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Commissioners discuss Wareham intermunicipal agreement and report plant is online amid two recent sewer breaks
Summary
Commissioners reviewed the 20-year intermunicipal agreement with Wareham (signed 2010, flat $400,000 annual O&M cited) and debated timing for joint meetings and consulting; staff reported the new wastewater plant is up and running and noted two recent sewer main breaks in town.
The Bourne Board of Sewer Commissioners spent much of its June 23 meeting reviewing the towns intermunicipal agreement (IMA) with Wareham and considering the long-term strategy as the 20-year contract approaches renewal.
Commissioner MJ reviewed the history of what she described in the meeting as a renegotiated 20-year agreement signed in February 2010 and flagged the need to begin strategic planning well before the contract expires in 2030. "I think it's important for us to look at the fact that this is a 20-year agreement that was signed in February of 2010," MJ said, urging early conversations and possible joint meetings with Wareham.
The group discussed the IMA's flat-fee structure, referenced in the document as $400,000 per year for operations and maintenance with capital costs billed in addition, and noted that past audits and a 2019 settlement shaped the current billing approach. Commissioners raised governance concerns that Bourne pays a large share of costs (referred to in the meeting as about 20%) without corresponding representation at decision-making tables.
Board members agreed to keep the IMA on regular agendas, consider a fall joint meeting with Wareham, and to evaluate whether outside consulting (financial/rate specialists) should be hired to help negotiate formulas and capital-sharing arrangements. "If we really want to have a ... municipal agreement that both sides really agree to, I personally think that a meeting this fall would be key," said Matt Myers, the department director.
In the same meeting staff reported operational progress: the town's new wastewater treatment plant is online and beginning to take flow, with chemical dosing intended to resolve ammonia-related foaming and bacteriological problems. "It was seated today and it's up and running," Matt Myers said; he added the plant was expected to start taking flow later in the week and that the department expects a report from K. Cabota on membrane conditions and recommendations.
Commissioners also heard that the department repaired two sewer main breaks the prior week at Right Lane and Buttermilk Way; staff said both were handled in-house but flagged the incidents as a possible sign of aging pipe infrastructure.
No formal vote was taken on the IMA at the June 23 meeting; commissioners asked staff to prepare materials, continue the item on future agendas and discuss options for consultant support and timing of joint meetings with Wareham.
