money and had obstructed the board from its normal duties. “I feel that we’re looking out for the welfare of all the ratepayers, all the people of Bristol County,” he said during a recent interview.
We disagree. The BCWA would do much better by its ratepayers by focusing on important tasks at hand: Hiring a new executive director, reducing exorbitant overtime expenditures and improving the authority’s infrastructure.
It’s time to drop this public campaign against four concerned ratepayers. It smacks of petty, vindictive sour grapes.
Comments
JackBaillargeron 6 months ago
Decision of the Court
On March 31, 2011, The Arizona Court of Appeals filed an Opinion on the court case. They concurred with Judge Mackey's April 15, 2010, decision and sent the case back to his court to assess court and attorney fees for the Goldwater Institute who successfully defended the four women.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_Elementary_School_District_v._Warren,_et._al.
Oh notice the appeal, assess court and attorney fees for the Goldwater Institute who successfully defended the four women.
Yet more money to the law firm by the BCWA with these kind of actions that are no win for them.
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