Berlin commission debates withholding payments from Worthington and Kensington over missing billing data

The Berlin Water Control Commission spent much of its meeting debating whether to withhold payment for other districts’ portions of a large invoice after Worthington and Kensington failed to provide required consumption data.

The commission reported an invoice sent to Kensington for $1,869,873.71 with Worthington Fire District’s share listed as $388,415.31. The chair said Berlin typically wires its check on July 1 and has sometimes advanced other districts’ shares when their data was late. One commissioner said the commission should “pay our portion of the bill and let Matt Bassett know we have not gotten the figures from the other two districts. They are delinquent as they normally are. So, we are not going to pay it.” The statement was presented to the commission as a proposed change to the town’s past practice.

Members debated the legal and operational limits of refusing to pay another district’s share. The chair cautioned that the commission has historically handled the invoicing and paperwork and said a formal vote would likely be required to change longstanding practice. Commissioners also raised equitable-accounting concerns, with one noting that “the people in Berlin end up subsidizing the other two districts.”

Separately, the commission described a long-running dispute over the Baxter Avenue meter and diversion permits. The chair reviewed a historical record that, he said, shows Kensington terminated prior service to Worthington in about 1992 and that subsequent municipal resolutions placed responsibility for the Baxter Avenue connection with Berlin. The chair told commissioners he sent a June 8 letter to Stanley Pager asserting that unauthorized use of the meter station would be considered trespass but had not received a response.

The commission acknowledged that options include charging late fees, levying penalties after a formal determination, or changing the billing model to charge for 'in-kind' services Berlin now provides (paperwork, fieldwork). The chair said the town cannot finalize large capital projects such as pump-station upgrades without commitments from Worthington and Kensington on cost-sharing percentages.

After an executive session, the commission voted to retain outside counsel to pursue legal advice on ongoing inter-district matters and the Baxter Avenue meter issue. The commission approved a motion to engage the law firm Harris Beach and to retain attorney Daniel Canavan as legal representation for the Berlin Water Control Commission; the motion passed on a voice vote with no recorded opposition.

The commission left open the procedural next steps: the chair said the town council will be notified and that the commission will seek formal direction before altering payment procedures. No final change to invoicing practice was adopted at the meeting.