MT. PENN BORO., Pa. – After more than an hour of discussion, the Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority voted to move forward with litigation, escalating an already contentious dispute with the borough over who should oversee Mount Penn’s water system.
In April, Mount Penn Borough Council voted to dissolve the municipal authority.
The borough now wants to create a new authority after negotiations over a proposed sale and leaseback of Mount Penn’s water system broke down.
“This should never have come to this point,” said Joe Boyle, chairman of the municipal authority.
The current water authority says the borough abandoned their negotiations and is now trying to replace the authority instead.
“On July 10, we received a proposed lease, but they wanted us to decide by July 13. Well, it doesn’t give us and or legal team the time to review,” Boyle said.
The borough maintains it negotiated in good faith and says the authority rejected an agreement that had been reached.
“…We thought we had one, and it clearly wasn’t there. So at this point, we don’t believe that there’s anything to negotiate about because it seems that the authority is not going to be a partner in anything that we can accept,” said Borough Manager Hunter Ahrens.
Boyle says he hopes they can return to negotiating with the council.
“This litigation doesn’t need to continue,” he said. “The water authority built the infrastructure. They’ve maintained it for 86 years, and we would like to continue to do that.”
Both sides say customers should not notice any disruption to their water service. The next chapter in this dispute is expected to play out in court, where a judge could ultimately determine who owns the water system.