Anyone who views the video of the "illegal" December 20th meeting
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKj7mJ8LEVg) will see that decisions were made at that meeting on the legal counsel RFP (consensus) making the meeting illegal and not conforming to the open meeting laws.
The email response from Mrs. Marchand to the Blacks states that "All of the Board meetings have been noticed in accordance with the Open Meetings Law".
BCWA is obviously getting erroneous legal advice - apparently from the counsel that has just been re-appointed (at the illegal meeting).
Marchand has been a public official for years. In her current position, she is listed on the RI Secretary of State's website as the contact person for the BCWA Open Meetings compliance - the agenda & minutes. She is also listed as the Chair of the RI Water Resources Board. One would reasonably expect that Mrs. Marchand should have sufficient knowldege to comply with the Open Meetings Laws and that she would diligently work to comply - without needing the constant assistance of a lawyer. What is BCWA paying Marchand for, anyway? Wasn't their reason for hiring her all that expertise (management & engineering) that she would bring to the table? It was supposed to be a big bargain for the BCWA (ratepayers). Now, she says she has to hire all this management staff or else it will cost $300,000 in additional consultation? Maybe that's why she was fired from Providence? For not doing any actual work? Making everyone else do all the work? And as it is, the Plan says they are going to hire consultants to do yet ANOTHER study for more than $200,000 (See blog at http://barrington.patch.com//articles/are-ratepayers-getting-all-facts), so why do they need all these new staff AND a consultant to do YET ANOTHER study?
Please explain the inappropriate content below.
