Washington Township supervisors questioned about water authority takeover plans

Much of the discussion focused on a Sept. 17 tour of the water plant.

Residents continued to demand answers from Washington Township supervisors about the status of the municipal authority during Wednesday’s meeting.

Belle Vernon resident Melanie Patterson questioned a Sept. 3 email exchange between Solicitors Doug Sepic and David Tamasy and North Fayette County Municipal Authority General Manager Kenny Martray.

Patterson asked Sepic about his involvement in a water plant tour that occurred Sept. 17, in light of Sepic’s Sept. 28 appointment to become the township’s solicitor for the stormwater issue. Patterson clarified that all her documented evidence is directly from Right to Know requests submitted to the North Fayette County Municipal Authority.

Washington Township Municipal Authority General Manager Jan Amoroso speaks to the Township Supervisors during public comment.

“Who authorized that (Sept. 17) visit? Who invited the representatives of potential buyers to tour our water treatment plant? And what was the actual purpose,” Patterson asked. “Then we have Sept. 22, the executive session. Now, here’s where things get a little interesting. Just five days after that plant visit, NFCMA held a September 22 meeting. Guess who appeared on its executive session agenda? The Washington Township Municipal Authority.

“What was the purpose of that discussion about our authority and who, from Washington Township, knew about it? Then we have Sept. 28, Doug Sepic. The records I obtained also show communications involving Attorney Doug Sepic concerning the NFCMA before he was appointed to special counsel by this township on Sept. 28. Who was Mr. Sepic representing during those earlier communications?”

Resident Eric Kostelac speaks to the Township Supervisors during public comment.

In an email exchange Sept. 3, Sepic referred Martray to a message from Tamasy containing financial records from the municipal authority. Sepic told Martray that Washington Township supervisors “are really pushing us to make an offer,” and that a competitive bid couldn’t be made “without having some investigative information about the Authority.” Sepic asked Martray to schedule a date and time to “set up a walk around of the facilities.”

Sepic responded to Patterson by saying he was functioning as a facilitator of conversation between Washington Township and North Fayette County Municipal authority on Sept. 17. Sepic was the solicitor for the NFCMA at the time of the email exchange and the plant tour.

Belle Vernon resident Eric Kostelac also cited documents

Supervisor Dave Bitonti, left, counters critiques and comments from Patterson (not shown).

he received from a Right to Know request showing that Supervisor Dave Bitonti was the point of contact to establish the scheduled plant tour. The text message exchange reveals that it was originally scheduled for Sept. 16, but Martray had to reschedule.

“Later exchanges ask about the facility walkthrough, if it’s been arranged yet,” Kostelac said. “On Sept. 16, Sepic says the township (supervisors) are available for a tour. On page 64, the document we received, the production specifically identifies Supervisor David Bitonti as the township’s point of contact to coordinate it.”

Bitonti responded to a barrage of questions from the crowd about the township’s next steps if it takes over the municipal authority. He stated that current operations wouldn’t be disrupted, and the township would oversee them.

“We aren’t going to disrupt anything, but we will take control of it like Rostraver did and like Fayette City did,” Bitonti said.

Patterson critiqued Bitonti on the supervisors’ performance over the last three decades. She alleged that the municipal authority has done more with its current board in 10 years than the township’s board has done in 30 years.

“You have supervisors that’ve been heads of this for 30 years, and now we’ve got all these problems because of that, because of the neglect and the incompetence of supervisors who weren’t doing their job all along,” Patterson said. “More things have happened in 10 years under this group (Washington Township Municipal Authority) than your group (Washington Township Board of Supervisors).”

Bitonti countered Patterson’s comment.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, for you being here since ’92, I haven’t seen you here more than about three times,” he said.

Patterson, pointing toward the crowd behind her, replied, “You can’t ignore this.”

“I don’t want to ignore anything,” Bitonti said. “You don’t know me.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Washington Township resident Steve Kurdilla asked Sepic if he believes that previously working with NFCMA would create a conflict of interest. Sepic responded that he doesn’t care what happens to the authority or to the township because he’s strictly there to conduct business and do his job.

“It doesn’t affect me,” he said. “I don’t live in Washington Township. I’m not serviced by the municipal authority. I don’t care if they take over the facilities of the authority or not. I’m hired to do a job, and it’s to advise them on how to do things if they decide that they want to do it.

“I don’t care if they sell the authority assets. I don’t care if they don’t. I don’t care if they sell it to North Fayette, if they would decide. I don’t care if they sell Pennsylvania American Water. I don’t care if they sell it to the Philadelphia Water Authority. I don’t care, because it doesn’t upset me.”

Among many questions asked of the supervisors, the one they continually remained silent on was if they still plan to take over the municipal authority. When asked after the meeting adjourned, Powell said, “The township is still weighing its options at this time.”