The first meeting of the Board of Sewer Commissioners took place on Saturday at the town Water Pollution Control Facility. The Commissioners held a formal meeting and then took a tour of the facility with Water Pollution Control Facility Director Guy Campinha.

The Board of Sewer Commissioners is a five-member, elected board with authority over sewer plans, policies, rates and other similar matters – taking them off the shoulders of Selectmen. The board is made up of Donna Bronk, Marilyn Jordan, Jim Giberti, Malcolm White and Susan Sweeney.

The board was established by Town Meeting in 2013, signed into law by former Gov. Deval Patrick last May and the board was elected during the town eating contests last month.

Selectmen voted to accept a draft policy for the new sewer rate system at the last Selectmen meeting. The policy is a set of guidelines and it will be up to the Commissioners to decide how many, if any, will be adopted. For the time being, sewer users will continue to be billed on the EDU rate system.

Currently, Wareham sewer users pay a flat annual $596 per EDU (equivalent dwelling units). A single-family home is charged one EDU, while a two-unit duplex is generally charged two EDUs. Businesses are similarly scheduled. For example, restaurants are charged one EDU per 12 seats; gas stations are charged one EDU per service island.

The draft policy proposes a blended system that bills all users a flat rate and then a usage based fee on top of the flat rate.

"I think we have a great group here," Bronk said. "We're here to help and make things better."

The next meeting of the Board will be on May 7 in the town Multi-Service Center.