Municipal authority extends contract with private manager
Authority board members on Thursday approved a five-year contract extension with Resource Development and Management Inc.
By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive
The Johnstown company that has served as the private manager for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County since the early 1990s will remain on the job for the next 10 years.
Authority board members on Thursday approved a fiveyear contract extension with Resource Development and Management Inc. (RDM) that will pay the private company an additional $11.25 million through April 2036 to run the water and sewer utility. The contract was previously set to expire at the end of 2030.
Under terms of its existing deal, RDM will be paid $2 million in 2026 and 2027. That pay will increase to $2.25 million annually starting in 2028 through 2031. The new five-year extension holds the pay rate at $2.25 million annually through 2036.
MAWC and RDM have been in business together since 1992, when the private consulting company was hired to assist the authority’s transition from private management to being self-run. In 1999, the authority board reversed course, named RDM its private management company and doled out the first in a series of long-term contracts.
The initial 14-year deal, controversial at the time, called for the company to be paid $750,000 annually to take over full management duties through an in-house, two-man executive team. The authority board maintained full oversight of the agency’s remaining workforce, which now includes more than 300 employees.
“We have a great relationship with RDM and appreciate the way they’ve handled our water and sewer business and increased our service. We want stability, and they know our system,” said MAWC board Chairman Randy Roadman. “RDM approached us to extend another five years at no cost increase.”
The extended contract saw no opposition among board members.
“You can’t do this without people who have the knowledge and ability to work with other people,” said board member Jerry DeFabo.
The authority has consistently extended RDM’s management contracts midway through existing deals. In 2016, RDM was signed to a $13.5 million deal to run the authority. That contract was extended five additional years in 2020.
“We thank the board for the vote of confidence. There’s a lot we’ve accomplished and a lot more to do,” said Michael Kukura, one of RDM’s three managing partners.
RDM owners Kukura and Brian Hohman serve as the authority’s manager and business manager. A third RDM employee works full time at the authority’s New Stanton headquarters as part of the administrative team. Kukura said RDM’s staff of 60 employees based in Cambria County, where the company also manages the Greater Johnstown Municipal Authority, provides administrative support for the Westmoreland utility.
The authority’s reach has grown over the last three decades. It now operates three water treatment plants that serve more than 123,000 customers in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties. It also provides sewer service to nearly 32,000 customers throughout the region.
Over the last two decades, the authority has infused about $500 million in upgrades to the water and sewer systems, including a major expansion of the agency’s two primary water treatment plants in Connellsville and Bell. Work is expected to be completed this spring on the $31 million expansion of the Indian Creek Treatment Plant along the Youghiogheny River.
