Archive for TU Water RFP Expert
05.22.12
Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:44 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset has seen a lot of drama over the past 20 years or so, where its water system is concerned, culminating in a management contract/concession RFP that came nerve-wrackingly close to the edge, where the risks of unknown costs and came into play.
However, come second session of Town Meeting on Monday night, the clamor for risk and radical measures was replaced by a measured tone and well-reasoned action. The Town’s water commissioners and BOS took note of what voters and the water industry were telling them and did the right thing.
Article 32 (a grant of discretion to water commissioners to negotiate a concession or a long-term management contract with unknown terms) was pulled. The water commissioners announced that they would move forward under prior authorization with the process of selecting of one of the 2-year management proposals that came in under historical and expected prices. This choice was not only the financially savvy option but the most ethical and responsible one with respect to stewardship of the public interest.
So much for what is obvious and uncontroversial. Now comes the third rail.
We have never met, talked with or otherwise communicated with the Town’s retiring manager (Mike Coughlin) and hold no brief for or against him, but the best advice that Cohasset’s BOS and water commissioners heard at Monday’s meeting came from this gentlemen – when in doubt disclose!
Against a backdrop of decades of system failures, substandard operations and nonexistent financial controls and reporting that Cohasset leaders have been working hard and with some success to remedy, it makes no sense to follow opaque procedures when letting the Town’s next water system management contract. The final draft of the proposed contract should be published for comment on the Town’s website and allowed to circulate for a reasonable number of days before it is executed. With reliable financial records, visibly improved maintenance (i.e. regular flushing of mains, etc.) and a transparent procurement process, Cohasset can dispel suspicions that the sorry past is somehow the prologue to the future.
Restoring the integrity of the Town’s water delivery system was step one in the process of rehabilitation. Getting a functional financial reporting system in place was the second. The next step will consist of restoring confidence in governance. Transparency will be a vital part of that process. It is something that Cohasset’s volunteer leaders are well equipped to deliver.
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Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:44 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset has seen a lot of drama over the past 20 years or so, where its water system is concerned, culminating in a management contract/concession RFP that came nerve-wrackingly close to the edge, where the risks of unknown costs and came into play.
However, come second session of Town Meeting on Monday night, the clamor for risk and radical measures was replaced by a measured tone and well-reasoned action. The Town’s water commissioners and BOS took note of what voters and the water industry were telling them and did the right thing.
Article 32 (a grant of discretion to water commissioners to negotiate a concession or a long-term management contract with unknown terms) was pulled. The water commissioners announced that they would move forward under prior authorization with the process of selecting of one of the 2-year management proposals that came in under historical and expected prices. This choice was not only the financially savvy option but the most ethical and responsible one with respect to stewardship of the public interest.
So much for what is obvious and uncontroversial. Now comes the third rail.
We have never met, talked with or otherwise communicated with the Town’s retiring manager (Mike Coughlin) and hold no brief for or against him, but the best advice that Cohasset’s BOS and water commissioners heard at Monday’s meeting came from this gentlemen – when in doubt disclose!
Against a backdrop of decades of system failures, substandard operations and nonexistent financial controls and reporting that Cohasset leaders have been working hard and with some success to remedy, it makes no sense to follow opaque procedures when letting the Town’s next water system management contract. The final draft of the proposed contract should be published for comment on the Town’s website and allowed to circulate for a reasonable number of days before it is executed. With reliable financial records, visibly improved maintenance (i.e. regular flushing of mains, etc.) and a transparent procurement process, Cohasset can dispel suspicions that the sorry past is somehow the prologue to the future.
Restoring the integrity of the Town’s water delivery system was step one in the process of rehabilitation. Getting a functional financial reporting system in place was the second. The next step will consist of restoring confidence in governance. Transparency will be a vital part of that process. It is something that Cohasset’s volunteer leaders are well equipped to deliver.
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05.18.12
Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:50 AM by Tanna K
We tuned into the May 17 Cohasset Board of Selectmen meeting to hear what would be said concerning the Town’s water services RFP and the proposals received in response. A few of Water Chairman DiCaprio’s statements regarding the proposals and the existing management contract with American Water were revealing:
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:50 AM by Tanna K
We tuned into the May 17 Cohasset Board of Selectmen meeting to hear what would be said concerning the Town’s water services RFP and the proposals received in response. A few of Water Chairman DiCaprio’s statements regarding the proposals and the existing management contract with American Water were revealing:
Read the rest of this entry »
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05.17.12
Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:05 AM by Tanna K
This morning, a municipal water client finished (and passed) the bond rating agency equivalent of a TSA strip search. Our client was a bit surprised at the heightened scrutiny and widened scope of this year’s version of a process that used to be the equivalent of renewing a motor vehicle registration, but understood and cooperated admirably when we put the agency’s new approach into context.
After getting torched by Congress, the bond raters (Moody’s, S&P and Fitch) are a bit touchy and defensive today, so issuers need to be well prepared when their turn comes to justify their ratings each year. One question in the Moody’s review that ended today (copied below, along with the client’s answer) blew us away and brought us to our feet to applaud.
Moody’s surveillance question: “The percentage of MGD’s lost over the last 5 years?”
Client answer: “The Town has held unaccounted water consistently under 10% i.e. within the “green” zone for unaccounted water).”
For decades, we have tried to get the agencies to look at unaccounted water percentages (water that is treated and delivered into the system but not billed to customers) as a critical measure of management effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism of operations as well as the condition of water system assets. Moody’s obviously finally got it! The question above actually appeared at the top of the first page of their list!
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in TU Water RFP Expert at 9:05 AM by Tanna K
This morning, a municipal water client finished (and passed) the bond rating agency equivalent of a TSA strip search. Our client was a bit surprised at the heightened scrutiny and widened scope of this year’s version of a process that used to be the equivalent of renewing a motor vehicle registration, but understood and cooperated admirably when we put the agency’s new approach into context.
After getting torched by Congress, the bond raters (Moody’s, S&P and Fitch) are a bit touchy and defensive today, so issuers need to be well prepared when their turn comes to justify their ratings each year. One question in the Moody’s review that ended today (copied below, along with the client’s answer) blew us away and brought us to our feet to applaud.
Moody’s surveillance question: “The percentage of MGD’s lost over the last 5 years?”
Client answer: “The Town has held unaccounted water consistently under 10% i.e. within the “green” zone for unaccounted water).”
For decades, we have tried to get the agencies to look at unaccounted water percentages (water that is treated and delivered into the system but not billed to customers) as a critical measure of management effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism of operations as well as the condition of water system assets. Moody’s obviously finally got it! The question above actually appeared at the top of the first page of their list!
Read the rest of this entry »
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04.18.12
Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz, TU Water RFP Expert at 10:16 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset’s May 12th, Annual Town Meeting will be asked to vote on a water concession contract. We asked our Water RFP Expert to discussion the legal ramifications of the same.
Tinytown Unleashed: Here’s a question for you, Water Expert.
Legally, what rights does a concessionaire have that the town doesn’t’ know about.
The RFP looks pretty safe, but Corporate Accountability says the concessionaire calls the shots, that the state will treat our water contract as a private (not municipal) contract, and that investors have rights.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Tanna Kasperowicz, TU Water RFP Expert at 10:16 AM by Tanna K
Cohasset’s May 12th, Annual Town Meeting will be asked to vote on a water concession contract. We asked our Water RFP Expert to discussion the legal ramifications of the same.
Tinytown Unleashed: Here’s a question for you, Water Expert.
Legally, what rights does a concessionaire have that the town doesn’t’ know about.
The RFP looks pretty safe, but Corporate Accountability says the concessionaire calls the shots, that the state will treat our water contract as a private (not municipal) contract, and that investors have rights.
Read the rest of this entry »
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03.27.12
Posted in Cohasset Water, TU Water RFP Expert at 12:45 PM by Tanna K
by the TU Water RFP Expert
(Click here to read the 10-Year Cohasset WaterRFP)
Last night sounded like a clear signal that the water commission is feeling the heat and light of public scrutiny. I wonder, did Aquarion back off – too many bright lights and too much controversy for the Cohasset deal to be worth their while under the concession RFP? Congratulations are owed to the Fourth Estate if this reading of the water commission’ statements is correct!
Next on the list will be a full going over for the one-year management contract RFP, which will probably reveal itself as a measurably less expensive route for the procurement of water system management services. However, Cohasset water watchdogs will want to be on watch to be sure that the management contract RFP is not written either as an unattractive straw man for the concession RFP or a stalking horse for a ten-year concession that it evolves into at the end of the first year, when the water watchdogs are tired and distracted.
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03.11.12
Posted in Cohasset Water, TU Water RFP Expert at 4:37 PM by Tanna K
This comes from a mid – 2000s tanPublic Citizen document. I know a little of the inside ball on Atlanta, as I have worked for years with a consulting engineer down south who was fired for saying critical things about the United Water proposal and pointing out that rates for water would have to go way up in order to make the deal work. I also know and have worked with one of the main attorneys for Atlanta, who took a pass on working on this particular project, as did several piping and equipment contractors whom we know. A good choice on their part. What Public Citizen knew when it published this item was just the stuff on the surface, but it has just enough twists and turns to be interesting and reveals enough to be instructive.
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