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Date: 6/30/2021
LONGMEADOW – The town of Longmeadow has been put on notice by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). At the June 21 meeting, Select Board Chair Thomas Lachiusa shared a letter from the DEP informing the town that its water usage levels, which ranged between 92 and 120 gallons per person per day (G/P/D) during each of the last three years, far exceeds the DEP’s conservation goal of 65 G/P/D. The town was instructed to submit a plan to address the usage by Sept. 1.
Town Manager Lyn Simmons said that quarterly billing and consideration of a bylaw may help people curb water use, but so would a public awareness campaign. She noted that Longmeadow’s usage rate was the second-highest of all Massachusetts towns with public water in 2020.
Select Board Clerk Steve Marantz encouraged the board to implement a tiered water system, something that has been suggested previously, but not yet examined. Select Board member Mark Gold noted that when water usage drops, rates increase. He suggested incentives similar to the subsidies that have helped to increase the adoption of residential solar power. Lachiusa offered the idea of installing a well for lawn irrigation, which the letter suggested was likely to blame for the excessive water usage.
Simmons said the town will draft a letter to the state with several ideas of how to tackle the issue.
During a public ascertainment hearing regarding contract negotiation with telecom provider Comcast, Marantz asked if there were any need for a competitive bidding process.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that,” said Stephan Wolman of the Cable Advisory Committee. He explained that the law entitles Comcast to continue its franchise as long as they have lived up to the stipulations of the franchise agreement. While the contract isn’t exclusive, it would be cost-prohibitive for another company to install the infrastructure to compete against the existing provider, especially as there are only about 5,400 customers to compete over.
“Basically, our negotiating position is we have no negotiating position,” Marantz said. “Whatever Comcast says, ‘This is what we’re going to do, folks,’ that is what they’re going to do.”
Gold disagreed and reminded everyone that Longmeadow doesn’t have to renew the contract. The alternative would be streaming services, he said, though he acknowledged that Comcast also provides the internet. “Comcast needs to earn our renew,” he said and asked the representative for Comcast, Eileen Leahy, “What is Comcast doing to continue to invest in Longmeadow?”
While Leahy didn’t have information specific to Longmeadow, she said that Comcast was “continually” upgrading its infrastructure. “We’re getting bigger, better, stronger, more reliable,” she said, though Gold called the service reliability in town “atrocious.” Leahy said she was willing to look at specific parts of town with issues and find out what upgrades have been done in the town.
Marantz addressed Leahy. “If you don’t know what Comcast has done for Longmeadow, that doesn’t say good things about Comcast and Longmeadow.” Gold agreed with Marantz and added that Comcast’s rep should have service complaint information “so we know if there’s a trend. “Instead, we get three letters a month saying you’re changing channels,” Gold remarked.
Lachiusa noted that residents with Comcast issues should alert the Cable Advisory Committee.
Wolman later reported on options for a fiber network run by the town. Lachiusa asked if the town could make money from it as a utility. Wolman said the purpose was not to make money but to drive down prices as competition for Comcast.