MAWC opens talks to buy, run Gilpin water and sewer systems
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Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials will open negotiations to take over operations of a small water system in Gilpin, Armstrong County.
Gilpin supervisors this week solicited an offer from the county authority to purchase or operate the township’s water and sewer systems service. On Wednesday, the authority said it will begin the process.
Without a sale, Gilpin’s system, which has 800 customers, could be forced to shut down because of personnel issues.
Authority board members authorized MAWC’s leadership team to begin talks with the township.
“We just don’t have a whole lot of details,” said MAWC business manager Brian Hohman. “What we would gain in acquiring them is next to nothing.”
The Gilpin Municipal Authority operates a water and sewer system for a portion of the township’s 2,400 residents.
The township has bought water from MAWC since 1971, Hohman said. It purchases about 60 million gallons per year and pays MAWC about $250,000 annually for water under a 20-year contract approved in 2017.
Gilpin supervisors said the township municipal authority’s two employees are retiring at year’s end, and replacements have yet to be found. With insufficient staffing, supervisors said, the authority could be folded and its operations turned over to the township.
MAWC solicitor Scott Avolio said he first was contacted by Gilpin representatives in October and received a more formal inquiry about a week ago to ask about a potential takeover.
MAWC, officials said, offered to purchase the township’s water system in 2014, but a deal never was closed.
“Right now, we’re not interested in the wastewater system, but we want to negotiate to see where we are at,” Avolio said. “It will be our suggestion that the water and sewer systems be separated.”
MAWC could agree to just run the systems for the township as a temporary arrangement pending a later sale to the county authority or another entity to ensure water and sewer services continue uninterrupted as Gilpin officials determine how best to proceed.
MAWC sells water to about 123,000 customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties. It also has nearly 32,000 sewer customers.
Originally formed as a water company for Westmoreland County, the authority has branched out over the past two decades to include sewer services following its 2001 purchase of a small system in Avonmore, Armstrong County.
Significant purchases followed, including a $23 million deal to buy Jeannette’s sewer system in 2015 and an $88 million deal in 2016 to purchase Hempfield’s sewer system.
MAWC last year completed a $17.5 million deal to buy the Westmoreland Fayette Municipal Authority, which provides sewer service to about 2,500 customers in Scottdale, a part of East Huntingdon as well as two communities in Fayette County.