NVT Commission Rejects Sewer Authority Sale

Residents opposed $25M+ privatization deal

By T.J. Martin
The Tube City Almanac
September 09, 2024
Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News

Residents filled the North Versailles Township meeting room before the township commissioners’ latest meeting to voice their opposition to a proposed sale of the township’s sanitary authority to a for-profit company. (T.J. Martin photo for Tube City Almanac)

After two votes before two standing-room-only gatherings of residents, a proposal which would have seen the operations of the North Versailles Twp. Sanitary Authority taken over by a for-profit company has been officially rejected.

In December, the sanitary authority board voted 5-0 to move forward with an asset purchase agreement with Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater Inc. Aqua is owned by Essential Utilities Inc. of Bryn Mawr, 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, any agreement would need the approval of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and it was hoped an agreement could be closed by the end of 2024.

In July, however, a group of residents told both the sanitary authority board and the township commissioners that they were opposed to the proposed sale. The commissioners heard about the proposal from Aqua officials in November and voted at that time to allow the sanitary authority to continue to investigate the proposed sale.

The commissioners told those residents that Aqua officials had agreed to attend the commissioners’ August meeting and present to the residents information about their proposal.

At that meeting, more than 80 residents, many wearing stickers with the word “NO” printed on them, attended, filling the township meeting room to overflowing, forcing some to stand in an adjacent hallway in the municipal building or view the proceedings from the outside through the meeting room windows.

Board of Commissioners President Frank Bivins told them that Aqua was not coming because the board had received Aqua’s offer of $21 million and notified the company that they rejected it.

Commissioner Russell Saula added, “No other deals are on the table. It’s done.”

He then made a motion to reject Aqua’s offer and terminate the deal and that motion passed 6-0 with Commissioner Joseph Kutch absent.

Sharon O’Toole led the residents’ opposition to a sale and gathered more than 600 signatures on a petition asking the commissioners to reject any deal. “I’m ecstatic,” she said after the meeting.

The North Versailles Twp. Sanitary Authority Board met a week and a half after the commissioners’ meeting and again, the township building’s meeting room had a standing-room-only crowd.

Solicitor Joseph Dalfonso of Dodaro, Matta & Cambest P.C. began the meeting by announcing that Aqua had sent the township a joint agreement to terminate the asset purchase agreement.

The board voted 5-0 to agree to terminate the agreement.

“This authority doesn’t want to sell,” Board Chairman Frank Pearsol said. “We think it’s well-run, we think we do a good job.”

O’Toole asked that if such a sale is considered by the authority in the future, residents be notified. Dalfonso said new regulations passed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in July dealing with the sale of authorities to for-profit companies call for greater public outreach when such a sale is considered.

Those new regulations also affected the amount offered by Aqua, which the company initially estimated would be between $25 million and $30 million.

“Aqua Pennsylvania recently adjusted its purchase offer to $21 million based on changing guidelines from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC),” a statement from Aqua Communications Manager Patrick Wenger reads.

The statement acknowledges that the township rejected the offer and concludes, “While Aqua Pennsylvania is disappointed, we completely understand and accept the township’s process and its position.”

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 September 09, 2024.

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