Two months after asking the town’s legislative delegation to look at the possibility of merging the North Tiverton and Stone Bridge water districts, the Tiverton Town Council voted to rescind the recommendation last week after backlash from the community.

Residents of North Tiverton had been critical of the move from the beginning, arguing that it would require them to pick up the slack for Stone Bridge, which had poorer infrastructure than its North Tiverton equivalent.

At last week’s meeting, North Tiverton Water District's attorney Ken Trembley acknowledged that merging the two districts was not necessarily a poor idea, but more work needs to be done before a decision is made.

“The water districts are utilities, they are not governmental functions,” Trembley said, adding that he does not believe Tiverton could merge the two districts, even with approval from the general assembly.

Councilor Deborah Janick, who opposed the potential merger, said she heard from many constituents who shared her opinion:

“There just was no thought behind it, there was no investigation, there was no research, there was no discussion between the two departments,” she said,describing the original vote as premature.

Councilors Denise DeMediros and Craig Committoo, the liaisons to both respective water districts, also voted to rescind the resolution, and said there is a lot of information that still needs to be gathered before a decision can be made. They were joined by councilor Mike Burk, who was not on the council when the original vote took place.

On the other side, councilor John Edwards, who had previously recused himself from the original vote due to a potential conflict of interest which he said has since been resolved, continued to defend the possible merger.

“It is not long-term viable to maintain two separate water infrastructures for 4,000 customers,” he said. Edwards also mentioned that Stone Bridge already sells water to North Tiverton and does so at a loss.

The resolution passed with a 4-2 vote, with Edwards and fellow councilor David Perry voting against. Councilor David Paull, who had introduced the original resolution, abstained from the vote.

Edward later said the issue will likely continue to be discssed, as early as the next town council meeting.

“We cannot continue along this course,” Edwards said.