Donora denies sewage authority request to meet in banquet hall

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

Despite initial support for the idea, Donora council decided Thursday not to let Mon Valley Sewage Authority use its banquet hall for meetings due to COVID-19 concerns.

Borough Administrator Terri Petroske said they would be restricted to 25 people under Gov. Tom Wolf’s orders limiting indoor gatherings. 

Councilman Joe Greco asked why the sewage authority could follow the COVID-19 rules and use the banquet room for a meeting while council continues to meet by telephone only.

Petroske said in keeping with the limit of 25 people, by the time all of council is seated, along with department heads and the media, there would be room left for eight or nine residents and she wasn’t sure how council would go about deciding who to exclude.

Mayor Jim McDonough said he agrees with Greco about having meetings in the banquet room.

Petroske pointed out that several other local governments continue to meet telephonically or by Zoom. 

McDonough said he doesn’t agree with the idea of renting the hall out to the sewage authority for a meeting if the borough isn’t going to hold its own meetings there.

President Mike McDowell was against the idea of the sewage authority using the space from the beginning for several reasons.

Initially, he said, it was because council offered the authority use of its council chambers a year ago because its existing meeting quarters is extremely small. At that time, the authority turned down the offer.

And the more McDowell thought about it, he realized what would have to be done after each authority meeting to clean and sanitize the banquet room once again. He felt if they were going to allow them to use the room, they should at least have to pay for cleaning.

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