Voters passed an item Tuesday that clarifies what powers the incoming Board of Sewer Commissioners have over labor and personnel matters. However, this was not accomplished before an hour of back and forth debate and two failed amendments to the item.

A measure to establish an elected, unpaid, five-member Board of Sewer Commissioners was passed by Town Meeting last year and signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick in May. Selectmen currently act as sewer commissioners; the election for the new commissioners will take place on April 1.

The Town Meeting item before voters made it explicitly clear that the Town Administrator be in charge of personnel issues and union negotiations, as is required in the Town Charter, while the newly elected Sewer Commissioners would maintain responsibility over sewer policies, the sewer enterprise fund, the appointment of the sewer superintendent and other technical operations.

"Technical" being the operative word for Finance Committee member Marilyn Jordan and other residents who opposed the measure and saw it as back door power grab by the Board of Selectmen.

The measure adds new wording to the Sewer Commissioners Act, including the following: “The Board of Sewer Commissioners’ authority and sewer superintendent’s responsibilities are intended to pertain only to the technical operation of the sewer system and facilities. The Town Administrator shall continue to maintain and exercise administrative control over personnel …”

Jordan said "only to technical operation," limits the new commissioners oversight, especially their fiscal authority.

"It would reduce [the Sewer Commissioners] to nothing more than a technical advisory board and they can be ignored," she said.

Town Attorney Rich Bowen said that the Sewer Commissioners are given fiscal control in the language above the "technical operation" passage in the legislation, which reads, "The powers and the authority of the board [Sewer Commissioners] shall include oversight of the sewer enterprise fund, setting rates and charges for the use of the sanitary sewer system, responsibility for the appointment of the sewer superintendent and providing advice to the Board of Selectmen relating to intergovernmental agreements concerning sanitary sewers."

He also said the current wording of the legislation gives the Sewer Commissioners the power to overrule the Town Charter or a Town Meeting vote, which might not have been what Town Meeting originally intended and is stricken from the legislation in the new wording.

"The point of these changes is merely to clarify the lines of personnel control," said Bowen. "It is the purpose of the charter to make sure that personnel falls under the hands of the Town Administrator."

"The existing law is quite different than the original law that this body passed in 2010 and creates problems that need to be fixed," said Selectman Peter Teitelbaum. "That's why this legislation is here before you tonight."

He reiterated that the Selectmen have no interest in governing the day-to-day operation of the Water Pollution Control Facility and haven't done so in their current capacity as Sewer Commissioners.

"It's simply to align the Sewer Commissioners and sewer department into the town government," he said.

Jordan proposed an amendment to the item that removed the language limiting the Sewer Commissioners to "technical operations" and reinserted the overruling powers the Sewer Commissioners had in the legislation.

It was voted down by a majority of voters. After that, a resident proposed an amendment for further study on the article, which was also quickly voted down.

The original item was taken up more than an hour after debate began and passed with an overwhelming majority.

After all was said and done, it might have been the words of Wareham Fire District Prudential Committee Chairman George Barrett that stuck in the minds of voters, when he said of the legislation, "If you do not mandate this now while you can, it will haunt you forever."