Dec 12, 2014 6 min read

DILLINER – A light at the end of the tunnel for customers of Dunkard Valley Joint Municipal Authority and East Dunkard Water Authority was extinguished Thursday evening when $9.5 million in aid from Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority was voted down in a 3-1 vote.

EDWA board member John Yesenosky voted against the motion and board member John Kuis, who does excavating work for the DVJMA, abstained. The PennVEST monies included a $5 million grant and a $4.5 million loan that would provide necessary funding to make improvements and modifications to create a combined authority.

In a previously released statement, Samuel Cossick, EDWA board chairman said, “A majority of the board decided the project is not feasible for us at this time.”

Cossick made the motion to direct solicitor Dennis Makel to inform PennVEST that EDWA declined its offer. The vote came despite public outcries in the form of petitions, phone calls to board members and meetings with local and state politicians in a process that began in 2013.

Prior to the vote, Yesenosky said, “If this motion proceeds, I am extremely sorry for the customers of the Dunkard Valley Authority and East Dunkard Authority as well.”

Speaking by phone Friday, DVJMA board chairman Vic Shine said it is “a shame” EDWA did not accept the money. Shine said DVJMA system is in need of replacement.

“Continuing to repair the lines, most of which were placed there in the 1940s, is just staving off the inevitable,” he said.

Customers of DVJMA went months without water. Those serviced by EDWA regularly experience low pressure and brown water, according to those in attendance at the meeting Thursday.

Speaking on behalf of Greene and Monongahela townships, Kevin O’Malley, solicitor for Greene Township, broke down the cost analysis of merging the two water authorities.

O’Malley told EDWA board members revenue received from the addition of DVJMA customers would be approximately $270,000 per year. Of that amount, O’Malley said, $173,000 would go toward paying off the $4.5 million loan from PennVEST. The remainder could be used for whatever the authority deemed necessary, he said.

The new joint authority could go after additional grant funding. Up to $1 million would be applicable to the $4.5 million loan balance, per the PennVEST agreement, O’Malley said.

“You could drop the loan balance through other grants to $3 million,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley told the board the townships were willing to work with them to have a review of the previous engineering work done and split the costs.

O’Malley said the review would take about two weeks, and fall well within the six-month time frame the board would have to make a final decision to accept or decline the PennVEST agreement.

O’Malley implored the board to accept the monies, “Although the deadline to accept is tonight, you are not handcuffed. You have six months.”

EDWA board members and Makel spoke about the authority’s financial straits, noting a $1 million cost overrun for a previous project to renovate its system. He attributed the fault of the overrun to the engineer, Dakota Engineering Associates, Inc. of Pittsburgh. When asked by O’Malley if EDWA planned to hold the engineer accountable Makel replied, “down the road.”

In late 2013, the EDWA began assessing a debt service fee on top of customer’s monthly bills to offset operations, nd maintenance costs from the project. Residents in attendance serviced by EDWA cited a range of debt service fees being paid by customers within the authority from $7 to $15.

Monongahela Township supervisor Bill Monahan addressed what he called, “misinformation being provided by some of the EDWA board to residents.”

Monahan said people were being told the PennVEST offer brought a 100 percent benefit to customers of DVJMA and none to EDWA customers. However, Monahan and Greene Township supervisor Keith Golden told those in attendance the actual breakdown was a 54.06 percent benefit to the EDWA and 49.04 percent for DVJMA, based on an engineering study by K2 Engineering, the former engineering firm of EDWA. K2 was recently fired by the board. It was the second engineering firm in recent years let go by EDWA.

Cossick said, “The first engineer ignored everything. The second wasn’t capable. We have just now hired a competent engineer.”

Kuis said DVJMA is currently buying 50,000 gallons of water from EDWA per day for a leak in its system.

“We take the Greensboro plant over, we have to find that leak. We are two to three men short through attrition already and did away with our manager, so we have to hire another one,” Kuis said. “That $4.5 million would be $5.5 million (with the old debt). If there was an overrun, we are going to be stopping midstream.”

Kuis said it would take one to two years to install water lines to get water to DVJMA customers.

“If this is accepted or rejected, you are still going to have that (old) debt, still have that brown water,” Monahan said.

“Why not accept it and take the six months to research? You have nothing to lose,” Golden said.

“I’m concerned with what happens tomorrow and the day after that, and the year after when my kids are grown and they have their kids,” said Mike Rudolph, Monongahela Township supervisor. “We need to be looking out for our kids and the future of this area. If we don’t have that, we have nothing.”

Several people were displeased the Southeastern Greene School District was not part of the discussion. The district faced several closures in the past when no water was available. Mapletown High School is serviced by DVJMA. Bobtown Elementary School is under EDWA. Students there were told not to use fountains in recent weeks because of brown water, according to resident, Jesse Fox. Others cited more than 50 water line breaks in 2012 that caused problems for the schools.

EDWA services 1,650 customers in Dunkard, Greene, and portions of Monongahela, Cumberland, Perry and Whiteley townships. DVJMA services 512 customers.

Yesenosky made a motion to increase the number of board members on EDWA to seven. In his motion, Yesenosky requested equal representation on the board from Monongahela, Dunkard and Greene townships of two members each plus one representative from Greensboro. The motion failed.

Yesenosky, who resides in Greene Township, is currently the only EDWA board member who does not reside in Dunkard Township. His term expires Dec. 31. The board moved to make a new recommendation for the seat, effective Jan. 2015. Yesenosky was the only board member to vote against the motion.

“When are you going to get the money to fix what needs fixed? We are paying for mud every month,” said Cindy Ann Koval, an EDWA customer. “Do you have something else in mind, a bank loan or something?”

Koval received no response from the board.