Residents Urge NV Twp. to Scrap Sewerage Deal

Citizens present petition to sanitary board calling for end to Aqua deal

By T.J. Martin
The Tube City Almanac
August 01, 2024
Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News

A group of North Versailles Twp. residents is hoping to convince the township commissioners to reject a proposed purchase of the township sanitary authority by a for-profit company.

In December, the North Versailles Twp. Sanitary Authority voted 5-0 to approve an asset purchase agreement with Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater Inc. Aqua is owned by Essential Utilities Inc. of Bryn Mayr, Montgomery County, the parent company of People’s Gas. It operates in nine states and has more than 3,100 employees.

Under the agreement, Aqua would pay between $25 million and $30 million for the township sewer system, including the pipes and three pumping stations. To take effect, the agreement will need the approval of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

When the agreement was approved in December, a consultant hired by the township said it would take four to six months to get the final agreement to the PUC and it was hoped the transaction could be closed by the end of 2024.

At the time, only one township resident appeared to voice opposition to the sale, first before the township commissioners when they heard about the proposal in November and then before the sanitary authority board in December.

But now, a group of residents who say they only recently learned of the proposed sale have spoken out to both the commissioners and the authority board to let them know they oppose it.

With about 30 residents in attendance, the latest meeting of the sanitary authority board was moved from the smaller board room of that authority to the larger meeting room in the township municipal building.

Many of those in attendance had also attended the commissioners meeting held in that meeting room the previous week and, in exchanges that at one point got heated, had complained that the public was not notified about a matter that could have long-range ramifications for township residents.

Township Manager Joe Varhola said that a representative from Aqua will be at the Aug. 15 commissioners’ meeting to outline Aqua’s proposal for residents as the company did at the November meeting. Commissioner Russell Saula proposed that a letter be sent to every township resident notifying them of the meeting and the board unanimously approved that proposal.

“Anything of this magnitude, a letter should be sent to let (residents) know what’s going on,” Saula said after the meeting.

At the sanitary authority meeting, resident Sharon O’Toole was the first to address the authority board. She advised them that she has begun a petition for residents who oppose the sale to let the commissioners know their feelings and had copies of it at the meeting for residents to sign.

The petition reads: “I am AGAINST the sale of North Versailles Township’s Sanitary Authority to Aqua PA. I see no benefit to the residents or Township of North Versailles by selling our sanitary authority and giving up all rights and control to Aqua PA. It concludes, “If the sale goes through, we will have no recourse.”

Sanitary Authority Solicitor Jack Cambest told residents, “There is no agreement to sell.” The board vote in December was a request to the PUC to review if a sale would be in the best interest of residents, Cambest said.

“At any point in time, any party can back out of the agreement,” he said, also noting, “The sale will ultimately be done by the commissioners.”

Sanitary Authority Board member Paul Saula, whose brother Commissioner Russell Saula proposed sending a letter to residents of the township to advise them of the Aug. 15 meeting, said the envelopes made out to every township resident were in the municipal building and stamped and the rough draft of the letter was in his phone.

He said he was waiting for clarification of one issue in the letter from the township engineer and once he received that, he would finish the letter and send them out.

One of the approximately 10 residents who addressed the board asked what the township would do with the money they would receive if the sale is approved.

Saula said he believes some of the commissioners would like to apply a portion of that money toward a new municipal building. He said he agreed that the current building, completed in 1979, is “outdated,” but said he has told the commissioners that he thinks a bond should be issued to pay for a new municipal building rather than using any proceeds from the sanitary authority sale.

“Once you give up something you have, you ain’t getting it back,” Saula said.

“We have to stay together as a team,” Sanitary Authority board member Romodore Abdullah told the residents. “We have to stay vigilant. We have to stay together and pray together.”

Every member of the five-member sanitary authority said they would be attending the Aug. 15 commissioners meeting.

Following the meeting, O’Toole said, “I think the people have spoken.”

T.J. Martin is a Trafford-based freelance writer whose work has also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Irwin Standard Observer.

Originally published August 01, 2024.

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