At last night's borough council meeting at Columbia No. 1 Fire Company, the issue of opting for Lancaster Area Sewer Authority (LASA) to handle borough sewer waste was discussed. Both sides were represented - with citizen comments evenly divided.
The LASA offer is appealing in several respects, in that some borough debt could be reduced, and the borough's responsibility for plant maintenance would be eliminated, but other aspects are troubling.
First, the borough will not have a seat on the LASA board without the unanimous vote of all seven municipalities. In essence, Columbia might not have a voice in the decisions affecting it. Also, the cost of representation is two million dollars, according to LASA executive director Mike Kyle. Such a sum would significantly reduce any potential cost savings from the deal.
Second, current borough sewer employees will not be guaranteed a job with LASA. Simply put, workers will lose their jobs.
Third, there are no real guarantees that opting for LASA will be a better deal in the long run for Columbia than if we keep and maintain the system we have.
At this point, LASA seems to be dictating all the terms. At the very least, the borough should demand some sort of representation on the board, as well as continued employment for the handful of current employees.
David Bush, who was hired by the borough to look at the figures, said costs would increase to a lesser degree under the LASA option due to economies of scale. He said, "The offer made by LASA is very fair."
Councilwoman Mary Barninger asked Mike Kyle what was in it for LASA. He replied that having more customers to share costs would help maintain stable rates and mitigate future rate increases.
Committee member Norm Meiskey said that even with upgrades to the current plant, it still would not continue to be in compliance. He said that if we go with LASA, the borough could get out of debt.
"Not to do it is a travesty," he added.
"Not to do it is a travesty," he added.
Mayor Leo Lutz said he had spoken to an employee of the plant who said the upgrades would keep us in compliance and wonders about the "not in compliance" comment.
Some other considerations:
* If Columbia keeps the plant, it will need to be continually maintained and upgraded.
* LASA doesn't handle storm water, which, according to the mayor, will be an issue in the future.
* It's not clear whether LASA's offer is "once and done" or if it will be offered again in the future if the borough does not opt for it this time.
* It was made clear, however, that a decision to go with LASA, once made, is irrevocable.
If regionalization is the wave of the future, then Columbia needs to get on board and accept LASA's offer. If, however, the financial benefits of doing so do not significantly outweigh the liabilities, we should hold on to the assets we already have. Since we cannot accurately project what our actions will engender in a generation or two, the decision is a difficult one that will ultimately have profound and far-reaching consequences for Columbia Borough.
21 comments:
I feel like I'm the only person that was thinking this last night, but the current borough employees position seemed to be trivialized. They potentially could lose their jobs. It seemed sad to me that Columbia would not stand up for them. The word negotiation implies a give and take or back and forth with offers which eventually (or hopefully) result in compromise. Columbia needs to make it clear that the current employees are kept on board or offered severance packages. It appears as if they are being ignored or dismissed in this so called deal. Another deal breaker is the question of representation for Columbia on the LASA board. If LASA wants to buy, Columbia should demand a seat on the board with no fee and no vote. Has there really been any negotiating or is this an as is deal.
At the borough meeting last night (held at Columbia # 1), I was surprised at the way a statement made by an elderly man was corrected by a younger woman. Her tone of voice and manner in which she corrected his statement showed a lack of respect for a man that has paid taxes and lived here all of his life. A better approach may have been to state that she wishes to respectfully correct his numbers. Her approach was more like a "slap down" .This was a meeting where all people and their feelings should be respected. Some people find it difficult to speak publically, don't make a fool out of them.
The borough needs to take a hard look at the offer from LASA. What is LASA really after? They do not care about Columbia or the employees who would lose their jobs. Also, no position on the board and if there would be one offered it comes with a $2 million price tag. There already goes some of the profit from the sale. Another issue is that the borough still has to keep plant running for another 3 years until LASA gets their pumping station up and running to accept more flow, then the borough has to pay for the demolition of the plant, more money taken away from the sale. And has anyone looked at LASA flat rate system? The rates are on the LASA website and from what I can see my rates would be going up $5 a month or $15 a quarter since that is how LASA bills. If this offer is something the borough wants to consider they need to go back to LASA and renegotiate.
Columbia has plenty of residents who were laid off at companies like Catterpilar & Armstrong. Do you think these people want to pay more so these employees can keep their jobs. If they are as skilled as Mike Breury claims they are in a meeting a few months ago, than it won't take them long to find a job. Skilled workers are in high demand.
By the way the individual that stood up & acted in an unappropriate manner was a borough employee.
For all of those who "pay a current Columbia fixed rate"- imagine all of those who are home owners who pay high school taxes- and would SAVE money by the switch to LASA.... Our rates have doubled, almost tripled- and that, your tax base, should be whom the local government officials should be thinking about, not a personal agenda, not one of the few employees, not anything other than WHAT IS BEST for the tax base!
First, keep in mind regionalization of any government service means less service at a higher cost. Don’t buy into the theory that regionalizing any form of government service will save money as it never does after the first two or three years.
My concern regarding maintaining our current sewer system is the infrastructure. I would have to believe the pipes in our town have to rather old and I wonder how much it would cost us, the taxpayer, to replace them in the future. I could not attend the meetings due to work commitments. Can anyone tell me if the cost to maintain the infrastructure was brought up and if so, what was discussed?
The infrastructure is part of the cost LASA looked at. It was part of what generated the price they gave us to buy the system. They did a very detailed analysis of Columbias system to see its highlights & its problems. If we went to LASA the future problems of our infrastructure would be bared by all LASA customers. If we kept our own system the 3, 500 residents of Columbia would be responsible. This to me is the biggest reason to go to LASA , the future costs to the boro residents is more certain.
The individual that did little to respect an elder citizen was definitely a borough employee that is correct, but she was not one of the manual laborers, they sat quietly and certainly appeared to respect anyone that was speaking. She had a right to correct him, she just did it in a not so nice way :(
My parents have LASA and they live in West Hempfield. They tell me that they are satisfied with what they pay... on average 84.00 per quarter. They originally had septic in the early 60's and welcomed the change to sewer system.
Sell to LASA or the costs will escalate much higher as you try to pay for all the costs of the upgrade and future costs of maintaining and complying with costs of additional requirements to stay within the wastewater discharge requirements required by DEP
All of this concern for the elderly on the minimum rate seems a bit convenient. Where were these concerns when the Sewer Authority raised rates 40% over the past 6 years? Or councils concerns seeing that they didn't argue it. And who is to say the current Sewer Authority won't continue to raise our rates in the future? Sell it to LASA. This is the only business they know and ARE experts at it.
Well Jimmy Jones publicly claimed the current infrastructure is in pretty good shape. He is an expert, isn't he?
I think the ones complaining about a rate increase with LASA are forgetting about the rate increase that will be coming with mandated upgrades to the Borough's plant if they keep it.
From the complaining of some on here they could just turn the employees from the sewer plant into code enforcement officers! It seems like they need people.
Going into this, I had no established position as to the LASA offer vs. keeping Columbia's sewer plant. After listening at the meetings, reading articles, as well as comments, I'm now leaning in favor of LASA. All in all, it helps to hear all sides.
She also was wrong in her statement. This is a person who will probably be losing her job when LASA takes over, of course unless Columbia mysteriously finds something else for her to do. I'm sure when LASA gives them all that money they'll feel like fat cats, & do things like keep employees that aren't needed.
His specialty is discjockeying so he can put a spin on anything.
why not lease it to them for ten years
Keep the sewer plant, its the tax payers plant. Let the town vote on it, no just a handful of people.Look at it this way, they are going to build a sump pump station at washington boro its going to take them about 3 years to build it.They would have to pay columbia for three years to deposite their wast at our plant. We can use the money to fix our plant with what they pay! Also we have money coming in on the cell tower and the harrisburgh incinerator plant. Remember we wont have any say in what they do! A big BLAKE MARK right there!! We must keep owning it as COLUMBIA ! NOT LASA !!
What I took away from the meeting was that the market house trust is in favor of LASA. Why? Are they going to get some kind of kick back out of the deal.
Georgianna what do you think they will get other than reduced sewer charges?
Who cares what she has to say, she's an employee what do you think she would say. I just hope the council for once does what Columbias sewer customers want & not let the employees dictate their decisions. This unfortunately has been what has happened & that's why this boro is in such sad shape.
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