The city's plan to end a 13-year arrangement with a company that runs Buffalo's water system and sign a new deal with an operator based in France moved forward Wednesday.

In a 4-0 vote, the Buffalo Municipal Water Finance Authority approved plans to award a 10-

year contract to Veolia Water. Wednesday's action sets the stage for final approval by the

Common Council, which is expected to vote on the pact in early May.

City officials said they're convinced Veolia will provide better customer service at a

lower price.

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• Document: Presentation about management of Buffalo water system



• Earlier: French-based firm is city’s choice to run water system

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American Water Services has operated the city's system since 1997. While AWS garnered

positive reviews in its early years, some city officials and consumer advocates claimed

customer service has slipped more recently.

Veolia operates numerous municipal and industrial water systems, including a system in

Indianapolis that is 3 times larger than Buffalo's operation.

City officials said they carefully reviewed Veolia's operations, even making a visit to

Indianapolis to talk with water experts in that city. Bryan T. Smith of CRA Infrastructure &

Engineering helped Buffalo's board research the company. Smith said Indianapolis has been

pleased with the operator, including its customer service performance.

"It was all positive. We found no smoking gun," Smith told officials.

If Veolia fails to hit certain customer service benchmarks, it would have to pay financial

penalties. The water system also would adopt a new "bill of rights" for customers aimed at

making operations more user-friendly and transparent. In addition, the contract would abolish

a controversial 21 percent fee that is currently charged for delinquent payments.

Veolia would be paid $5.07 million annually, about 10 percent less than AWS is currently

paid, water officials said.

As part of the pact, Water Board Chairman Oluwole A. McFoy said Veolia will pay all

nonlabor-related costs for running the system, including supplies, vehicles and insurance. The

city will continue to provide municipal workers to make water repairs, handle billing and

perform other tasks.

Under the contract, the city must assign at least 117 workers. Veolia is expected to hire

five managers and support personnel.

South Council Member Michael P. Kearns, who sits on the Water Finance Authority, asked

about a dozen detailed questions at Wednesday's meeting. Kearns, a frequent critic of water

operations, said he still has some questions that will be pursued when the Council holds a

hearing prior to voting on the contract.