Wagner, Bissonnette continue their fight over the Water Department

Date: 4/12/2011

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE — The disagreement between State Rep. Joseph Wagner and Mayor Michael Bissonnette over Wagner's delay of a home rule petition to consolidate the Water Depart-ment into the Department of Public Works continued last week.

In response to the statements made by Bissonnette in the story in last week's Chicopee Herald, Wagner issued the following statement: "After scheduling a meeting of the City Council Ordinance Subcommittee to discuss home rule legislation regarding the Water Department, Councilor [James] Tillotson asked if I might attend. I indicated to him since the meeting had been scheduled without confirming my availability, that I would be happy to attend, schedule permitting. After determining that I was unavailable to attend the meeting, I contacted Councilor Tillotson and expressed my concerns about the proposed home rule petition. While an attempt has been made to address the concerns I raised, issues remain which need to be resolved before this matter can advance. I offer no apologies for expressing reservations based on my concerns for Chicopee water ratepayers."

On April 6, Bissonnette posted to his Facebook page, "You Be the Judge: No water rate increase going on third year (water, not sewer — federal court order is making sewer rates go up for construction to keep sewage out of the river). Reform, efficiency, consolidation — seems like good business and management sense to me."

He added later in the day, "You Be the Judge Part 2: Voters amended the state constitution to give cities more power to change local rules. The idea was to allow more local self-governance. It's funny that after five years, six different drafts, several amendments and full committee hearings that included the opinions of three different former city solicitors, now someone thinks they need to get involved. Reform and change."

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