Town Lawyer On Cranston Sewer Plan: 'We Don't Get It'

At the core of a recent exchange between Mayor Joseph Polisena and Cranston City Council Vice President Robert Pelletier is a so-called "interjurisdictional agreement" proposed by Cranston for oversight of sewer customers in Johnston.

During a phone interview, Johnston Town Solicitor William Conley explained that the proposed agreement would be "vastly disproportionate" to what Cranston says it needs — namely, the right to monitor and inspect its sewer customers in Johnston.

"We were advised that the principal reason for [the pact] was so that they could do inspections," Conley said. "It's our position — and we told them this in writing — that, although we can't speak for the private property owners, we certainly have no objection to them doing whatever inspections they need to of those establishments."

But the proposed agreement "seems to go far beyond that," said Conley, who added that "less than a handful" of businesses in Johnston are using Cranston sewers.

"That's our basic concern about entering into some kind of formal agreement between the municipal corporations, when [the issue] is really some private property owners in town," Conley explained.

The draft agreement would require Johnston to adopt a sewer use ordinance that aligns with an existing ordinance in Cranston; give Cranston the final say on any changes to Johnston's ordinance; and give Cranston the power to enforce its sewer use ordinance in Johnston.

"We don't quite get it," Conley said. "We don't know why they're looking for a interjurisdictional agreement between municipalities that goes far beyond what the circumstances seem to require."

In a recent letter to Patch.com, Pelletier charged Polisena with filing suit against two companies located at the Central Landfill to distract attention from what Pelletier termed "illegal" sewer and water hookups to the Cranston systems.

Pelletier also blamed Polisena for refusing to sign the draft agreement between the two communities.

Polisena, during a follow-up interview, said he had nothing to do with the sewer tie-ins; that the customers in question are commercial entities; and that Pelletier is trying to distract attention from the fact that Rhode Island Resource Recovery will soon switch its sewer system to Narragansett Bay Commission, potentially costing Cranston some $700,000 a year in revenue.