The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority board voted Friday to hire independent legal counsel to review concerns about the process by which a firm with ties to its executive director got a contract to provide water line warranties to city residents.

The counsel will be picked by authority board Chairman Dan Deasy, board Treasurer Scott Kunka, and the board's Personnel Committee. Their charge will be probing the circumstances under which the authority hired Utility Line Security LLC to provide water and sewer line warranties to all city residences, at a cost of $5 per month, except for those that opt out of the coverage.

"Their job will be to review all of the facts and circumstances regarding ULS," said Mr. Deasy, a state representative from Westwood. "There were some concerns with conflicts of interest ... We don't want that cloud hanging over the authority. We want to move rapidly."

Some top executives at ULS are also at the helm of two companies -- Resource Development and Management and Utilishield Inc. -- that have ties to Michael Kenney, executive director of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. Mr. Kenney was a part owner of Utilishield during 2007 and 2008.

RDM manages the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County, where Mr. Kenney worked before coming to Pittsburgh in 2008. RDM periodically retained Mr. Kenney as a paid consultant prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh. In 2008, Mr. Kenney hired RDM to put together an 83-page, $85,000 report on the Pittsburgh authority's management.

"If there needs to be any disciplinary action after the conclusion [of the independent counsel process], we'll take that up at that time," said Mr. Deasy.

The authority also voted to hire engineering firm Buchart Horn Inc. to begin designing a computerized system for monitoring the flow of water through the leak-prone city water system. Mr. Kenney said it will probably take two years to get the system in place.

Board Vice Chair Robert P. Jablonowski said a water-loss-prevention task force he leads may recommend increasing the authority's leak detection team by two to four people, ask the city to put controls on park drinking fountains that now run constantly and negotiate new pacts with tax-exempt venues that get free water.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.