Dec 18, 2021 5 min read

South Strabane board of supervisors voted this week to end the township’s sanitary authority and consolidate its services.

The measure passed by a unanimous vote at Tuesday’s meeting. According to the text of the resolution, the sanitary authority is required to turn over all funds, records and documents by 10 a.m. Dec. 21.

Brandon Stanick, township manager, said the board had four reasons for terminating the sanitary authority, one of which being that it will help “improve our efficiencies.”

“It eliminates the duplication of services. Third, it streamlines processes for new commercial and residential development. It consolidates the control of development under the township,” Stanick said.

The sanitary authority had been in place for more than 50 years, and oversaw sewage projects in the township.

Stanick said he believes the move will bring about more transparency and make South Strabane more attractive to developers.

“Now, they’re only dealing with the township. It’s a one-stop shop for development,” Stanick said.

The existence of the resolution was communicated to the authority’s board prior to the meeting, but there were no “formal discussions,” Stanick said.

Cynthia Rossi, the authority’s former secretary and treasurer, claimed she first learned about the board’s plans when the agenda was uploaded to South Strabane’s website the day before the meeting.

Rossi was nearing the end of her first five-year term on the board.

“I thought ‘What is this?’ About two hours later, I start getting contacted from other members in the community, ‘What is going on with the sanitary authority,'” Rossi said.

Rossi criticized the board, Stanick, and solicitor Dennis Makel for how the issue was handled.

“I’ve worked selflessly for free, and I would do it again, but not in South Strabane Township,” Rossi said. “To have had this done in this manner is beyond. Just beyond. It’s such tragic and pathetic behavior.”

Rossi and Edward Mazur, the board’s vice chair, tendered their resignations from the board on Thursday. Stanick said the resignations will have no bearing on the transition.

“Everything is moving in the direction we need it to. There will be no snags. It will be a smooth transition,” Stanick said.

Also on Tuesday’s agenda was the first order of business for the board’s new responsibilities – awarding a more than $877,000 force main project on Manifold Road to J5 Construction.

The board voted to table the matter, and will reconvene at a 10 a.m. Dec. 21, when it will likely be approved.

According to Stanick, the sanitary authority had put bids for the project twice this year.

“The second time they did it, the cost had increased significantly,” said Stanick, who added this factored into their decision to terminate the sanitary authority.

Rossi said plans for the Manifold Road project began in 2017 when the sanitary authority board was informed of issues with the sewer line.

“Parts of the line were old and blowing out into little Chartiers Creek,” Rossi said.

According to Rossi, it has been a long process to get the proper permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a process that was dragged out further by the pandemic.

When the permits were in place, the initial bids came in higher than the board anticipated.

“Then, all of a sudden, there were construction costs that had never been factored in,” Rossi said.

According to Rossi, even with grant funds, the sanitary authority board was worried about being able to afford the project. When the project was rebid, costs had gone even higher because of supply chain issues.

Rossi said they felt they could not move ahead without a developer’s agreement in place. A developer’s agreement is between a municipality and the developer, in this case Meadows Landing.

A copy of the proposed developers agreement says the developers would, “Be responsible for its pro rata share of all costs, fees, expenses and any difference or shortfall between the grant funds and the full and final cost of the of the Manifold Road project, estimated by the authority to be $800,000.”

Rossi said they typically have these agreements in place before projects can move forward.

“We were being pressured to go ahead and do something that we felt we could not afford to do without that developers agreement in place,” Rossi said. “It’s not that we didn’t want to … We were trying to do everything by the books.”

Rossi criticized the board of supervisors for moving ahead with the project without the agreement in place.

Stanick said he believes having elected officials overseeing these projects will mean there is more direct accountability to the voters.

“The township sincerely appreciates their service over the years, and the work that they did do,” Stanick said. “It’s time to move forward in a different direction.”