Water board picks new engineer

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

BY JOHN CASTELLUCCI
Journal Staff Writer

James L. DeCelles has been acting chief engineer since January.

PAWTUCKET -- The Water Supply Board voted last night to enter into negotiations to hire James L. DeCelles as chief engineer and superintendent of the Pawtucket water system, despite a City Charter provision that requires that the job go to a licensed professional engineer.

DeCelles, who is acting chief engineer, has two engineering degrees, plus extensive experience in the water business.

But he hasn't yet passed the exam administered by the state's Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, and thus doesn't fulfill the requirements of the City Charter.

"No person shall be eligible to election to the office of such superintendent or chief engineer," the charter says, "unless he shall be a professional engineer."

For that reason, board member Pamela J. Braman voted against DeCelles. "Based on the requirement of the charter and not on personal reasons," Braman said, "I vote no."

The other five Water Supply Board members voted in favor of entering into negotiations to offer a contract to DeCelles, who was one of two finalists for the post.

Thomas E. Hodge, a City Council member who sits on Water Supply Board, made his vote conditional on DeCelles obtaining a professional engineer's license within a year. None of the other board members, including the Water Supply Board's chairwoman, Mary E. Tetzner, attached any such condition to their vote.

The position pays well. The previous chief engineer, Pamela M. Marchand, was making $117,000 a year when she left to become head of the Providence water system.

DeCelles, 39, of North Smithfield, has been acting chief engineer since January, when he was appointed to take Marchand's place.

Despite his lack of an engineering license, he was widely expected to be offered the chief engineer's position. In an interview before yesterday's meeting, Marchand said she was pleased.

"Jim's terrific. Essentially he's got a lot of knowledge. ... Once I convinced him to take the acting position, I felt better about leaving," she said.

DeCelles was assistant chief engineer from March 2005 until January 2006, when Marchand left. Prior to coming to Pawtucket, he was superintendent of the North Smithfield Water Department, and utilities manager in North Attleboro, Mass.

He has a bachelor of science in environmental engineering from Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., and a master's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. He grew up in North Smithfield and attended North Smithfield High School.

Water Supply Board members said DeCelles has done a good job since taking the acting chief engineer's post. Marchand said he has the ability to get into the details of a problem or project, but can also sit back and see the big picture.

Those are important qualities, she said, because DeCelles will have a staff -- the Pawtucket Water Supply Board employs just 52 people -- and enormous responsibilities.

In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Pawtucket water system, DeCelles will be responsible for two major ongoing projects: construction of a new water treatment plant, and rehabilitation of the water system's 240 miles of water mains, or pipes.