N. Smithfield Council seeks state’s help in sewer spat

Panel wants state officials to intervene for town in dispute with Woonsocket

NORTH SMITHFIELD – The Town Council Monday unanimously voted to ask that the town’s legislative delegation submit proposed legislation to the General Assembly to establish a so-called Blackstone Valley Wastewater Treatment Authority Act, which would give the town authority to discuss what is needed to work with the City of Woonsocket in dealing with the issues regarding wastewater.

“The city of Woonsocket has turned something that was supposed to be a partnership into a dictatorship,” Council President Robert Boucher said in reference to an ongoing dispute with the city over an interjurisdictional agreement that allows the town to use the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment plant.

“I would like to take this (proposed legislation) to the General Assembly and hopefully get a hearing on the bill and get the Public Utilities Commission involved,” he said.

Boucher said the Narragansett Bay Authority, for example, is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, while North Smithfield is regulated by the City of Woonsocket. The proposed Blackstone Valley Wastewater Treatment Authority Act, he said, would give the town a venue to express its views.

“Currently there is no legal recourse to control costs which Woonsocket can dictate to North Smithfield or the other partnering communities of Blackstone and Bellingham,” he said.

The proposed legislation was drafted by the town’s legal counsel and will be introduced by the town’s legislative delegation, including state Rep. Brian Newberry and Sen. Edward J. O’Neill.

The board’s vote comes two weeks after Town Administrator Paulette D. Hamilton advised the council to sign an inter-jurisdictional waste agreement with the city of Woonsocket

now, saying the town could be left out in the cold with nowhere to go if the agreement isn’t signed by Nov. 30. That’s the deadline Woonsocket has given the town to continue participating in the regional plant. If North Smithfield doesn’t sign the agreement by then, wastewater services provided by Woonsocket will conclude.

North Smithfield, Blackstone and Bellingham all use the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment plant off Cumberland Hill Road. The three towns are part of an inter-jurisdictional agreement with Woonsocket that splits costs between the three communities, but only North Smithfield has declined to finalize a proposal with the city regarding higher fees related to an ongoing $40 mil- lion upgrade at the plant.

The biggest stumbling block to the agreement for North Smithfield appears to be Woonsocket’s imposition of a host fee in the proposed reworking of the agreement. For North Smithfield, the agreement would represent a commitment to pay a $194,000 host fee to Woonsocket in addition to the annual 12 percent share of operating expenses based on the treatment reservation the town has through its membership.

The host fee is collected by Woonsocket for its costs of running the plant and the location of treatment facility with its borders, but North Smithfield has concerns over how the fee was established and also how it might be used by Woonsocket. North Smithfield has wanted to see a more specific application of that funding to the operation and upgrade of the plant or have it eliminated from the agreement as an alternative.

“I just want to go on record as saying that I think we should be signing the agreement and that if we need to dispute the host fee at any point later we can turn to litigation if that is within the purview of the council,” Hamilton told the panel at its meeting on Jan. 19. “I want to go on record at this juncture given that November is coming quickly and we are no closer to an agreement.”

But Hamilton told the Town Council on Jan. 19 that time is running out and that it should consider signing the agreement sooner rather than later.

“Based on everything I’ve investigated over a number of years I believe it is in the best interest of the town to continue its relationship with Woonsocket, Blackstone, and Bellingham to continue residential systems and economic development,” she said.

The council members did not comment on Hamilton’s recommendation that night, but Boucher did say he is looking forward to sitting down with Burrillville town officials to discuss the possibility transporting North Smithfield’s wastewater discharge to Burrillville’s wastewater treatment. It was Boucher who reached out to Burrillville Town Council President John F. Pacheco III to request a meeting with Burrillville officials to discuss the idea.

The Burrillville Town Council unanimously voted two weeks ago to authorize Pacheco and Burrillville Sewer Commission Chairman William Andrews to sit down with the North Smithfield council and at least hear its pitch.

But if early comments from the Burrillville council are any indication, it appears highly doubtful that such an arrangement would work in Burrillville. Not only would it be a huge and costly undertaking, council members say, but there is a question as to whether the Burrillville treatment plant on Clear River Drive in Harrisville has the capacity to handle another community’s effluent.

Hamilton appears to be in agreement, saying previous engineering studies looking at alternatives to the Woonsocket Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant have shown that the cost would have an adverse impact on North Smithfield residents and businesses. In addition, she said, any new plant or arrangement would not be completed or finalized prior to Woonsocket’s November 2016 deadline, which means the town would have nowhere to turn if the city terminates the town’s service after Nov. 30.

From Woonsocket’s perspective on the issue, Michael Annarummo, the city’s former former Public Works director and administrative aid to Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt on the city’s ongoing sewer and water system improvements, says the time has come for a decision on North Smithfield’s continued use of the treatment plant facilities.

Although there is no single valve that would be turned to block off the town’s flows down into the Woonsocket plant, Annarummo said the lack of a finalized inter-jurisdictional agreement could force the city to begin legal and regulatory steps that would end North Smithfield’s use of a regional facility in the future.