EDITORIAL

We can’t kick the can

Posted 7/2/15

More than three years ago, former Marine and Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur took on what some considered a fool’s task. In the face of mounting distrust of the Warwick Sewer Authority and …

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EDITORIAL

We can’t kick the can

Posted

More than three years ago, former Marine and Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur took on what some considered a fool’s task. In the face of mounting distrust of the Warwick Sewer Authority and suggestions the authority be scrapped, Ladouceur called for the creation of a Council Review Commission.

Not surprisingly, some of the council’s loudest critics of the sewer authority were content to let him try to come up with a plan, although we suspect they never imagined he would get too far.

Ladouceur had an interest in putting the authority on a firm footing. Many of his constituents have been promised sewers for years, but because of a number of factors including a lack of funding they were never built. Meanwhile, many of these same constituents who live on small lots next to the bay have cesspools that they must replace, by state law, with either an approved septic system or sewer connect.

The councilman was relentless. He put together a commission comprised of stakeholders – even a representative of the Narragansett tribe because of archeological features in the area – to look at all aspects of authority operations.

Ladouceur’s diligence paid off. In 2013 the City Council approved $33 million in bond funding to extend sewers in six projects and an additional $23 million to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant to meet new effluent standards.

More remained to be done.

The commission wrestled with the method of assessments that unfairly charged large property owners, among others; questioned the high interest costs of assessment payments when the authority could borrow the money for so much less; and sought means to help those who could not afford sewers. Provisions to address these and other issues were combined into an enabling legislation package and sent to the General Assembly for its approval.

Ladouceur discovered more than hard work and logical answers were needed to get the package approved. His initial effort failed last year, and this time he returned to the State House prepared to inform legislators of what he wanted to do and, as it turned out, make concessions.

What neither he nor others could foresee was the abrupt recess of the House, which left the enabling bill, not to mention a slew of other legislation, in a suspended state indefinitely.

The measure had become collateral to other battles between the House and the Senate. The bill could come up if the legislature reconvenes this fall. It could come up in 2016. And conceivably everything will need to be repackaged if that is possible.

But Ladouceur isn’t giving up.

With the state legislative door closed for at least the moment, Ladouceur is turning his attention to whether the same objectives can be achieved through other means.

It appears even he is living up to one of his pet phases, that we “can’t kick the can down the road any longer.”

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  • Reality

    John Howell didn't mention that the bill failed at the statehouse because of Ladouceur's incompetence. Eddie can try to spin it every which way but he knows what really happened.

    If he was still a marine, he would have been relieved of command and stripped in rank.

    Friday, July 3, 2015 Report this