Reeves Criticizes Healy's Appointments to Water Board

Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 Monday night criticized the city manager for appointing only whites to the city's restructured Water Board.

At the City Council meeting Monday night, Reeves said City Manager Robert W. Healy, who appointed the five-member board, neglected to consider the importance of a diverse body.

"It just does not seem to me that [it] could be in 1994 that they're proposing an entirely new water board that has no racial diversity--that just seems...impossible," Reeves said.

Healy said at the meeting that he would respond to Reeves' concerns.

"I anticipate rectifying the situation," he said. "I will tell you that it will be done. Give me time."

According to Timothy W.D. MacDonald, manager of water operations for Cambridge, the Water Board "serve[s] in an advisory and policy-guiding role for the Department [of Water]."

Healy's planned rectification is likely to come next year, said Michael A. Nicoloro, who is the city water department's managing director.

Healy staggered the terms of office for the Water Board members so that one new member will be appointed every year, Nicoloro said.

But the mayor still expressed dissent about the appointments.

"I would like to register disappointment," Reeves said. "This is very, very tough."

The five board members, who will begin serving on December 15, include one previous member, Paul Flynn, and one member of the water department who had served as an advisor to the Water Board, Joseph Harrington. The three new members are Kevin Rogers, Ann Roosevelt and Jonathan Yen Nicoloro said.

"I know that [Healy] was looking for diversity," Nicoloro said. "It's on the tip of his tongue."

Healy did not return phone calls made to his office yesterday.