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Our View: Water Commission firing doesn't add up Wednesday Sep 7, 2016 at 12:01 AM We don't often comment on personnel matters — it's hard to know everything that might go into a decision to terminate an employee — but in the case of Sara Bristol, spokeswoman for the Medford Water Commission, we'll make an exception. Bristol has been on the job just 10 months, but has ably handled the issue surrounding the discovery of lead pipes in the system and in explaining the situation to the public. A far better job, we might add, than her boss, Water Commission Manager Larry Rains. Rains not only delayed for months informing the Board of Water Commissioners that lead had been discovered as far back as August 2015, he told the board on May 4 of this year that he was unaware of any lead pipes in the system — the same day that crews found a lead pigtail in west Medford. Rains also resisted repeated requests by the commission's water quality manager to bring to the board her concerns about lead pigtails and corrosive Medford water leaching lead and other metals into the water supply, telling her to keep the board in the dark. It wasn't until June that the Water Commission finally told the public about the lead pigtails, which by then were being found and removed more frequently. The commissioners have urged staff to the keep the public informed, in as transparent a manner as possible, about lead in the system and the steps being taken to remove it. Bristol has been an integral part of that effort. She says she was given no reason for her termination and had not been disciplined during her time there. After the commission learned about the lead, it began a performance review of Rains by a local consultant. The Mail Tribune has filed a public records request for a copy of that review. Perhaps it will explain how the least transparent member of the water commission staff came to dismiss the most transparent. Meanwhile, the commission meets today, and Bob Strosser, a former city council member and candidate for county commissioner, says he'd "like to understand why" Bristol was dismissed. So would we.