Water Supply Board to rethink engineer appointment

Concerns over a City Charter provision prompt a special meeting at which the hiring of James L. DeCelles' may be revoked.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 14, 2006

BY JOHN CASTELLUCCI
Journal Staff Writer

PAWTUCKET -- The Water Supply Board has called a special meeting for Tuesday to reconsider -- and possibly rescind -- its vote to offer the top job in the Pawtucket water system to a candidate who isn't a licensed professional engineer.

The meeting could give the board the opportunity to undo an action it took only three days ago, when it voted 5 to 1 to enter into contract negotiations for the chief engineer's post with James L. DeCelles, who has been acting chief engineer most of the year.

Water Supply Board member Pamela J. Braman, who voted against the appointment, said she was doing so not for personal reasons, but because of a City Charter provision that says only a professional engineer -- someone licensed by the state Board of Registration for Professional Engineers -- is eligible for the position.

Mary E. Tetzner, the Water Supply Board chairwoman, said yesterday that one of the things the board will try to determine at Tuesday's meeting is whether that interpretation of the charter is correct.

If it is, Tetzner said, then the board will consider offering to keep DeCelles on as acting chief engineer until he obtains an engineering license.

DeCelles is a highly qualified candidate who has been hard-working and effective as acting chief engineer, Tetzner said.

"I don't want to lose him," she said.

To become a licensed professional engineer in Rhode Island, a person has to have a bachelor's degree in engineering and pass a 16-hour test administered by the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, according to Lois Marshall, the board's administrator.

DeCelles, 39, of North Smithfield, has a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering from Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., and a master's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass.

But when he took the licensing exam in April, he didn't pass, Marshall said.

DeCelles said yesterday that, if the board offers to keep him on as acting chief engineer until he passes the exam, he might be willing to entertain the offer.

"Yeah, I'd consider it," he said.

DeCelles was one of 14 people who applied for the chief engineer's job when it was advertised in April. The names and qualifications of the other candidates haven't been disclosed.

The ad ran in The Boston Globe and the professional journals of the American Water Works Association and the New England Water Works Association. Candidates were instructed to submit a resume and cover letter to Joseph A. Keough Jr., a lawyer who is counsel to the Water Supply Board.

Although the ad listed "registration as a professional engineer or the ability to obtain registration" as a job requirement, Keough said Tuesday he wasn't sure Braman was correct in stating that that was also a City Charter requirement.

"I'm not entirely sure that's what the charter says," he said,

The charter provision requiring the chief engineer to be a professional engineer was passed in 1970 as part of the package of measures establishing the Water Supply Board.

The provision was invoked for the first time just three years later, when it turned out that John J. Morra, the first person hired for the chief engineer's post, wasn't a licensed professional engineer.

Three weeks after Morra's lack of qualifications came to light, the Water Supply Board fired him. "This action is required by provision of law and was taken with deep regret and without prejudice," said Joseph J. Box, who was chairman of the Water Supply Board at the time.