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Sunday, June 29, 2003

By Ken McCarthy

Pennsylvania-American Water Co. will finalize its purchase of Connoquenessing Borough's water system tomorrow, adding another link in its southwest Butler County chain.

But some members of Connoquenessing Borough Council and the committee that studied the sale are not happy about it.

	Connoquenessing Borough is about to become the latest link in a water company's chain, though not all are happy. THE PLAYERS: Pennsylvania-American Water Co., Connoquenessing Borough Council, borough residents. THE PROS: The borough can pay off some debt by selling its water system and can get out of the water business. THE CONS: The borough won't control rates anymore. WHAT'S NEXT: Despite the thumbs-down from an advisory committee and some citizen complaints, council is expected to finalize the sale tomorrow.

Council President Cindy Beers said council formed a fact-finding group earlier this year comprised mainly of residents. Its job was to decide if the $1.2 million offer made sense for Connoquenessing.

The group's final recommendation: Don't sell. But council ultimately voted to go through with it, anyway.

"It was only a fact-finding committee," said Beers, who voted against the sale. "And three of their members were absent when they voted not to recommend it."

Council and the committee are not the only ones split on the issue. Beers said you need look no further than May's primary election to see that.

Of the four council members whose seats are set to expire this year, only one chose to run again.

Beers, who has been council president since January 2002, said she will let her term expire in December, but it's because of personal issues rather than the water sale.

She said many residents are upset about the pending sale, but she has told them they should have spoken up earlier.

"I wish they would have come to us," she said. "There was not a lot of input."

Beers said water customers should initially see very little change in their water service. She said the borough has been buying its water from Pennsylvania-American, so the water itself will remain the same.

Customers may pay slightly higher rates down the road, but Beers said Pennsylvania-American has promised to hold rates steady for 18 months -- meaning Connoquenessing will not be affected by the pending rate increase the company recently requested from the state Public Utilities Commission.

For Pennsylvania-American, Connoquenessing falls in the middle of a 14-mile project to lay water lines between its existing lines in Butler and Jackson.

Company spokesman Dan Ireland said it is a considerable task.

"This is a big project, but we have done similar projects as far as length," he said.

Lancaster supervisors last week approved the company's plan for a water storage tank on Swain Hill Road as part of the project.

In 2001 the company began installing 13 miles of water lines throughout Jackson connected to the company's facilities in Franklin , Beaver County.

Now lines will run from Jackson along Upper Harmony and Swain Hill roads in Lancaster to Connoquenessing, Ireland said.

Beers said much of the $1.2 million from the sale will go toward paying off debt associated with the borough's 2-year-old sewer plant and the water system itself.

"We have quite a bit of debt," she said.

The borough will continue to provide sewage service to its residents.

Connoquenessing has more than 700 water customers; about 75 percent of them are in Connoquenessing Township, Beers said.

Pennsylvania-American has 600,000 customers across the state.

It bought Butler Township's water system in 2001, Center's in 1999 and Summit's in 1989.