Towamencin NOPE Members Grill Board Over Sewer Sale Emails

Dan Sokil | The Reporter•

With the next local election less than two weeks away, Towamencin residents opposed to the town’s long-debated sewer sale are making their closing arguments.

Residents continued to sound off on Wednesday night to campaign literature, recent email discoveries, and ongoing claims about the costs and benefits of the sale.

2023 marks the third full year of the sewer sale debate, which began in late 2020 with a vote to study the topic, continued with studies and debate throughout 2021, then culminated in May 2022 with a vote by four of the five supervisors to sell the system.

Residents opposing the sale, led by Osei, formed a "Towamencin NOPE” group that subsequently petitioned the county for a voter referendum, won a victory for a government study commission, that commission then drafted a home rule charter, and a vote in May approved it, putting the charter into effect starting July 1 with new provisions the proponents claim would stop the sale by making it illegal to complete.

Since that vote, the current supervisors have said they intend to continue with the transaction, prompting a lawsuit from Osei and fellow NOPE member Jenn Foster, along with continued Q-and-A and sparring over how the board communicated to residents, and what they knew at what time, when announcing a transfer of the sale agreement from initial buyer NextEra to new buyer PA American in March 2023.

Those questions continued on Wednesday night, with NOPE members grilling the board one final time before the Nov. 7 election, in which incumbent Republican and sewer sale advocate Rich Marino is being challenged by Osei for a six-year term on the board of supervisors. The candidate kicked off his public comments by disputing claims in a recent campaign mailer, including that he had advocated for rapid growth of the township’s population and density.

"There are no debates for small races like this, so I will respond to your mailer here,” said Osei.

"We had 4,700 people in this township in 1970. We’re at 18,000 now. Someone approved the ‘urbanization of Towamencin,’ that resulted in former Philadelphia residents moving in, and it wasn’t me. Municipalities change, and it’s worth talking about at meetings like this,” he said.

Osei then cited emails uncovered and posted by the NOPE group in which Marino reportedly noted in January that sewer rates under the new owner would increase well above what had been presented to the public at that time.

"As for taxes and higher fees: yes, taxes and sewer rates at the cost of service, are preferable to the sewer sale, and I’ve said that multiple times, without hesitation. From Rich’s calculations, the sewer rates are going to quintuple” under a private owner, from the rates charged by the township now: "I’m not the one that wants to charge high fees,” Osei said.

Osei then added allegations that a May letter to the editor submitted to The Reporter and signed by four of the five supervisors had been written by Liz Havey, a "very politically connected” attorney with the township’s sewer sale special counsel firm, and asked whether the board had been using tax dollars "to influence the home rule result, possibly in violation of election laws.”

Foster quoted the same emails, and subsequent conversations posted on the NOPE Facebook page, in which the board discussed the projected rate hikes and uses of the sewer sale proceeds before publicly announcing the new buyer.

"Before you tell me my math is wrong, it’s not mine, it’s Rich’s, dated January 25th, 2023. Yet in April you told everyone our rates would be $1,344 in year ten,” Foster said: "You’ve known all along these rates were going to be obnoxious, then lied to people about it.

"My question is, why have you been lying to your neighbors? November 7th cannot come soon enough. Towamencin deserves leaders that don’t lie to them, and — wait for it — actually listen to them,” Foster said.

Paul Andrews referenced the same emails in a public comment submitted via email, and read by Marino: "PA American Water’s real rates were not reflected in PFM’s new analysis, they were not prominently shown to the public, and there was no rate information at the open house with PA American Water.”

Andrews then asked why the township dedicated a page in the township’s fall newsletter to discussing the sale, in a statement signed by board Chairman Chuck Wilson, after voting down a separate mailer to do so. "Why are Chuck and Rich lying to the public about the cost to residents if the system is sold? Why did the newsletter not mention that PA American Water will be charging three or four as much in just a year or two? Why are you continuing to hide the costs to residents, and only extoling the virtues of the projects you’ll do with that windfall?”

Vanessa Gaynor pointed out that the emails reveal the letter to the editor was written by the sewer sale special counsel, then sent to the four supervisors for feedback, and that Marino had suggested adding a reference to police funding as a justification for the sale.

"It is clear the four board members viewed the letter to the editor as a tool to impact the May vote on the home rule charter,” Gaynor said. "Please, when you are acting on behalf of the residents of Towamencin, take a minute to think: if I wouldn’t want to say or do this in a public meeting, should I be saying or doing it at all?”

Drew Daubert said he thought the emails showed the four, and specifically Marino, "aren’t listening to the voice of the people, and are not fit for office. My hope is by this time next month, you have been voted out. Enjoy your retirement, and the pension you do not deserve,” he said.

Val Skripek said she recently talked to a Limerick resident about sewer sales, and that resident said his rates had tripled since a private owner took over there.

"Please do not be blinded by the false promise of pickleball courts, which a tiny minority will use,” or other projects that could be funded by the sale proceeds, she said: "This sale is simply a tax on everyone.”

Mike Miller added that he was disappointed by the sale decision in 2022, more so by the sale transfer earlier this year, and "my disappointment has now evolved into frustration,” now that residents know the rate hikes were discussed prior to the sale transfer.

"We now know, in private, Supervisor Marino was concerned our sewer rates will reach in excess of $2,000 a year if the sewer system is sold to PA American. However, this was not the same information that was being communicated to the public,” he said. "All we ask for is transparency and honesty. It appears that was too much to ask from our township supervisors.”

After reading the emailed comments, Marino did not address or answer any of the claims made by the residents during the meeting or on his campaign social media page.

Tina Gallagher said the recent political mailer was an example of negative politics she had seen little of locally, before the sewer sale debate: "No wonder so many people hate politics.” David Daikeler said he’s been following the sewer sale debate for years, including at two public townhalls in April 2022, and noticed one key aspect.

"It’s all been a lot of talking at us. I know you had several meetings at Dock, and other places, where you tried to elicit comments from the township’s people. but part of that is listening to those comments. Which it doesn’t seem like you did, and you still aren’t,” he said.

Longtime resident Joe Silverman quoted Osei and Foster’s lawsuit against the township, in which the two argue that the system was capable of operating safely and was well-maintained at current rates, and the home rule charter was intended to "protect public assets,” and questioned how the board would use the sale proceeds. And James Collins asked what the board, or their allies, were trying to accomplish by the mailer and its reference to "bringing Philadelphia politics to Towamencin” by voting for Osei: "When I see things like this, I don’t say ‘Wow, I’m scared now, I’ve gotta make a different choice.'”

After other board business, supervisor Kristin Warner gave an update on the board’s most recent finance committee meeting, including a discussion about the sewer sale and a draft 2024 township budget that contains no proposed tax increase, but would contain a sewer rate increase. So far in 2023, Warner told the board, the township has expensed roughly $275,000 on issues related to the sale, with over half of the expenses for engineering costs associated with easements, online mapping, updates to the township’s formal sewer plan, and preparation of filings with the Pennsylvania Utility Commission.

"The township spend $37,844 for its system valuation as part of the PUC process as well. No action needed at this time,” she said.

Osei subsequently pointed out on social media that that number is roughly half of the $600,000 the township had secured from initial buyer NextEra when that firm decided to pull out of the sale agreement earlier this year: "At least we’re eating into the NextEra money. Could have had $600,000 free and clear.”

In another post on the NOPE page, Osei gave an update Tuesday on the lawsuit against the supervisors: "We are still in the bureaucracy of preliminary objections so nothing concrete yet. Marty Cohen has been added to our side,” he said, naming another NOPE and study commission member who has long criticized the sale. In comments on that post, supervisor Joyce Snyder — the only vote against both sales — asked why Cohen had been added, and Osei replied "There is something that could happen in November which would make it weird for me to be on this lawsuit.”

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.

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