Charleroi hires attorney to handle water authority matters
CHARLEROI – Charleroi council appointed special counsel to handle negotiations for the possible sale of the Authority of the Borough of Charleroi (ABC).
Council voted 4-3 Wednesday to authorize Solicitor Sean Logue to enter a final agreement with Thomas Wyatt of Obermayer, Rebmann Maxwell and Hippel to handle ABC matters.
Council President Frank Paterra, Joe Smith, Larry Celaschi and Randy DiPiazza voted yes, and Jerry Jericho, Nancy Ellis and Paul Pivovarnik cast no votes.
Asked why he could not handle negotiations, Logue responded that Wyatt’s specializes in that area of law.
In December, council voted against a motion to accept a $2 million offer from ABC to purchase the borough’ sewer lines and assume MS4 duties. MS4 is a separate storm sewer system not connected to the sanitary sewer system. The offer also included the authority paying off the borough’s PennVest loan, which is about $4.4 million.
Logue said at the time the borough needed to do its minimum due diligence to come up with a fair market value price. He said Wednesday that a report from ABC’s engineer was not a fair market value assessment.
The authority has been discussed for a few months as council explored ways to generate money for the borough. In October, the borough was looking at a $1.1 million deficit.
The possible sale of the authority was discussed as an option to generate money, something to which ABC members have been opposed.
Council eventually voted to raise taxes three mills.