WEST HANOVER TOWNSHIP WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY

7901 JONESTOWN ROAD, HARRISBURG PA 17112

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2001, 7 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Henry Young called the regular meeting of May 22, 2001 to order at 7:01 p.m., followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

Henry H. Young, Chairman

Kenneth W. Deaven, Secretary

Gloria J. Zimmerman, Treasurer

Stephen L. Millard

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

April 17, 2001. Mrs. Zimmerman moved, seconded by Mr. Millard, to approve the Minutes of the April 17, 2001 meeting. The motion was approved 3-0, with Mr. Deaven abstaining, as he was not present at the meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORTS

Operating Expenses. Mr. Young said that operating expenses for May totaled $74,447.11. Mr. Millard raised a question about the charges for constable services. Mrs. Martin responded saying that the constable served final notices on four residents with substantial sewer arrears and that the constable was used because certified letters previously sent to the individuals were returned unclaimed. Mr. Millard also asked about the bill for Multigraphics Business Systems. Mrs. Martin said that the bill was for printing sewer bills.

Mrs. Zimmerman moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to approve the operating expenses in the amount of $74,447.11. The motion was approved 3-1, with Mr. Millard voting nay.

OLD BUSINESS

Fox Mill Road. Mrs. Zimmerman said she was speaking as a supervisor regarding Resolution 2001-34. [Mrs. Zimmerman presented a copy of the resolution to Mr. Long for his review.]

Mrs. Zimmerman said that all members of the Sewer Authority, with the exception of she and Mr. Millard, would receive a copy of the resolution regarding Fox Mill Road. She said that a joint meeting would be held between the Board of Supervisors and the Water and Sewer Authority on Monday, June 4, 2001. She said she would appreciate it if all the members of the Authority would attend.

Mr. Millard asked Mr. Young why the supervisors were denied the opportunity to be on the Authority’s agenda for the May 22 meeting. Mr. Young asked Mr. Millard if he received a copy of a letter sent to the Township, which explained that the Authority’s solicitor would need to have the resolution before he could begin his research on the matter. Mr. Millard pointed out that the Fox Mill Road project was simply a project the Board of Supervisors was going to assign to the Water and Sewer Authority. Mr. Young said he would like to know the ramifications of the assignment. He also said that Mr. Long had reviewed and agreed with his letter before he sent it to the Township.

At this point, Mr. Long said that the resolution referred to Alternative 1.c. and said that he would need the material referred to in the resolution before he could offer an opinion on the matter. Mrs. Zimmerman asked Mr. Rimer, the Township Manager, to send the information to Mr. Long. Mr. Rimer responded saying that he would mail it out on May 23.

NEW BUSINESS

Letter to The Paxton Herald. Mr. Millard referred Mr. Young to the letter he put in The Paxton Herald. Mr. Millard said he found the letter very disturbing because the letter was representing him and that in effect he was calling himself a liar. Mr. Millard also said it was bad enough that some people called him a liar, but that it was something else altogether to call himself a liar. Mr. Millard pointed out that the fact that the Authority was going to charge $9,600 to the residents on Terrann Drive was in the Act 537 Plan.

Mr. Young said that he never said the residents would be charged $9,600. He reminded Mr. Millard that the Authority did not write the 537 Plan augmentation and that it belonged to the Township. Mr. Millard said that the supervisors did not have access to the engineer during the process. Mr. Young said that he suggested that the Township use Mr. Wendle’s services but pointed out that the Township was free to hire HRG or any other engineer if they had chosen to do so.

Mr. Millard asked Mr. Wendle if he inserted the $9,600 figure at Mr. Young’s direction. Mr. Wendle responded saying that no one directed him to put anything into the plan. He said that figure was put in the plan because that was his understanding of the position of the Authority on other things. He reiterated that no one directed him to put it in the 537 Plan.

Mr. Millard asked if that was what the Authority was planning to do. Mr. Young said that he didn’t know currently what the options would be and that neither Mr. Deaven, Mr. Wingeard, nor Mrs. Zimmerman were aware of the options.

Mr. Young also said that he did not write the 537 Plan but that it was being bantered around that he would charge the people $9,600 and that was a lie. He said it was a lie then and that it was still a lie. Mr. Millard said he thought it was clear that Mr. Young intended to charge them the same way Mr. Young intended to charge the people on Fox Mill Road. Mr. Young asked Mr. Millard why that was so clear and pointed out that when the sewer was constructed on Cassel Avenue, the people there paid less than the residents who originally connected to the system.

Mr. Millard pointed out that when Mr. Young commented on the Fox Mill Road project, he indicated that he anticipated charging the residents on Fox Mill Road for the entire cost. Mr. Young said that the ratepayers on the sewer system were not Santa Claus. He said the word anticipation did not mean that it was a fact. Mr. Young said there was much work to be done before arriving at the bottom line. Mr. Deaven said the Authority was not trying to make it expensive for the people but that it was necessary to determine what options were available before making a decision.

Mr. Millard said he believed that the people on Fox Mill Road and Terrann Drive should be treated the same as the people in Skyline View who connected to the sewer. Mr. Deaven reiterated that more information was needed.

Mr. Young said the Authority had not addressed the $9,600 figure and therein was the inaccuracy. He said it wasn’t the Authority’s augmentation plan but that it was blamed for what was in it.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Beth Carricato, 699 Knight Road. Mrs. Carricato said she was present at the meeting when Mr. Wendle was there to discuss the 537 Plan and that she specifically asked Mr. Wendle how the $9,600 figure was arrived at and why it was in the plan. She said that Mr. Wendle advised that the Water and Sewer Authority told him to put it in the plan.

Mr. Wendle responded saying that he recalled specifically that Mrs. Carricato had asked him twice who told him to put the $9,600 figure in the plan. Mr. Wendle said it was his understanding of the Water and Sewer Authority’s position, and also based on many other authorities, that when lines were extended into areas those costs were paid by the residents. He said that was a very common practice among hundreds of authorities he had worked with. He went on to say that the $9,600 figure was put in the plan to represent the worst case scenario and to give residents an opportunity to comment.

Mrs. Carricato said she had read the 537 Plan and that it would not be unfair to come to the conclusion that it could be a very costly project. She also said that Mr. Young was not the least bit cooperative and that he did everything possible to avoid the matter. She said Mr. Young was not accountable for his actions and that no discussion or deliberation occurred at any Authority meeting she had attended.

She also claimed that it was wrong for Mr. Young to write and sign off on letters representing the Authority without having it reviewed by everyone involved. Mr. Young said that everyone whose name appeared on the letter got a copy of it before it was sent and they had an opportunity to talk to him about it.

Donald Niland, 6916 Devonshire Heights Road. Mr. Niland said he found the letter in The Paxton Herald to be very disturbing and asked Mrs. Zimmerman if she saw the letter before it was printed. Mrs. Zimmerman said she was not aware of what letter Mr. Niland was referring to. She asked Mr. Niland if he was talking about the letter regarding the $9,600 that appeared in the advertisement.

At this point, there was an exchange between Mrs. Zimmerman and Mr. Niland in an effort to dispel the confusion about which letter he was questioning her about.

Mr. Young said that he signed the letter that appeared in The Paxton Herald and that he was responsible for it. He said every word was true as he knew it then and as he knew it at the present time. He said he had a right as an individual to write a letter to the editor or be interviewed the same as any other citizen. Mr. Millard disagreed.

Mr. Niland suggested that in the future Mr. Young take a different approach when he wrote a letter and not have it appear that he was writing on behalf of the entire Authority. Mr. Niland asked Mr. Long for a legal opinion. Mr. Long said he would not offer a legal opinion and said that it appeared to him that it was not a legal matter but a matter of miscommunication.

Don Kerstetter, Fox Mill Road. Mr. Kerstetter asked what options the Authority could offer to the residents on Fox Mill Road as far as what they might be charged to install the sewer. Mr. Young said that at the present time he did not have any options and was not in a position to discuss it until some research had been done. Mr. Young pointed out that there were a lot of people already paying for the sewer and had been paying for quite some time. Mr. Kerstetter asked why Fox Mill Road would not be looked at similarly to Terrann Drive. Mr. Young said that the two were distinct projects and that there was no similarity between the two.

Mr. Young explained that part of the problem with the Fox Mill Road project was that it only involved three people. He said that in the original project, there were approximately 800 people and that the approximate $9 million cost had been divided by the number of people on the system to arrive at the $66 per month sewer rate plus tapping fees. He said it appeared that Mr. Kerstetter wanted those people to bear the burden of the three residents on Fox Mill Road by paying for the entire project. Mr. Young said he didn’t believe that Mr. Kerstetter had come forward to help those people out when they were burdened with a $66 per month sewer bill.

Mr. Kerstetter said that in the case of Fox Mill Road, the Board of Supervisors had directed the Authority to correct the problem. Mr. Young said that according to the Pennsylvania Municipalities Act, the Township could not tell the Authority to bear the entire financial burden.

Mr. Kerstetter said that the Authority only had until October to solve the problem. Mr. Millard said that if the Authority did not solve the problem by then, it would be the Township under the gun from DEP not the Authority. Mrs. Zimmerman said she was hoping that some type of agreement could be reached on June 4.

Mr. Kerstetter said that it was his understanding that Pennvest applications were due in September and suggested that the Authority work out a decent paradigm that would be agreeable to everyone. He said that Mr. Young’s letter dated October 20, 2000 wherein he commented on the 537 Plan called for the residents on Fox Mill Road to bear the entire financial cost. Mr. Kerstetter said that if Mr. Young tried to do that, he would file a discrimination lawsuit in Federal and County court. Mr. Young said that he had been sued more than 20 times so one more time didn’t make a difference. Mr. Young responded saying that perhaps he would sue DEP because it did not recuse itself from making a decision relating to one of its employees.

Mr. Young said that the Authority had an obligation to the people who had been paying sewer bills for the past three and a half years. Mr. Kerstetter said that while he appreciated Mr. Young’s comments, he said there was no other solution for him but to come to the Township and ask for help.

Mr. Young reminded Mr. Kerstetter that when he first came to the Authority almost three years earlier, the Authority spent $500 of its own money to have the Authority engineer look at Mr. Kerstetter’s problem and offer an opinion. Mr. Kerstetter said there was no other place to go.

Mr. Young said that the Authority didn’t have any money, that the money belonged to the ratepayers. Mr. Young said it was those ratepayers who had to pay $66 a month for 18 months, then $40 a month, until January 1, 2001 when the rates were reduced to $30 and that nobody came forward to help those people.

Mr. Deaven asked Mr. Kerstetter who the people were who were dissatisfied with the Authority because he said when the Authority dropped the rates in January 2001, not one ratepayer complained about it. He said that, if as many people were unhappy as Mr. Kerstetter alluded to, they were not writing letters or calling the Authority. Mr. Deaven said the Authority was responsible to the ratepayers.

Mr. Kerstetter said that the Authority had a responsibility to take care of Fox Mill Road. Mr. Deaven said that if the Authority did the Fox Mill Road project, then there would be other people who would expect the same thing. Mr. Kerstetter said that the Authority should do whatever was necessary for as many people as necessary. Mr. Young pointed out that it took money to do that. Mr. Kerstetter said that it was not a dollars and cents issue, but a health issue.

Mr. Kerstetter said he hoped the Authority could proceed with the construction and worry about the finances later. Mr. Long said that if Pennvest was a consideration for funding, all Pennvest projects had to be approved prior to construction. He said the project had to be set up, engineered, and then a preliminary application for a Letter of No Prejudice had to be submitted to Pennvest. Mr. Long said it appeared a lot of decisions had to be made prior to the September filing date. He said the next filing date after that would be January 2002.

Mr. Kerstetter said the Township was working on a deadline of November to complete the project. Mr. Millard said that he thought the $55,000 should be taken out of the Authority’s $1.5 million reserve. Mr. Long said an extension could probably be granted in order for the project to go through Pennvest, if that was the decision that was made. He said that DEP had the ability to extend deadlines in order to accommodate the funding and financing mechanism that it administered.

Susan Gingrich, 7741 Avondale Terrace. Ms. Gingrich said that in her opinion, the Authority did not represent the ratepayers. She said that in the past ratepayers were not chosen to serve on the Authority but hoped that would change in the future. Ms. Gingrich said she had no objection to some of her rate monies being used to help other people in the Township. She said she did resent her rate monies being spent to defend the Chairman or the Authority for excessive legal fees. She encouraged the Authority to work with the Board of Supervisors for the best interests of the Township. Mr. Young pointed out that Mr. Wingeard was a ratepayer.

Donald Niland, 6916 Devonshire Heights Road. Mr. Niland asked whether or not the Authority could find a way to level out the initial costs for connection so people who are added incrementally would not be hit with a huge amount to pay. Mr. Young said that the more people involved in a project the less each resident would have to pay.

Mr. Wendle said that the Authority has several methods in which it could charge for connection to the sewer system. He said one of those methods available would be through front foot assessment and that sometimes that amount could be substantial. He said it was not atypical for authorities to take the cost of a project and divide it by the amount of users to arrive at the cost to be borne by each household.

Mr. Long said that there was a Township resolution in place which restricted the Authority’s projects to basically what it had plus anything else that might be assigned by the Board of Supervisors. He said that resolution had been in place for several years. He said such a resolution would lend itself to a piecemeal approach, like Fox Mill Road, which would be why the costs would be higher when only a few residents were affected by a small project. Mr. Long said that, although the Authority was an independent agency, the law did allow the Township to restrict its projects.

Mr. Niland asked if there would be a better way. Mr. Long said the better way would be to think in terms of what was going on and there might be areas that could be put together as a project. He said it would probably take two to three years to do that. He said once that would be done, the project could be submitted for Pennvest approval.

Mr. Millard said it was his understanding that the front foot rule was essentially setting up a sewer district and that such a concept would have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Long said that what Mr. Millard was talking about did not constitute a separate sewer district but did agree with the fact that the front foot assessment approach was going to be used, it would be necessary for Board approval. He said the Authority could also do a benefits assessment, which would not have to be approved by the Board.

Mr. Millard set forth a hypothetical scenario regarding Fox Mill Road and asked for Mr. Long’s legal opinion on the matter. Mr. Long said he would not respond to a hypothetical situation. He said the Township should consider developing a sewer project and then asking for augmentation grants. He said arguing about how the situation would be handled was premature.

REPORTS

Mark Salisbury, Wastewater Treatment Superintendent. Mr. Salisbury submitted a written report. (A copy is attached to the Minutes.)

Karen Tupper, Engineer. Mr. Wendle was present for Mrs. Tupper. Mrs. Tupper submitted a written report. (A copy is attached to the Minutes.)

Robert Long, Solicitor. Mr. Long had no further report.

ADJOURNMENT

Mrs. Zimmerman moved, seconded by Mr. Deaven, to adjourn the meeting. The motion was unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Gail A. Martin

Recording Secretary