Montpellier’s water utility back into public hands: a process of private management tools re-focusing[La remunicipalisation du service public de l'eau à Montpellier : un processus de refocalisation d'outils de gestion du privé Montpellier's water utility back into public hands: a process of private management tools re-focusing]

A nine-year (2012-2020) intervention research project has produced rich and original empirical material focused on the process through which governance mechanisms and management tools were designed for the régie. Our results suggest that multiple logics were integrated through this process by "refocusing" private sectorinspired management tools. At a coarse grain level, which means roughly analyzed through their generic category, these private-inspired tools seem to have been chosen by referring to market logic. However, at a fine grain level, which means analyzed in depth through their detailed specifications, the same tools convey other logics, namely those of State and technique. The locally elected official promoting the return to a régie system played a key role in this refocusing process. He pushed to adapt private management tools to embrace logics consistent with his political views. This article highlights a process of sense-making that helps to resolve potential tensions arising out of the coexistence of multiple logics.