New BCWA Law Firm Faces Full Plate

The Bristol County Water Authority's new general counsel, Keough & Sweeney, will have less than a week to prepare a legal brief in a pending court case, Executice Director Pamela Marchand explained during a recent interview.

"They'll have a lot of catching up to do," said Marchand of the new firm, selected last week by the agency's board of directors in a 6-to-1 vote.

In the short term, Marchand explained, Keough & Sweeney will need to file BCWA's response to an ongoing lawsuit filed by Anawan Club in Rehoboth, MA, by March 8.

Anawan is suing BCWA for about $300,000, claiming that the agency should pay for the maintenance of a dam that feeds into the Shad pipeline, a supply route that BCWA has been working to complete since 2001.

"The issue of the Massachusetts [water] supplies needs to be resolved," Marchand said, "and that's in addition to the day-to-day requirements."

Board Chairman Allen Klepper, who read a letter at the board's Feb. 27 meeting from Sandra Mack of Cameron & Mittlemen announcing her resignation, said Mack wanted to end the distraction that the legal contract had created.

"I think that what Ms. Mack felt was that this was going to drag on and was inappropriate for the ultimate goal of the authority, which is really not to [get tied up] with the awarding of contracts, but rather the assurance of quality water and to find a suitable alternate supply source," Klepper explained.

Klepper also spoke highly of Mack's work for the agency since Cameron & Mittlemen was first hired in 1986.

"She's provided excellent legal advice — that doesn't mean that anyone did anything wrong; over the years she's provided excellent advice and she's had an uncanny abiity to understand all the issues facing our board," Klepper said.