DÉJÀ
VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Dear Customers and Shareholders,
Yogi Berra, the baseball
Hall of Famer, is also famous for his malapropisms. “It’s like déjà
vu all over again” was his way of saying that history often repeats
itself. Yogi would probably agree that this phrase applies to Nashua’s
current efforts to take the assets of Pennichuck Corporation, because
it isn’t the first time that the city has considered doing so.
In the late 1950s, during
the Eisenhower administration, the city had a notion that it could
run the water business more efficiently than Pennichuck. The idea
was prompted in reaction to a water rate increase that was granted
to the company. Ironically, the primary catalyst for the rate increase
was a 70 percent increase in the company’s real estate taxes imposed
by the city of Nashua! Not knowing exactly how to proceed with the
process (or how to avoid political backlash), the city Board of Aldermen
voted to transfer the process to the planning board for a recommendation.
After a brief legal review (and perhaps recognizing the scope of the
issues involved), the planning board sent it back to the aldermen,
indicating that it was up to the aldermen to make any recommendation
regarding any proposed voter referendum. News accounts seem to imply
that no one apparently was prepared to make a decision in this bureaucratic
“Alphonse and Gaston” act and the issue was dropped. (Alphonse and
Gaston was a comic strip from 1902 in which the two characters are
so polite, neither is willing to proceed before the other, and both
are stymied.)
In 1911, when Taft was
in the White House, the city also had the idea that, for efficiency
and local control purposes, it could do a better job of planning for
the local water needs and could run it more cost-effectively. After
considerable public debate, a leading New Hampshire lawyer and prominent
local businessman by the name of George B. French, Esquire, testified
before the state legislature regarding the matter. His testimony indicated,
among other things, that Pennichuck had an outstanding service record,
and that perhaps the city of Nashua could
benefit from following some of Pennichuck’s business practices. The
records seem to indicate that the initiative was quietly dropped forthwith.
When you’ve been in business
as long as we have, you have to expect someone taking a shot at you
every half century or so. After all, we’ve been providing water service
since before the Civil War. In fact, when Pennichuck started the water
works, even the city of Nashua had yet to be incorporated, and our
service territory, if you looked at a map from that period, was largely
an area north of Boston called Nashville. New Hampshire native Franklin
Pierce was President of the United States.
For more than 150 years
(or 31 of 43 presidents), we’ve been the local water company. When
the area needed more water for growth, we planned for it and provided
it. When water filtration was needed, we did it. When more stringent
water quality standards became law, we met them. If it had to do with
water, we were the go-to company and got it done. And we’re
continuing those business practices today as we have in the past.
No bureaucracy. Just business.
We have always worked
with all of the appropriate regulatory authorities, state and federal,
to meet community standards and our customers’ needs. And we have
always sought and received input and advice from the local communities
we served. Not many businesses, not even a water utility, would stay
in business this long if they didn’t meet customer expectations for
quality and service.
In the next installment
of our series, we will discuss public policy issues.
Pennichuck Corporation
December 21, 2003
