CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Municipal Authority meeting Tuesday kicked off with a nearly one-hour and 20 minute executive session for personnel.
When the session was over, the board announced the resignation of Manager Kevin Shifter and voted to accept his resignation.
The board then voted to appoint Assistant Manager John Williams as interim manager while the position is advertised.
After the meeting, the press asked Chairman Russ Triponey if Shifter had given a reason for resigning and Triponey said no.
When asked if the board had asked for his resignation, Triponey said there was no comment from the board regarding the resignation.
Shifter has worked as manager since 2013. Prior to that, he served as assistant manager for two years and worked at the water plant prior to that.
Williams has been assistant manager for two-and-a-half years and prior to that worked on-and-off for seven years, primarily helping with the computer system.
The board also heard from resident Laura Handle, who had questions regarding the $84 raise in water rates for residents.
Triponey said the board understands it is a problem for residents, especially with the sewer increase as well.
He explained that because of state Department of Environmental Protection requirements, the authority had to build a new wastewater treatment facility.
The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority gave CMA some grant money and also a loan at 1 percent interest, and the board secured the rest of their financing through a bank.
However, PENNVEST also required the authority to show how they could pay off the loan. The payments cannot be based on a variable, such as use-based billing, which Handle also asked about.
She asked why the increase wasn’t done gradually, noting CMA knew about these changes for years. She said the authority could have put the extra money aside and allowed it to collect interest, and the raise wouldn’t have been as big of a shock.
Board member Chris Stott noted there were various reasons for not doing it in increments. One important consideration is that PENNVEST may not have given CMA as much in grants if they had a lot of money in savings.
“We don’t disagree with you,” Triponey said, “but our hands are tied.”
Under his report, Solicitor John Ryen spoke about the ongoing issue of a delay claim filed by electrical contractor Church and Murdock.
Due to a default by the original general contractor, construction of the wastewater treatment facility was delayed by a year.
Church and Murdock is requesting a payment due to the delay and the insurance company that stepped in after the default, Liberty Mutual, refuses to pay.
Lobar is now the general contractor on the site for Liberty Mutual.
Engineer Jim Balliet of Gwin, Dobson & Foreman Inc. said Church and Murdock initially asked for $168,000, but eventually agreed to $120,000.
He and Ryen recommended the authority pay, or the contractor will walk out, because they have a legitimate request. The board can then withhold the money from Liberty Mutual and deal with that later.
Under the engineer’s report, Balliet said DEP has issued a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the Montgomery Run water treatment facility with more restrictive limits.
At this time, the facility cannot meet the requirements and a letter was sent last week requesting six months to review options.
Bids were opened for the waterline replacement under Clearfield Creek to the new wastewater treatment facility. The low bidder was Advanced Contracting and Cartage of Stoneboro at $116,987, which was below the estimate of $140,000. The board voted to accept the bid.
Bids for chemicals and heating fuel were also opened and there was only one bid for each. The board voted to accept the chemical bid from Unibar, pending engineer review. The fixed price of $1.999 per gallon for heating fuel from JJ Powell was also accepted.