March 27, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 3 Allendale Mayor defends water deal, invites public to meeting by John Koster Allendale Mayor Vince Barra has urged residents to become educated and come out to borough hall when the contract on Allendale’s water services comes up for public vote at on March 28 at 8 p.m. The mayor took umbrage at “inflammatory, misleading, and false information about the proposed contract involving the operation of the Water Department.” Allendale will vote on March 28 to essentially give United Water the responsibility for managing what has been the Allendale Water Company, a borough-managed operation that has drawn on United Water for emergency water during summer dry spells for a decade. Mayor Barra said the initiative to find an outside manager for the Allendale Water Company had been discussed at public meetings and in the press for more than a year. He said there was nothing secretive about the proposal. He disputed a statement he quoted from Food & Water Watch, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., that “the water privatization contract was negotiated behind closed doors.” Some negotiations did take place during closed sessions, which is legal, but the intention to have an outside agency take over control of the Allendale Water Company had been widely discussed in open session. Allendale, in fact, had advertised for offers and had received three: $590,000 from United Water, $970,026 from Ridgewood Water, and $1,018,190 from Newark Water. The offer from United Water, Mayor Barra said, would result in a savings of $193,000 annually, or $965,000 over the five years of the proposed contract. Barra also repeated, as he had said previously, that all three full-time employees of Allendale Water Company would be retained either by United Water or by the Allendale Department of Public Works. He said the statement about loss of jobs in the community was false and misleading. Allendale will, the mayor said, retain ownership of all the equipment in the water system and intends to maintain it. The contract may be canceled at any time with 90 days notice. He said the statement from Food & Water Watch that Allendale “has to pay for repairing and replacing any piece of equipment that costs more than $5,000 or last more than five years” is misleading. Food & Water Watch, Barra said, asserted that Allendale “will have to pay more...if maintenance costs exceed $65,000 or if more than 10 water main breaks or valves break in a year.” According to Barra, “The borough intentionally set $65,000 in the RFP (Request for Proposals) based on our (continued on page 10)