Kiski Township Sewage Authority to dissolve at year's end
The Kiski Township Sewage Authority was touted upon its creation in 2021 as a move toward the future, one where more residents would have public sewage service than not.
Four years later, it’s circling the drain.
The authority will effectively dissolve at the end of the year, handing back to the township about $150,000 and an unfulfilled mandate to hook up nearly 700 homes — or about half of township residents — to the public sewerage system.
Its one and only realized project, along Rose Street, was completed last year using more than $300,000 in federal covid-19 pandemic relief money passed along by the township and Armstrong County.
About a dozen existing Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority customers had their aging, leaky terracotta pipes replaced.
As for the network expansion, officials always knew it would be slow going in a township where about 90% of residents rely on septic systems.
The authority’s ultimate goal of extending public sewer lines from the intersection of Old State Road and Route 56 to Apollo-Ridge High School was expected to take four years of planning and two to three years of construction.
The problem, according to authority chairman and township Supervisor Chuck Rodnicki, is “we can’t find people to serve on anything.”
His resignation from the authority is effective Dec. 31, as are those of Robert and Helen Gibbons. Calvin Creighton, who has been with the board since the start, has asked not to be reappointed. The fifth and final seat is vacant.
The authority wound down operations at its final meeting Monday, though it will persist as a paper entity in case the state approves its grant application for the second phase of the Rose Street project.
About $5,600 in leftover covid relief funds will be evenly split between the township and county.
The township will once again maintain sewerage for about 400 customers, who will continue paying bills to the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority.
That authority serves 13 communities, including five townships. Of those five, Kiski will become the only one without a sewage authority.
Supervisors Brittany Hilliard, Mary Long and Mark Kendall did not return TribLive requests for comment.
Jack Troy is a TribLive reporter covering the Freeport Area and Kiski Area school districts and their communities. He also reports on Penn Hills municipal affairs. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in January 2024 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. He can be reached at jtroy@triblive.com.
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