Another option has become available to Gilpin Township’s water and sewage authority after receiving an offer from Keystone Municipal Management to take over day-to-day operations.
Nicholas Kerr, owner of KMM, attended the township’s recent public meeting to offer his business’s services. KMM specializes in the management of small water and sewage authorities.
Gilpin officials have been grappling with the problem of running the municipal authority after its only two employees announced they were retiring. The issue hasn’t affected water service to township residents because the authority buys its water from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County.
Kerr said he and members of his team have visited the township’s municipal authority multiple times to present his company as an option.
“We’re willing to go to work on a day’s notice,” Kerr said.
He presented mock contracts and packages to give supervisors an idea of what service would cost.
Kerr is asking the township for $300,000 a year for full management and operations of the authority. Gilpin’s authority handles water and sewage services including billing, safety tests and managing waterlines.
“It’s the supervisors’ push and recommendation to go the route of hiring the contractor to run the system,” township Supervisor Charles Stull said.
Stull said that by contracting through Keystone Municipal Management, the municipal authority would still own the system, maintain its governing board and oversee money and rates.
The fate of the authority came into question when, last fall, officials were unable to fill the soon-to-be vacated positions of two employees who were set to retire at the end of the year, and officials were unable to find new hires to replace them.
The employees agreed to stay on until the authority board decided its next step.
Supervisors looked into multiple options including the township taking over the authority or selling it to a third party. Stull previously told TribLive that supervisors submitted a request to the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County to see if that large entity would be interested in purchasing Gilpin’s system.
The township has purchased its water from the authority since 1971. It buys about 60 million gallons per year and pays MAWC about $250,000 annually for water under a 20-year contract approved in 2017.
Stull said an unofficial offer from MAWC was only for the water system, not sewerage.
“From our understanding, they have not given us a written proposal but, in speaking with (MAWC’s) solicitor, they want to incur the water system for only its debt, and the water system is only about $75,000 in debt,” Stull said.
Stull said with that arrangement, MAWC would be purchasing a nearly $1 million water system for $75,000.
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But MAWC Business Manager Brian Hohman previously told TribLive the authority would gain “next to nothing” by acquiring Gilpin’s authority.
Municipal authority board members are expected to make a decision at their meeting on Jan. 14.
