Municipalities ask courts to dissolve dormant Crabtree sewer authority

More than a decade after three municipalities created the Crabtree Municipal Authority, they’ve asked a Westmoreland County judge to formally dissolve the agency.

In a court filing last week, lawyers for Hempfield, Salem and Unity townships called for the authority, which has been dormant for several years, to be disbanded. Formed in 2004 in an attempt to build a public sewer system to serve about 900 customers in and around Crabtree, the agency failed to secure state and federal funding to green-light a project.

According to court documents, the authority has no active members, no assets and only a solicitor who is owed more than $15,000 in legal bills. The attorney had previously recommended the body’s dissolution. The authority has just more than $13,000 in the bank to pay its lawyer for past work, the court filing stated.

Hempfield supervisors voted to withdraw from the authority in July 2020 and a similar resolution was adopted a month later by Unity supervisors. Salem’s supervisors voted in September 2020 to pull out of the authority. No action was ever taken by the authority to terminate itself, according to the court filing.

Meanwhile, local leaders continue to explore efforts to install public sewer service in the Crabtree area, which overlaps Hempfield, Salem and Unity.

Hempfield in February announced it would no longer be involved in a joint effort with Salem and Unity.

“We’re looking at other options there,” said Hempfield solicitor Scott Avolio. He said the township may work with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, where Avolio serves as that agency’s solicitor, to explore potential sewer projects for Hempfield properties that were once part of the proposed Crabtree system.

Salem and Unity continue to discuss other joint sewer projects.

Salem supervisor Kerry Jobe said a recently completed feasibility study identified three potential options that include installation of new sewer lines and a treatment plant as well as a proposal to that utilizes an existing plant operated by the Unity Municipal Authority.

The study revealed multiple options to install a sewer system in the Crabtree area with estimated costs ranging between $10 million to nearly $34 million.

“Regardless of what we do, Crabtree (authority) as an entity needs to be dissolved so we can move that territory into another entity,” Jobe said.

Unity Supervisor Mike O’Barto confirmed there have been renewed talks with Salem over installation of a sewer system that would service residents in both communities, prompted in part by a recent finding by the state Department of Environmental Protection that requires Unity to address sewer service the area of the township near Crabtree.

“We have a malfunctioning system there so we will need to do something to take care of it,” O’Barto said. “Unity is cognizant that whatever we do will not compromise the existing rate payers.”