Special Kittanning Borough Council Meeting Cancelled Yesterday

by Jonathan Weaver

A meeting between Kittanning Borough Council members to further conversation about taking over the local Municipal Authority was cancelled yesterday evening.

Scheduled for 5:30PM, the meeting was cancelled to further investigate the process, according to Borough Council President Randy Cloak.

“We have a little more research to do before taking any further action on the Municipal Authority issue,” Cloak said.

He hoped that Borough Council members will be able to talk more about the issue at the April regular meeting, scheduled for April 6.

“It’s all part of the process,” Cloak said.

Municipal Authority Co-Chair Mike Swartz and other members of the board were also going to attend the special meeting, which reportedly might have advertised an ordinance to disband.

Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority Chief Counsel Jayne Blake e-mailed Kittanning Borough Solicitor Attorney Ty Heller and Municipal Authority Solicitor Robert Zunich of Pittsburgh Monday afternoon regarding the issue.

“All consent requests must be submitted by the Borrower and thereafter confirmed by the party intending to assume the debt before PENNVEST will consider the same. In this case, PENNVEST has been advised by the Borrower that it is not interested in the assumption. Accordingly, PENNVEST will not consider this request at this time,” Chief Counsel Blake wrote to solicitors for both groups as well as sewage leaders.

Swartz said Zunich contacted

“They will not even consider the request,” Swartz said. “The law’s the law – this is very specific right here that (Kittanning Borough) can not take over these PennVEST loans.”

Agreements are also made that affect local residents in Manor Township and Rayburn Township. There are about 1,800 customers in Kittanning Borough alone.
The Municipal Authority financed the reconstruction of the sanitary sewer system by securing four loans totaling more than $11.6 million at a mere one percent interest – the lowest rate charged in the state. An additional $7.2 million in grants was secured.

As of the most recent audit, the Authority’s debt service to PennVEST is $8.3 million – less than 50 percent of the overall $18.9 million cost of construction of the plant and sewage collection system.

“They haven’t thought this through,” Swartz said. “We have to wait and see what the next step is or what they’re going to do.”

In the past, Cloak said an ‘ongoing’ issue with the operating agreement between the sewage authority and Kittanning Borough was the reason for his motion.

“There was an operating agreement that was signed when they were created that explains how the two entities would function together – that’s the issue. There’s this agreement that really creates a situation that is very difficult, if not impossible for another organization to function efficiently,” Cloak said.

Kittanning Borough Council members last voted 5-2 to consider the action, and voted last week to reinstate an employee that worked directly with the sewage authority.

Kittanning Borough Council decided in 2000 to form the municipal authority specifically to renovate the existing sanitary sewer plant and sewage collection system – which at the time collected both sewage and stormwater.

The Authority is working to upgrade their computer system to a QuickBooks system to allow for more efficient billing and business operations. Once in place, customers will be able to pay bills via credit card payments or online.