Washington Township residents question proposed municipal authority takeover

A proposal that would see Washington Township, Fayette County, take over the township's municipal authority is on pause amid community outcry.

More than 100 people packed a meeting Wednesday evening, with many questioning why the township was considering the move in the first place for the authority that manages the township's water and sewage system. 

They pushed for answers, suggested solutions and shared their concerns.

"We're worried that they're going to sell [the municipal authority] to another private company or another water authority," said resident Eric Kostelac. "We're going to lose basically control of the water, and our prices are going to go up. We're going to have to pay more for little to no gain."

The board of supervisors, their engineer and lawyers were able to answer some but not all of their community's questions. As board chair Derrick Powell acknowledged, they don't have the answers themselves, which is one thing holding them back from a vote. The topic had previously been on the agenda, but was removed.

Jan Amoroso, the general manager of the Municipal Authority of Washington Township, said they had no advance warning that the township was looking to take over the authority.

"I had no idea. It was such a shock," she said. "There was no notice. Up until this point, they haven't spoken to us."

The township hired a special council, Douglas Sepic, to assist them. 

When KDKA-TV asked him why supervisors want to take over the authority, he said, "There is a stormwater issue that has to be addressed by the township."

But, as Amoroso pointed out, the township already manages the stormwater system, while the authority handles sewage. The township's solicitor, David Tamasy, explained further, saying they don't have the money to fix the stormwater system, which has to be replaced, and they already have multiple infrastructure projects they don't have money to pay for. 

The idea with the municipal authority then would be that they could own it and use it as an asset to leverage when applying for a loan.

Neighbors said there were other ways the township could have gone about this, both from the perspective of tackling the issue and how little they were kept in the loop.

"Let's try and be more transparent, that's all I can ask for," Kostelac said during the meeting.

When the idea of a town hall was brought up, board chair Powell acknowledged it is something they could have done. He said he personally plans to meet with Amoroso and hopes to resolve the issue by next week.

The authority serves around 10,000 people both in and out of the township.