Towamencin ‘Common Interest Agreement’ Prompts Sewer Sale Sparring

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

A sign outside the main entrance to the Towamencin Municipal Authority’s wastewater treatment plant on Kriebel Road is seen on Sept. 29, 2020.

An unusual action item has prompted another round of sparring in Towamencin’s long-running sewer sale debate.

Four of the township’s supervisors voted last week to approve a "common interest agreement” regarding the sale, as the fifth supervisor used harsh terms to describe it.

"I do not think that approving this tonight will cure any perceived shadiness that may or may not have happened before. Doing it a dollar late, and a day late, is not going to help,” said supervisor Joyce Snyder.

"It’s not passing my sniff test, it’s really just not,” she said.

In May 2022 Snyder cast the lone vote against, as the four other supervisors approved the sale of the township’s sewer system to a private firm, after months of resident opposition to doing so. Since that initial vote to sell, residents have mounted a grassroots campaign to change the township’s charter, then two sued the supervisors to take the sale debate to court, as the sale awaits approval from the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, and the four supervisors who voted in favor have held that the sale was in the best interests of the township overall and that they’d continue trying to close it.

In October, members of the "Towamencin NOPE” resident group opposing the sale questioned the timing of what the supervisors knew, and when they knew it, about future sewer rate hikes under the private owner, prior to a four-to-one board vote to transfer the sale to a new buyer in March 2023.

The sewer sale debate was also mirrored at the polls on Nov. 7, where longtime sale proponent Rich Marino narrowly led NOPE founder Kofi Osei by a margin of 18 votes on the day after election day, a margin that’s narrowed to just five votes after the latest count.

"I am down five votes with very few votes to count. Very close race and a few procedures left to go through so not quite calling it yet,” Osei said Wednesday.

During the Nov. 8 supervisors meeting, board Chairman Chuck Wilson brought forward a new action item for board approval: a "common interest agreement” between the township, the Towamencin Municipal Authority that oversees the sewer system, and buyer PA American Water.

"The agreement, among other things, makes privileged and exempt from access any record between the parties that evidences any and all efforts associated with the PUC proceeding or any litigation relative to the sewer sale,” Wilson said.

"In an effort to dispel certain concern that the agreement was signed without authorization, a motion is being sought tonight to confirm such signing authority by way of the sewer sale authorization, and re-affirm the agreement as being duly authorized and effective as of the agreement’s stated effective date,” he said.

After Wilson read the summary, supervisor Laura Smith made a motion to introduce it, Marino seconded, and Snyder began the debate.

"This pretty much flies in the face of the Sunshine Act. This is a really shady way to do this,” Snyder said.

"If this was signed on June 8th, and we are just now informing the public, and the board, that it was signed, that’s pretty horrible,” she said.

Solicitor: ‘Abundance of caution’

Solicitor Bob Iannozzi clarified that the board vote to approve the sale ordinance included authorization for "all actions in furtherance of the sewer sale, and that’s exactly what this common interest agreement was.”

"It’s been brought to our attention that there’s been certain concern that this agreement was executed without signing authorization. So in an abundance of caution, we’re bringing it to the board this evening to do that, curing any real or perceived Sunshine Law violation,” he said.

Iannozzi added that no such violation occurred, but if one had, the approval of the agreement would remedy it. Snyder countered by saying she’s not a lawyer, but thought the agreement went against the spirit of transparency and disclosure.

"This really feels like we are hiding things from the public, which is not something we should do,” she said. "I disagree with you about the sewer sale. We’ve been clear: we can disagree, and still do things in a way that are much more transparent than this.”

Iannozzi replied that the ordinance approved by the board "was enacted to allow for the expediency of bringing the sewer sale to closing,” and that the agreement "was a document that the parties collectively and respectively sought to have executed, to ensure certain privileged conversations are not subject to access.”

"It’s wholly consistent with the law, wholly permissible with the law,” he said.

Marino then said he was "still not sure why we’re doing it,” and Wilson replied that "We’re doing it because certain people have raised the issue,” before the attorney elaborated.

"In recent days, there have been a few right-to-know requests, where this common interest agreement has become the basis for which why certain records are being exempted,” Iannozzi said.

"During that discourse, there has been concern as to ‘what is this about?’ This is simply reaffirming the actions that were taken, and putting everybody on notice that this agreement is in existence,” he said.

With a board vote to approve, the attorney added, the agreement would also be posted in the township’s online data room containing documentation about the sale, so it’s publicly available for vetting. The agreement has also been referenced in the lawsuit against the board, the attorney said, so having the agreement approved by a formal vote should "clarify that record before confusion is furthered.”

"Communications that involve the respective parties, involving the PUC, or the attendant sewer sale lawsuit, or any lawsuit that would follow, is deemed exempt from access in those matters,” Iannozzi said.

"Is it needed? No. Is it being done as a courtesy, to put everybody on notice, even further than that which is required? Yes,” he said.

Condo Meters Still a Concern

The ongoing sewer sale debate and suit were also referenced during public comments at the start of the meeting, with Osei submitting an emailed comment noting Marino’s narrow lead in vote totals, and questioning statements made in campaign literature.

"Tredyffrin Township residents explicitly said they preferred a stormwater fee to a proposed sewer sale, and their supervisors listened. I like you a lot more than the other ‘unflushables,’ and it was a pleasure meeting your family on election day, but I wouldn’t have run if I thought you should be an elected official,” Osei said.

Jenn Foster, the other resident who filed the suit to stop the sale, asked for an update on questions she asked in May and June on whether residents in condo communities would need new sewer meters installed once the sale closes.

"Metering was not covered in your budget workshops, and no one has told my community that they will be ones to foot the bill,” Foster said, before suggesting several reasons for the lack of communication.

"One: you are more incompetent than I thought. Two, you are giving the proverbial middle finger to one-third of the township. And three, you probably know the sale is going to be stopped, either by the court of common pleas or the PUC, so you are just wasting taxpayer dollars at this point. It is staggering how bad you are at this,” she said.

Wilson replied to those comments, saying he was "sick and tired of being slandered, and things made up,” and said he acted as treasurer for his own condo association for 30 years, and instituted regular budgets and a capital reserve program for future equipment needs there.

Foster countered by saying she had raised the issue in June and was told by Wilson at the time it would come up during the township’s budget talks, in time for condo associations to incorporate metering in their own 2024 budgets, but had heard nothing since. Wilson then asked township Manager David Kraynik if he had been in contact with condo associations in the township, and the manager said he had.

"I made the phone calls as directed, I talked to the condo associations. They’re willing and ready to sit down whenever I get some more direction from the board,” Kraynik said.

"It’s too late. They have to make infrastructure changes next year, to prepare for ’25. So they have to assess us next year to do that. Their budget is already done,” Foster replied.

Wilson then said that he and the board have previously stated any costs for new meters for condos would be covered by the sewer sale’s proceeds, and said "it’s very doubtful whether that transaction closes in ’24,” a statement Foster amended: ” — at all.”

"I don’t see it, based on where the schedule is right now, so we’ll have time for you to get that in your budget,” Wilson said.

"I think there’s tentative agreement among us, we haven’t taken a vote, that we’re going to take that money out of the proceeds. It’s about $1 million, 1.1 million for all of the condos that don’t have individual meters. All I ask is, let’s keep comments to the issues and not personal,” he said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.

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