Residents Question Aquarion On Sale Of Bethel Water

Bethel residents were given the opportunity to question town officials, managers from Aquarion Water Company and representatives from the state Department of Public Health (DPH) and Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) on the proposed sale of Bethel Water Systems to Aquarion.

View the first round of videos from Monday's hearing above. Check back with Bethel Patch later today for more.

The $7.2 million sale is pending a referendum vote — date to be set at a town meeting Wednesday — and approvals from both the DPH and PURA.

Monday’s public hearing was unique, according to First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker, who is also chair of the town’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

“Usually a hearing is for the boards who are going to vote on the subject to hear comments from the public,” he said. “In this instance, because of the nature of this, the process is reversed. The PUC and Selectmen have no further vote on this at all.”

The special town meeting Wednesday night (7 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Municipal Center) will decide the date and time of the referendum vote and an additional public hearing has been scheduled for July 16.

The second public hearing had to be scheduled to comply with the state statutes governing the sale of public land that require the town notice the hearing at least twice, two days apart.

Holding a public hearing after a town meeting is unusual, Knickerbocker agreed, however since the town meeting is only to set the date for the town-wide vote and the second hearing will be held before that vote, it won’t affect the process.

“The Board of Selectmen moved it straight to a referendum vote,” Knickerbocker explained. “We felt it was important that the entire town weigh in on it,” rather than just those who can make it to a town meeting on a Wednesday night.

“This is a choice we are giving our voters because we are at a crossroads and have to decide, do we want to manage our own water,” he said.