More than 100 residents joined in the Brockton Water Party to protest the billings and procedures of the Brockton water department. The water department has been in many cases going back and billing up to 12 years and citizens are receiving huge water bills. The water department is saying this is because the people have been receiving estimates all those years and have finally gotten an actual read and an actual bill. Many residents have asked for consumption reports and those that have gotten them like Robert Ford has said "according to their own reports they actually owe me money". Mr.Fords bill exceeds $10,000 and when he went to the water department they tried to adjust it to $4,700, but Mr.Ford says "They still couldn't explain to me how they arrived at that figure." Mr. Ford has a pool and his own pool holds 20,000 gallons of water and they are saying its because of his Pool.
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| Brockton police giving thumbs up for peaceful protest |
Mr.Ford has been billed for using over 1,000,000 gallons of water he would of had to "fill his pool about 57 times in the last 8 years to consume that much water" says Ford. All of the local Boston area TV stations were there as well as the Enterprise and Mike Melanson from WATD and Lisa Crowley of
http://www.brocktonpost.com/
City Councilors Michelle Dubois and Thomas Brophy were there along with several other political leaders from the Brockton Area. The rally began about 3:30 with Ayanna Cato telling a little bit about her story with the $100,000 water bill she received and then informing residents about the group that is forming and signing their names for future contact. Ms.Cato talk about the Brockton Water Rally sheet informing residents what else they can do to help change the current procedures that the Brockton water department is using.
Overall you got a sense of frustrations from the residents. They were paying their bills and when they received the huge bills called or even went to the water department and got very little help or any real explanation as to why their bills are so high. Every thing has been blamed from leaky water faucets and toilets, to huge tree's growing outside people's house's to even don't run the water when you brush your teeth, even though this gentleman wears denture's.
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| Crowd starts to gather as rally begins |
The problem has been growing for years and this is the end result, it has blown up. The billing software needs to be updated, water meter batteries are failing and haven't been maintained. The water department uses different kinds of meters, some which need to be read manually. Now all this will be fixed with the new water meters that is costing the city 11 million dollars. So who do we blame. Is the department 50% at fault and the residents 50% or is the department 20% and the residents 80% at fault. According to Mr. Thoreson even though they have a problem the residents still have to pay these bills as he said on one of the TV stations last night.
Residents are willing to accept that there is a huge mess at the water department and are agreeable to going back one year to collect, but they still can't explained as to how they got their numbers. Again how did they take a $12,000 bill and lower it to $4,700 without any explanations. The next meeting is on September 7th at 7pm in City Hall. Residents are asked to show support in this because they are asking for an audit of the department which is badly needed. Before the audit, action needs to be taken by our leaders to stop all the liens and interest and take back the bills that have been placed on resident's mortgage's.
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| Marianne and Ayanna setting up for the Rally |
The water commission which is a 5 member board appointed and non-salaried met last night in a closed executive meeting. They report to the Mayor and make recommendation's about the water department. When the minutes are available they will be posted here. I am looking into the exact power that this commission holds and what there recommendation's are. Patrick Quinn who was placed on the commission this April has spoken against the policies and procedures within the water department and has been a strong supporter of change in this department. He was also in attendance at the rally.
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| 55k Bill |
The owners of this Condo association have been having trouble since 2007 with their water bills. After receiving a bill for $55k they were able to get the bill reduce to the correct amount. Thankfully in their case there was a positive resolution.
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| Condo association get results |
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| Brockton resident who has water billing problems |
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| Water bills don't add up |
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| City Councilor Michelle Dubois |
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| Media starting to set up at Water rally |
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| Start of the first speakers |
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| Paul Taylor shows his support for Brockton residents |
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| Robert Ford speaking at the rally |
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| Patrick Quinn from the water commission |
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| Amy Littlefield of the Enterprise and Robert Ford |
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| Residents making a change |
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| Double click |
The agenda for the water rally and the focus of the group forming is outlined in the above form. Just double click to get a full view for what the next step in this process is. I asked Ayanna Cato what comes next and she said that within the next week or so that the group will becoming up with a name and they need suggestions, they will have their own website or blog site where residents can come and get information and with all the signatures given today they will have a means to start having one voice and a way of people staying in touch with each other and moving forward. I asked her if legal action is out of the question and she told me "if that's what it takes, that's what we will do."The group is also thinking of starting some type of legal counsel fund to take further action.
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| Who says you cant fight City Hall |
