PSC didn’t notify public about vote to intervene in Mountain Water case
“The Montana Public Service Commission voted July 1 to intervene in a multimillion-dollar proceeding in Missoula County District Court – but that possibility never appeared on the group’s posted meeting agenda.
In the 5-0 vote, commissioners agreed to petition to intervene in City of Missoula v. Mountain Water Co. and Carlyle Infrastructure Partners. In the eminent domain case, Missoula is trying to force the Carlyle Group to sell the water company to the city.
Missoula City Attorney Jim Nugent said PSC commissioners took “a pretty substantive vote,” and he described the written item in the agenda as “dubious,” given the right of participation the Montana Constitution affords. The city has offered as much as $65 million for the water company.
“I would have some concerns about whether they appropriately provided adequate notice to the public, so that there was reasonable opportunity for citizen participation,” Nugent said.
The matter has drawn a high degree of public interest since at least late 2010, when global investment firm the Carlyle Group announced plans to purchase the local water company along with a couple others in California. Mayor John Engen supported the sale at the time, but in the eminent domain case, the city alleges Carlyle failed to make good on its promise to subsequently sell Mountain Water to the city of Missoula.”
Szpaller, Keia. Missoulian 11 July 2014.