Water Dept.*

The Water Commission will hold a public forum via Zoom on Tuesday, June 9 at 9 a.m. in advance of the June 13 Town Meeting to take comments and answer questions about its fiscal-year 2021 budget, which includes a capital borrowing request of $270,000 and an operating budget of $1.835 million — 38% higher than this year’s.

Earlier this year, the commission raised water usage rates by 28%, increased the base charge from $35 to $50 per meter, and approved a plan (to be implemented next year) that will assess base charges for condos and apartment buildings by dwelling unit rather than by water meter. 

The sharp increases in recent spending are a result of numerous factors: aging equipment, insufficient preventive maintenance and upgrades in recent years, a series of chemical accidents and other events, engineering costs to design the nearly $2 million in capital projects already approved for bonding, and staff turnover combined with a tight labor market that left the Water Department chronically short-handed and required expensive outside contractors to fill the gaps. The department has recently hired two water treatment plant operators after raising the starting salaries and has hired part-time workers to fill the remaining vacancy.

• Water Commission candidates discuss the issues — March 8, 2020

“We have come to a point like an old house where some of the origin systems are starting to fail and need to be replaced,” Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said in a recorded presentation posted on the 2020 Town Meeting website. 

The capital requests include $125,000 for chemical handling and ventilation system replacement at the water treatment plant. Voters previously approved spending $500,000 for the work, but bids came in 25% over what was budgeted. Jim Hutchinson, a Finance Committee member who has been part of a team reviewing the department’s operations and budgeting, looked carefully for other items to cut, “but we were unable to find that amount of savings, and rebidding would probably not lower the cost and would cost a lot of money in itself,” Hendrickson said.

The rest of the borrowing request comprises $100,000 to install a system to reduce the amount of organic matter in the pond water before it’s treated, and $45,000 to replace some of the obsolete programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in the plant. Possibly due to warming temperatures, organic matter in Flint’s Pond has doubled since 2002, Hendrickson said. This material reacts with the chlorine added later to produce trichloromethanes. Lincoln has slightly exceeded the state-mandated limit for those chemicals in its drinking water over the past year or so.

Replacing all the PLCs would also require new software and would cost $400,000, “and we didn’t feel it was prudent at this time since we didn’t know our long-term plan to invest another $400,000,” Hendrickson said.

Consultants will begin next month formulating recommendations for that long-term plan, which could mean continuing to invest in Lincoln’s plant or switching to getting water from the MWRA. The latter choice would still require an investment of “probably several million dollars” to install the infrastructure to hook up Lincoln’s pipes to the MWRA system, she said.

Hendrickson noted that the commission had also planned to ask for $25,000 for security cameras and electrical evaluation work. The group deferred that for now, though “we may come back for this next year,” she said.

Late last year, the commission said it expected to ask for even more capital spending in fiscal 2022 to replace the aging Tower Road well and remodel the second floor of the pump station. The cost estimate for the well project at the time was $575,000 to be split over two years, so another six-figure amount is likely in the cards for the fiscal 2022 capital budget.

Dismay over continued expenditures

“We’re not really solving a problem, we’re just patching what’s breaking,” Selectman James Craig said at a June 1 meeting of the board where Hendrickson made a similar presentation. “Every year we’re going to need more money to throw at it… are we buying ourselves a sufficient amount of time?” 

Hendrickson replied that almost every major system has been or will soon be repaired or replaced, and “that should carry us for five years minimum.” If the town decides to switch to the MWRA, the process would take three to four years, she said.

“There should have been an opportunity to see this coming several years ago. The timing is unfortunate. It’s frustrating, and I realize it’s frustrating for you as well,” Craig said.

The Water Department is “a complex system and Water Commissioners are not really in a position to understand it in depth. You really have to rely on your superintendent,” Hendrickson said. “Nobody was more shocked than the Water Commission when these things started to happen.” Before current superintendent MaryBeth Wiser was hired, the department “prided itself for years in bringing in budgets that were less than the 4% [annual increase] guidance. We should have been at least meeting that,” she added.

By Alice Waugh

Water usage rates will be going up by 28% as of April 1, and the quarterly base charge will also go up from $35 to $50 for homeowners following a public hearing and Water Commission vote on February 25. The commission also voted to start assessing base charges by dwelling unit rather than water meter, but they decided not to implement that change for those in apartments and condominiums until next year.

The water usage rate hike is slightly less than the 30% that the commission was considering earlier this month. The Water Department is required to collect enough revenue to cover its operating budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2020 and to replenish its retained earnings, which have been depleted by unanticipated expenses. The proposed operating budget of $1.835 million for fiscal 2021 is 38% higher than this year’s.

The biggest change — and the one that drew about 20 residents to a public hearing on a weekday morning — will be felt next year by those who live in apartments and condo complexes, or multi-unit developments (MUDs). Until now, the base charges were based on the number of water meters at a given location, but MUDs almost always have more households than meters (see table below). For example, Lincoln Woods has 125 units but reportedly only five water meters. An exception is Oriole Landing, which will have one meter for every apartment.

The change is an effort to spread the fixed costs of water service across all users. Lincoln has 87 miles of water mains as well as a water treatment plant, a well, a pressure reservoir and other equipment that must be maintained, said Commissioner Ruth Ann Hendrickson. “No matter how much water you use, those fixed costs are required to be supported… this doesn’t cover the whole cost, but it gives us some stability.”

“Implicitly in the past, users who were not in multi-unit developments were subsidizing these costs by paying more than their share of the fixed costs,” Finance Committee member and Water Commission liaison Tom Sander said before the meeting.

The Water Commission is still in the process of finding out exactly how many units and water meters each development has. Preliminary estimates for the base charge increases for MUDs are based on dwelling unit numbers from the Board of Assessors, and the numbers of meters are “educated guesses” based on complexes where the Water Department has conducted checks, said Sander, who helped compile the numbers.

The commission was required by state law to set water rates for fiscal 2021 by April 1, even though it still lacks data about things like accessory apartments, or how many clients and meters there are in group homes in Lincoln.

“We don’t have that information,” Commissioner Michelle Barnes said. “If we can get more hard information on who we can charge, we’d be happy to receive it.” (One of the residents at the hearing said there are 67 registered accessory apartments according to the town building inspector, but that figure could not be immediately verified.) Barnes and her colleagues later voted to make ““best efforts” to identify all of the accessory apartments in town (some of which are not properly registered) and include them in the new per-unit charges when appropriate.

Attendees also complained about the lack of information in the notice of the public hearing, which was not specific about the fee structures to be proposed. Others noted that some condo associations or apartment tenants and landlords had not been directly notified of the impending hike. Hendrickson said much of that contact information isn’t available on the web, though one resident pointed out that the phone number for Farrar Pond Village is listed in the town telephone directory.

“It’s going to disrupt our community, and there will be turnover in units if that increase goes through,” said Lincoln Woods resident Alisar Cohen, adding that tenants currently see rent increase of 4–6% per year. “Those of us in the market-rate units will most affected, but there will be a spillover to the affordable units.”

Condo residents also protested the base-charge change, especially in light of the fact that most condominium associations have already had annual meetings and set budgets for the year. “This is almost the equivalent of having a septic failure or roof collapse—things at that catastrophic kind of level,” said Lincoln Ridge resident Bryce Wolf, who asked the commission to phase in the change more gradually.

The water increases last year and this year are coming at the same time as homeowners are grappling with significant property tax increases due to the $93.9 million school project. Another Farrar Pond Village resident noted that many of the development’s owners are seniors on fixed incomes.

Although the Water Commission discussed a phase-in plan for the base-rate change for MUDs, members ultimately voted 2-1 to approve the original hikes of 28% for water usage and the base-charge increase from $35 to $50 per quarter. “It’s a very big jump in a very short period of time,” said Hendrickson, who voted in favor of the phased-in plan before voting against the final proposal.

The commission also voted to defer billing for the billing change for multi-unit developments until January 2021 to allow time for financial planning by owners and tenants. That change will be reflected in the quarterly bill that goes out in April 2021, and that bill will include the charges retroactive to April 2020, when the other rate hikes are also taking effect.

Health care facilities (the skilled nursing unit at The Commons in Lincoln and the Care Dimensions Hospice House) will pay a base charge calculated by dividing the number of beds by 2.9, which is the average number of people per household in Lincoln.

“Lincoln is already on the high side and will be on the higher side when we raise rates,” Water Commissioner Michelle Barnes said. Her comparison of water rates in nearby towns showed that Lincoln will rise from $706 to $927 annually for customers using 50,000 gallons a year. The average for Bedford, Concord, Lexington, Sudbury, and Wayland at that level of water use is $542, with Lexington the lowest at $329 and Concord the highest at $850. Lexington and Bedford ($472) get their water from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

Some of Lincoln’s overall costs reflect its steep price increases for tiers of water usage, an incentive for conservation. “The more you use, the higher the cost relative to other towns,” Barnes said.

By Alice Waugh

The Water Commission has proposed a water rate increase of 30%, along with a base meter rate hike from $35 per quarter to $50. In addition, the base meter charge for multi-unit complexes would be assessed on a per-dwelling basis, not by a per-meter basis as has been done in the past.

The new rates will be the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. in Town Hall.

The increases, which were endorsed by Lincoln Finance Director Colleen Wilkins, are necessary for the Water Department to meet its projected costs for fiscal 2021. The department is seeking an operating budget that’s 38% higher than this year’s, and it also needs to replenish its retained earnings, which have been depleted by unanticipated expenses over the past year.

After several years of no rate increases, last year’s 25% hike sent into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, largely to finance bonding of almost $2 million. Wilkins recommended that the new rates go into effect for water that’s used starting on April 1.

The proposed meter-vs.-dwelling change is the result of Water Commission research into how neighboring towns charge for housing that has more than one dwelling on a meter. In Lincoln, for example, most single-family homes have a single water meter, but complexes such as Lincoln Woods and the multistory independent-living building at The Commons have many separate dwellings but very few meters (often only one or two).

For medical facilities that have beds rather than dwellings, such as the skilled-nursing portion of The Commons and the Care Dimensions Hospice House, the number of beds will be divided by the number of people that typically dwell in one house in Lincoln, which was about 2.3 several years ago (the Water Commission is double-checking to make sure the figure is accurate today).

Since multi-unit buildings will now incur multiple base charges based on the number of dwelling units, the total bill for the complex will go up, regardless of how much water is used. Multi-dwelling complexes in Lincoln are charged at Tier 1 rates, since they use considerably less water than single-family homes where residents water their lawns and gardens.

“We reached a consensus that it is fair that every dwelling should have an equal part in the basic assessment required to sustain the infrastructure such as pipes, pumps, and treatment plants that varies very little as the amount of water used changes,” Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said. “We are trying hard to base our decisions on data, and we are trying to be fair.”

By Alice Waugh

The Water Department is asking for a significant increase in its operating budget for next year, as well as another substantial hike in water rates. And in a sign of ongoing concern about the department, no less than six residents have taken out nominating papers for the three seats on the Water Commission, which oversees the department.

At its December 10 meeting, the commission approved a budget request for fiscal 2021 of $1.835 million — a 38% increase over this year’s figure. It’s also seeking $250,000 in capital spending, though the department expects to ask for even more in fiscal 2022 to replace the aging Tower Road well and remodel the second floor of pump station. The total cost estimate for the well project is $575,000 to be split over two years, so another six-figure amount is in the cards for the fiscal 2023 capital budget.

The requested spending increases come on top of votes at two Town Meetings last year to approve borrowing for the Water Department totaling almost $2 million. Water rates last year went up by 25% as a result, and they’re expected to rise this year by as much as 30% (or even 34% if the board decides to increase its retained earnings by $150,000 to allow for unanticipated expenses). This would involve hiking the base meter rate, the water usage rates, or both. The average annual total bill this year is $667.

The Water Commission will settle on an approach for hiking rates at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. and has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m.

The explosion in spending over the last two years is a result of several factors: deferred maintenance and insufficient spending on capital projects in previous years, repair costs in 2019 for two water line breaks as well as a chemical leak at the town well on Tower Road, and a rash of staff departures requiring expensive short-term help to keep the water treatment plant operating.

Staff vacancies

More than two-thirds of the proposed operating budget increase in fiscal 2021 is for staff (salaries and overtime) as well as contract labor to fill the gaps created by vacancies. Exacerbating the problem is an ongoing statewide shortage of licensed water operators, especially in the public sector, with dozens of jobs going unfilled for long periods. Lincoln’s openings have been advertised for months with few if any applications, and the town recently raised some starting salaries to attract more applicants.

When Superintendent MaryBeth Wiser was hired in March 2018, the department was at full strength, with a water treatment plant manager and three plant operators in addition to the supervisor and administrative assistant. By February 2019, operator Victor Vasselin and plant manager Heather Clary (a Lincoln resident) were gone. Then just weeks ago in December, around the time a new plant manager was finally hired, the remaining two operators, Jeremy Bernard and Will MacInnes, left. For at least a week, before plant manager Gary Tuck began work, all four of the plant staff positions were vacant.

The commission expects to vote on hiring another new operator at its February 4 meeting, but that will still leave the four-person plant staff at only half strength.

Bernard and several former Water Department employees told the Lincoln Squirrel that morale had been low since Wiser’s arrival, saying she was not qualified and was abusive to staff. By the summer of 2018, about four months after Wiser was hired, complaints about her had reached the point where “employees were lined up daily one and two deep at a time at the front counter of the selectmen’s office,” according to minutes of the commission’s August 8, 2018 meeting.

At that meeting, which devoted considerable time to a discussion of Wiser’s rocky transition, Higgins said he was “astounded that they had to counsel the staff on basic professionalism, basic courtesy and respect for each other and the superintendent” and alluded to “challenges faced by the previous superintendent with the Water Department employees.” He also said that the commission “needs to discuss whether they would like to keep Ms. Wiser [and] Ms. Wiser needs to think about whether she wants to stay.”

Bernard and MacInnes did not respond to requests for comment about the reasons for their departures.

In addition to the plant operator turnover, four administrative assistants have come and gone since late 2018. As a result, the department has had to pay an outside software consultant to help with billing and training the series of administrative assistants. As of July 2019, he had been retained for three quarterly billing cycles at a projected cost of about $38,000.

When asked this week if any of the past administrative assistants had voiced concerns about Wiser and why there had been such rapid turnover in that position, Water Commission Chair Ruth Ann Hendrickson said she could not comment on personnel issues.

Lincoln’s water treatment plant must be fully staffed to maintain its licensure from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and “they’re paying careful attention to that” and requiring “regular, sometimes daily updates,” Town Administrator Tim Higgins told the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on December 9.

MassDEP spokesman Joe Ferson said earlier this month that the agency is “continuing to monitor the situation” and that the town “believes they can manage this situation and is working on a longer-term strategy to come into full compliance with regulatory requirements.” Part of this strategy is budgeting for a new position of utility laborer, which would be filled by someone who would learn on the job in a journeyman capacity and eventually qualify for promotion and licensure.

Extra pay for superintendent

The short staffing has meant many hours of extra work for Wiser, who has has been the only person on call to respond to mechanical problems at the treatment plant in recent weeks. A qualified operator must respond in person to equipment malfunction alarms, some of which are due to aging water filters that can’t be replaced until they arrive on a ship from Australia in late May at the earliest.

Although the superintendent is an exempt job category that’s not entitled to overtime pay, Wiser asked for a stipend to compensate her for the extra hours — a request that took the Water Commission by surprise at its January 7 meeting. “It would have been helpful if you had come to me ahead of time so I could give it some thought,” Hendrickson said.

At that meeting, the commission suggested Wiser take comp time, but the ongoing staff shortages make that impossible, she said. After some discussion, the commission on January 21 approved paying Wiser an additional $7,000 a month retroactive to December 2019 until the new staff members are familiar enough with the plant’s operations to take call after hours. The panel will revisit the matter at its March meeting.

Many Water Commission candidates

The Water Commission itself has undergone considerable turnover as well. Robert Antia and Heather Ring resigned from the three-member panel last year, with Ring citing lack of confidence with Wiser and a “hostile work environment [that] festers.” This required the town to make two emergency short-term appointments in October: Michelle Barnes and Selectman Jennifer Glass. Both terms expire this spring, and Hendrickson’s term is also up, meaning there would be a completely different board after the town election on March 30.

As of this week, six residents had taken out papers to gather the signatures needed to appear on the ballot. Hendrickson announced earlier this month that she would run for a two-year term, her last on the commission, and Steven Kanner has filed papers to run for the same seat. Jim Hutchinson, who is completing his service on the Finance Committee, and Housing Commission member Allen Vander Meulen, who ran for the Board of Selectman in 2017, are eyeing the one-year seat, and Barnes and Ephraim Flint have pulled papers for the three-year seat.