LYNNFIELD — More than six months after the former chair of the embattled Lynnfield Center Water District (LCWD) resigned amid controversy, a new superintendent was tapped Monday night.
John Scenna, a Lynnfield resident, plans to resign as Public Works director in Melrose to take the post on Sept. 9, according to Robert Almy, LCWD board chairman. Under the terms of the three-year contract, he will be paid $158,000 annually.
“Based on the deliberations the board made last week, John is our first choice,” Almy said.
He leaves Melrose at a time when his department faced criticism about the latest sewer backup that wreaked havoc on four Brazil Street homes.
An independent study of the incident completed last week by Weston & Sampson, a Reading engineering firm, found the backup was caused by a number of factors, including 113-year-old six-inch pipes that fail to meet today’s standards.
Scenna could not be reached for comment.
He joins the agency following a turnover of the three-member Board of Water Commissioners and the retirement of its longstanding superintendent.
Today, the panel is comprised of all new commissioners. Almy replaced Chairwoman Constance Leccese after she resigned in January. He was joined by Joseph T. Maney and Anders Youngren earlier this year.
In a letter to former Commissioner Richard Lamusta, Leccese said the demands placed on the commission have escalated dramatically over the past year.
“This is a complex organization,” she wrote. “I feel the district would be better served by a commissioner with more time to devote to the organization’s mission.”
Also in January, former Commissioner Kenneth Burnham, who also served as the district’s water superintendent for about $147,000 annually, retired.
Lamusta chose not to seek reelection.
Last summer, the LCWD faced a ratepayer revolt from dozens of residents who complained about brown water. In December, the panel was denounced for a controversial retroactive water rate increase that took its 2,600 users by surprise. It didn’t help when the panel acknowledged they may have violated the Open Meeting Law when it raised rates.
Almy said Scenna’s priorities for the next year will be to review the water rates, evaluate the possibility of more water supplies, update capital improvement plans, and make sure the brown water problems have been solved.
“We are not getting anywhere near the number of complaints compared to the past about water quality,” Almy said. “We think the flushing program for a portion of the district has partially fixed those problems. We are looking to expand it.”
It turns out Scenna has experienced some of the same water brown water problems at his Cider Mill Road home, Almy said.
Town Administrator Robert Dolan, who was Scenna’s boss as Melrose mayor, praised his former Public Works director.
“He is positively outstanding and totally capable to take on this important job of reforming and improving the Lynnfield Center Water District,” he said. “He will build on an excellent workforce that has done a great job.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].
