WOBURN - A resolve attempting to patch up an ongoing dispute between the City Council and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), with the mayor and water meters at the center of the controversy, only seemed to fuel the fire.

At the end of this week's City Council meeting, a resolve was introduced by Aldermen-at-large Joanna Gonsalves and Paul Denaro, calling for the City Council to support the mayor and the Administrative Consent Order (ACO) and to begin working cooperatively with DEP to resolve the city's water issues.

However, on a 5-4 vote, and after some contentious debate, the resolve was defeated with several councilors stating they are not ready yet to wipe the slate clean on this one. Several added residential water meters may lead to conservation but there is another presumption ... higher rates.

Voting against the resolve were Ward 4 Alderman James Dwyer, Ward 5 Alderman Darlene Mercer Bruen, Ward 3 Alderman Scott Galvin, Ward 6 Alderman Michael Raymond and City Council President Charles Doherty.

Following the vote, Galvin called for an update from the mayor's office on where the city stands with the ACO. The motion was approved 9-0.

In 2006, after DEP received dirty water complaints associated with the installation of a pumping station off Montvale Avenue at the new high school, Mayor Thomas McLaughlin signed an Administrative Consent Order with DEP which included sanctions if a residential metering program is not developed.

When announced a few weeks back, City Councilors expressed outrage they were only learning about this now.

The resolved this week called for the City Council to "support the actions of the mayor in executing an Administrative Consent Order with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the interest of protecting and preserving water and water quality in the city."

Any prolonged battle, Denaro argued, would only lead to fines and attorney fees for the city in a battle the state DEP will end up winning.

"We need them (DEP) for too many things," Denaro said.

He said a discussion he had recently with a DEP official indicated they were done playing around with the City of Woburn over the issue of residential water meters.

The resolve, he said, "is just putting out the olive branch to the DEP."

Ward 5 Alderman Darlene Mercer Bruen said the 2006 consent order, signed by the mayor agreeing to residential water meters as part of an overall agreement with DEP, was never brought before the City Council.

While the DEP may argue this is about water conservation, Mercer Bruen said it is all about rates and said bills, even for those who use very little water, will go up.

For years, she said, residents have put up with all the local industry and business, and all the associated traffic, because rates for some things, like water and sewer, have remained low.

The impression is that a senior citizen, who uses very little water, will get a break, but that will not end up being the case, she said.

Larger families will be hit much harder, she said.

Ward 7 Alderman Raymond Drapeau said the city will soon be forced into accepting residential meters, but added it should begin working now to establish billing structures and rates that will help keep bills low.

Ward 6 Alderman Michael Raymond said this is a double-edge sword. If the city doesn't go along with the DEP, it will face significant fines, but he said, the bottom line is the vast majority of residents don't want meters.

Gonsalves said the City Council at this point has two choices. It can continue to fight the DEP on the water meters or become part of the process and get involved in discussions on issues such as costs and billing options.

She said the City Council's Water Committee was a perfect forum for such discussions.

Ward 3 Alderman Scott Galvin said the City Council should have been involved in the decision- making process right from the start and the order should never have been agreed to by the mayor without bringing the matter before the council first, on several different levels.

"The bigger issue is the water meters," Galvin said, noting he wasn't going to extend an olive branch to the mayor, as he intentionally left the council of out of discussions that in the long run will cost the taxpayers.

"Do I want meters? No," said Ward 2 Alderman Richard Gately, but he said the city needs the DEP for too many other things to fight them on the one issue. He said the city will now have to work to set rates and billing structures that are fair.

City Council President Charles Doherty, who stepped down from the chair to argue against the resolve, stated because the mayor signed the consent order, in part agreeing to the residential water meters, "The DEP should be happy. The residents should be upset."

The DEP, Doherty said, suggests this is about water conservation, but he said funding for meters and the like will take $5 million away from efforts to improve water quality.

Doherty argued that as long as the city produces more than 50 percent of its own water, the DEP can't mandate the residential meters.