Water authority looking to sell portions of system
DUNBAR TWP. — North Fayette County Municipal Authority on Tuesday agreed to accept proposals to offer for sale the areas of Springfield Pike in Connellsville Township and Balsinger in Footedale.
The authority will review the proposals next month.
“We need to take a look at who’s interested and what they’re willing to pay,” said Bob Softcheck, authority manager.
The sale in Springfield Pike was prompted after the Indian Creek Valley Water Authority rejected a proposal from North Fayette to transfer ownership of a portion of its system that services 70 customers.
“We have no way of getting our water into that area,” said Softcheck.
According to Softcheck, North Fayette purchases water from Indian Creek at a cost of $8 per 1,000 gallons.
Softcheck said North Fayette also purchases water from South West Water Authority for 270 customers in Balsinger at a cost of $3.25 per 1,000 gallons.
Softcheck, however, noted the authority lost all of this year’s revenue generated from Springfield Pike following a water leak in October.
“Every time we have a leak now in these areas, the meter’s running,” said Softcheck.
“It will have an impact on some of the other testing we do throughout the whole system.”
Softcheck said he plans to contact Pennsylvania American Water Co. and South West officials to see if they are interested.
In an unrelated matter, the authority agreed to accept a $10 million loan agreement for 15 years with Centra Bank to help fund four construction projects.
Under the loan, the authority would pay 2.6 percent fixed interest for the first three years equal to $67,200 a month that would be reset every three years after.
The projects total $12.6 million, while the authority received $3.35 million from the state.
The projects include building water storage tanks and booster station upgrades at Works Hill in Dunbar Township and Hague Lane in South Union Township; replacing a 30-inch transmission line from Porter Hill reservoir to Pechin Road in Dunbar, along with a new Dunbar booster station; line replacement in Lemont Furnace and West Leisenring and replacing a 12-inch transmission line in parts of Georges and Dunbar townships.
Additionally, the authority also adopted a workplace violence prevention policy.