Workers' Hopes Buoyed As Budget Commission Tables Water Plant RFP
Bid to bargain to keep facility public gets boost, board to hear North Smithfield Town Administrator's inquiry.
Ken DeLorenzo, executive director of RI Council 94 AFCSCME, asked the Budget Commission to keep the city's drinking water plant public, offering to negotiate to match savings they'd get by privatizing. The Budget Commission agreed to hear them out, and also delayed a vote on sending a Request for proposal (RFP) out for a new water treatment plant contractor. Budget Commission Chairman Bill Sequino said an e-mail he received from North Smithfield Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton asked to consult with the Budget Commission on the decision. The water treatment plant supplies water to North Smithfield, among other northern RI communities. He said the delay on approving an RFP would allow them to address her questions and comments first…
David T
8:57 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
Not necessarily in favor of the privatization of a new drinking water plant, but I'm in favor of a new plant. The one we have now is archaic people! The tanks and pipes on the insides are rusted. Several times a week the plant's filtration system has to be back washed into the river to rid itself of all the built up contaminants and chemicals that gets collected in the charcoal filters. It comes … more ›