DUBOIS – The water sale agreement between DuBois City and Falls Creek Municipal Authority is progressing.
It was originally spoken of as a water sale agreement, but it has since been publicly revealed to be a potential water and sewage system purchase.
A representative for Falls Creek, Lou Inzana, was in attendance at DuBois City Council’s meeting Monday night to push back against the change made to the potential agreement two weeks ago.
The water sale agreement was initially going to permit for five years at a locked-in price. After that, DuBois City could begin increasing the price by 2 percent.
Due to delays beyond what was expected by council, they were already three years into the five-year period. At the last meeting, council members decided to propose the five-year mark be reduced to two.
Inzana revealed to the public and media that the intent had been for DuBois City to buy Falls Creek’s water system once the two were connected.
The state Department of Environmental Protection mandated requirements had changed the plans, leading to cost Falls Creek $1.4 million to hook up to the city’s water tanks.
Inzana said that Falls Creek could have their end of the setup completed within two years, making the change potentially moot. However, he wanted it reversed as a gesture of good faith.
DuBois City officials thought two years may not be enough time. However, Falls Creek officials indicated they could get it done but didn’t want to be paying extra if more delays occurred after the ball was in the city’s court.
Several times throughout the meeting, Inzana swore DuBois City was the path Falls Creek would go with but reminded council they could easily have gone with either wells or buying the water from Sandy Township.
Inzana was reminded at one point that Sandy Township buys its water from DuBois, and it would be more profitable for DuBois if they went that route.
“Once people hear your system is up for sale, or being given away, you’re going to be getting calls,” said City Manager John “Herm” Suplizio.
After having the potential purchase revealed publicly, the council entered an immediate executive discussion about how to proceed.
City Solicitor Toni Cherry said she wanted the council, if they chose to amend the agreement back to five years, to require a right of first refusal.
This, she explained, would require DuBois City to get the first chance at purchasing Falls Creek’s water and sewer system if they would decide to sell as planned.
“The real goal of water companies in the Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania] is the acquisition of the system of the City of DuBois,” said Cherry.
City officials are worried that a large corporation specializing in water services, namely Aqua, will use the revelation of Falls Creek’s water system being up for potential sale as an attempt to move against DuBois City.
Cherry said that part of the executive session was to seek permission to reveal DuBois City’s information regarding a failed agreement to buy Treasure Lake’s water system from Total Environmental Solutions Inc.
It was noted that when the deal was almost complete, TESI turned around and sold to Aqua instead with TESI’s president receiving a promotion before moving to Louisiana. Aqua, now with a connection into the city’s system, already has one potential avenue toward eventually acquiring DuBois’ water system.
“We had to sit by silently as the PUC ruled against our friends and family, as we believe,” said Cherry.
Cherry added that Aqua has former Pennsylvania Utility Commission members on its board, and she implied this gave the company an unfair influence.
“Nothing against the bigger companies, but they aren’t invested,” said Suplizio.
Both Cherry and Suplizio made points, emphasizing that local ownership of the water systems means better water while the owners also drink the water.
The DuBois council voted unanimously to reverse the change and set the grace period to five years. The contract is expected be signed and ready for Falls Creek officials’ signatures at Thursday’s meeting.
