Protecting the Community.... Against All Odds!

In July, 2007, a volunteer group of citizens in the City of Taunton, erected a temporary cofferdam.  The temporary dam was built under an “emergency order” from the City’s Conservation Commission. The Citizens group alleged that wells in the area were drying out because of the low level of the lake due in large part to a State Order to keep the deteriorated Morey’s Bridge dam’s gates wide-open.  The State’s Order was to avert a dam crisis similar to what the City faced in 2005.  It would appear that the City failed to perform the necessary site inspection of the wells prior to issuing this order, and also failed to restrict these “emergency repairs” to only the minimal amount necessary to abate the “emergency.” (as required in the Wetlands Pro tection Act.)  The Citizens group alleged that there wells in the area were drying out because of the low level of the lake due in large part to a State Order to keep the deteriorated Morey’s Bridge dam’s gates wide-open.  The State’s Order was to avert a dam crisis similar to what the City faced in 2005.

Evidently, the dam was built without a supervisory engineer and inconsistently from design plans.  Attorney Biedak completed numerous public record requests, spoke to numerous City Officials and concluded that there was nothing in the public record that indicated that the City had done anything to validate an allegation of an “emergency” and did little to ensure the safety of its Citizens.

Further review found that the City of Taunton Conservation Commission authorized the “emergency Certification” even before the dam’s owner could have engineers complete calculation and compile information about safety. Research completed by Attorney Biedak found that the President of the volunteer group scheduled an “amphicar event” on Lake Sabbatia that included entries from as far away as Canada. Newspaper reports indicated that the President of the volunteer group that built the temporary dam, almost had to cancel the event because of low water levels, but fortunately, a temporary dam was built just a month before the event and his event could go on.  Visual evidence would indicate that the President of the volunteer group was photographed in his amphicar that day with an “Elect Charles Crowley, Mayor” sign. 

Believe it or not, it got worse because evidently, once elected, the Mayor, appointed the volunteer group’s engineer, the person originally thought to be overseeing the dam’s construction, to the Conservation Commission. It would appear that sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.

The State DEP ordered review of the temporary structure as far back as August 22, 2007. Despite those orders, according to the dam’s purported owner’s own engineer, the very first inspection of the dam occurred on April 9, 2008.  That report concluded the temporary cofferdam as unsafe, as a high hazard potential and that a breach of the same could cause loss of life.  Despite all that, no action to make this dam safe has occurred. The City and the State, after nine months, have failed to make any substantive changes to the hastily built, unsupervised, leaking, temporary cofferdam.

On July 30, 2007, the Mayor of the City of Taunton forwarded a letter to the DEP asking for an extension (of the already expired) emergency certification and told the DEP that he asked for the same so that, amongst other things, the City could replace the rip rap that was undersized and could cause a safety concern, with larger stone that the original engineering plan called for. As of May 1, 2008, eight months after the Mayor told the DEP that the City would replace the stone, nothing has been done.

In February, 2008, after rather heavy rains, the Mayor asked the Army Corps of Engineers to review the dam and render an opinion on the same.  The very next day, the Taunton Daily Gazette ran a story where the Mayor quoted the Army Corps as stating that the temporary cofferdam was structurally sound.  A public records request found that the Army Corps was surprised to see that quote in the paper because it was their impression that the dam area needed work.  To this date, despite an April 9, 2008, engineering report stating that the temporary dam is unsafe, is a high hazard dam whose failure could lead to loss of life, the City’s Mayor has still never publicly altered his position.  If the Mayor of the City won’t lead t he charge to protect its citizens, who will?

Finally, after nine months of inactivity from the DEP, City, Help Save the Lake, and Jefferson Development, and faced with the potential of heavy spring rains, Attorney Biedak, representing a number of private citizens both upstream and downstream from the temporary cofferdam and Morey’s Bridge dam, filed suit in Superior Court.  The plaintiffs asked the Court, to of all things, keep their property and their families safe. IN the year, 2008, such a thing should not be difficult to achieve.

On April 29, 2008, Attorney Biedak argued to the Court asking it to Order the defendants to immediately make the area safe.  Shockingly, it would appear that the City of Taunton and State DEP argued against public safety. Both governmental agencies argued that the plaintiffs have no standing to sue, and that the Court, has no authority to act because the dam is under DEP’s jurisdiction!  Yes, and perhaps, by the year 2010, the DEP will have gotten around to at least remove the undersized stone.  Perhaps, by that time, half the City will be under water, and there will no longer be any doubt as to “who was right.”

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