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Consultant urges consolidation or shared services after review of Chelmsford's three water districts
Summary
A consultant told the Select Board that consolidating Chelmsford's three independent water districts could improve capital planning, reduce duplication and help pay for PFAS treatment; district officials pushed back, urging targeted fixes and warning consolidation would be costly and lengthy.
A consultant hired to evaluate Chelmsford's three water districts told the Select Board on May 18 that consolidation or at least shared services could address persistent operational and financial disparities.
William Keegan of Capital Strategic Solutions said his team found wide differences in governance, recordkeeping and capital planning across the East Chelmsford, North Chelmsford and Chelmsford (central) districts. "East Chelmsford was the smallest," Keegan said, and the consultants were unable to obtain financial records or meeting minutes there, creating doubts about long-term capital planning. He added that two districts are already working on PFAS treatment while others lack clear replacement schedules for aging equipment.
The report recommended immediate shared-service stepssuch as joint procurement, standardized data collection and coordinated compliance filingsand argued that consolidation could be more cost-effective for large capital projects, including PFAS mitigation. Keegan said a legislative process would be required and estimated a multi-year effort to consolidate.
District representatives disputed some findings. Ron Perreault, chair of the East Chelmsford Water District, said the district has been "frugal" and self-sufficient and that the consultant's timeline for production of documents left inadequate time to respond. East Chelmsford superintendent Robert Cronin said the district has DEP oversight, built a treatment plant in 2007, and is conducting a PFAS pilot program.
Richard Romano, chair of the Chelmsford Water District, called full consolidation an "extensive process" that could take a decade and argued ratepayers of better-performing districts should not be required to absorb the costs of another district without other options. Christine Fitch, East Chelmsford's office manager, said the district had more than $500,000 in liquid funds and objected to what she called a misleading portrayal of East Chelmsford's finances.
Select Board members said the Board lacks direct authority over the independent districts but urged further dialogue between the districts and the town. Several members recommended convening representatives from each district to explore targeted shared services and to gather more documentation before any larger structural steps.
The Select Board did not take formal action to alter district governance but asked staff to arrange a meeting with district representatives and encouraged the consultant to provide additional examples of consolidation elsewhere.
Next steps: Board members discussed a non-binding referendum as a way to measure voter sentiment and agreed to begin with smaller shared-service initiatives while collecting more data.
