dissolve<\/a> the existing Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority, take ownership of the water system and lease it to the newly created authority for 50 years. The plan also calls for combining water and borough employees in a public works department.<\/p>\nThe arrangement would provide Mount Penn with lease revenue at a time when the borough is struggling financially, a point that emerged repeatedly as opponents questioned whether water customers outside Mount Penn should help support borough operations.<\/p>\n
That concern carries particular weight because about 69% of the authority\u2019s 3,600 customers are located outside Mount Penn, primarily in St. Lawrence and Lower Alsace and Exeter townships.<\/p>\n
Joan London, solicitor for St. Lawrence Borough Council, said St. Lawrence opposes both the dissolution of the existing authority and creation of its replacement and will continue to fight the plan in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not the proper responsibility of outside municipalities to fund the functions of the Borough of Mount Penn,\u201d London told council.<\/p>\n
St. Lawrence has filed suit over provisions of a 1968 agreement under which it conveyed 3.97 acres to the water authority for incorporation of the St. Lawrence water system. The borough also recently sought to intervene in Mount Penn\u2019s court action seeking to compel dissolution of the existing authority.<\/p>\n
London said directing lease payments into Mount Penn\u2019s general fund rather than using the money for the water system is contrary to the interests of customers in surrounding municipalities.<\/p>\n
Several ratepayers raised similar concerns.<\/p>\n
Tom Lucky described the water authority as the rich brother being asked to prop up a financially troubled poor brother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat concerns me the most is what happens in three years,\u201d he said. \u201cThat piggy bank that you\u2019re constantly going to is going to run dry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patty Rose of Lower Alsace said she had presented council last week with a petition signed by 390 ratepayers from Mount Penn, Lower Alsace, St. Lawrence and Exeter. The petition asks the borough to resume negotiations with the existing authority and reach a leaseback agreement that includes a guaranteed prohibition against selling the system.<\/p>\n
Rose said the independent Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority provided an important firewall between borough finances and money collected from water customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater customers pay for the water system,\u201d she said. \u201cThose revenues should be protected and used to maintain the infrastructure, make necessary improvements, prepare for future needs and provide reliable service.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the opposition centered on fears that reorganizing the system could ultimately make it more vulnerable to sale to a private water company.<\/p>\n
Sid Canavan of Mount Penn, however, supported the borough\u2019s plan, saying he fears continued litigation and resistance could eventually lead to privatization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water pressure is great. The water tastes delicious,\u201d he said, contrasting Mount Penn water with the service he previously received while living in Sinking Spring.<\/p>\n
During council\u2019s deliberations, borough manager Hunter Ahrens asked special counsel Thomas Wyatt whether the proposed arrangement would provide greater protection against a future sale than exists now.<\/p>\n
Wyatt said it would.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no no-sale covenant in the existing charter of the authority,\u201d Wyatt said, explaining that under the proposed leaseback, a contractual agreement prohibiting a sale would remain in effect for the life of the agreement.<\/p>\n
Wyatt said state law provides another potential safeguard: If the borough sought to sell its water system, residents could gather enough signatures to force the issue to referendum.<\/p>\n
John Fielding, a Mount Penn resident, attorney and former Berks County coroner, urged council to postpone action and attempt to settle the litigation first.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a lawyer and a litigator, I know what the cost of litigation is,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cIt seems to me the prudent way forward is to hold this matter in abeyance until you meet with Miss London and other represented parties and negotiate a settlement to the lawsuit before you find yourself in more trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other residents questioned the fairness of having Mount Penn Borough Council determine the future of a water system in which the majority of the customers live beyond the borough\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
Despite the opposition, all six council members present voted to create the new authority.<\/p>\n
Councilman Tom Baer, who was absent, submitted a statement indicating his support, although his vote was not counted.<\/p>\n
Officials said the vote does not necessarily end negotiations with the existing authority. Borough officials said discussions may continue even as Mount Penn proceeds with creating the replacement authority.<\/p>\n
Ahrens said the borough most recently contacted the existing authority Aug. 28 about meeting. He also said Mount Penn had held discussions with St. Lawrence but that the parties had been unable to find terms they believed were worth taking back to their respective elected bodies.<\/p>\n
The new authority will have a 50-year term and a five-member board appointed by council. Its powers will include operating the drinking water system, entering bulk-water agreements, leasing the system and assuming Mount Penn\u2019s obligations under the 1968 agreement with St. Lawrence.<\/p>\n
The next step, officials said, is publication of notice that the ordinance has been adopted, followed by filing the articles of incorporation and other required documents with the state.<\/p>\n
The new authority will formally come into existence when the state issues its certificate of incorporation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mount Penn Borough Council unanimously moved ahead Wednesday with a sweeping reorganization of its water system despite strong…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,1411,182,8512,29643,139,28,128,130,129,22305,706],"class_list":["post-279492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-exeter-township","tag-local-news","tag-lower-alsace-township","tag-mt-penn","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-st-lawrence","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}