Jul 19, 2018 3 min read

North Strabane Township supervisors Tuesday asked Canonsburg council members they had invited to the meeting for a seat on the Canonsburg Houston Joint Sewer Authority.

“North Strabane would love to have a voice on that board,” township supervisor Harold Close said.

The request comes just one week after Washington County Judge Michael Lucas ordered a temporary injunction on sewer rate increases. Lucas set a schedule for the parties to continue to meet, during which the rate increase will remain at a halt.

The rates were set to more than double July 1, with a base charge rising from $5.38 per 1,000 gallons to $11.57 for the approximately 16,000 customers. Representatives of North Strabane, Cecil and Chartiers townships and their municipal authorities, which use the CHJA treatment plant, opposed the increase and took the matter to court in late June.

Canonsburg council President R.T. Bell responded to Close, saying the litigation makes it difficult to publicly discuss the township’s request.

“It’s something I think our boards could talk about, but it’s a touchy subject right now,” Bell said. “Right now we can’t say anything about it.”

Bell was joined by Canonsburg council members John Severine, Tina Bails, Joe McGarry and Eric Chandler, who were all in agreement with him. Bell said “we trust that we have the right people” appointed to the CHJA board, which oversees operation of the plant. Borough council members thanked North Strabane for the invitation to their meeting and in return invited the township supervisors to Canonsburg’s next council meeting Aug. 6.

Close responded by informing the council members that there are “new faces” among North Strabane supervisors.

“I know there’s been some animosity in the past, but I think we could all be working better together,” Close said.

Last month, the townships and their municipal authorities agreed to share the cost of hiring Lawrence Lennon, a water resources engineer, to investigate CHJA’s water treatment plant expansion project that began in 2009 and is projected to cost about $59 million.

North Strabane Township solicitor Gary Sweat told supervisors Tuesday Lennon plans to tour the plant and collect information on the design and engineering of the expansion and upgrades. Sweat said the attorneys representing the townships and their municipal authorities will meet at the end of August to go over Lennon’s reports and all the involved parties are expected to report back to court the first week of September.