MORGANTOWN — Following a lengthy discussion, Morgantown City Council approved a handful of items tied to the Morgantown Utility Board’s acquisition of the River Road Public Service District on first reading Tuesday evening.
The items moved forward despite a motion to table the matter, which failed on a 4-2 vote, with councilors Rachel Fetty and Mark Brazaitis voting in the minority.
Councilor Barry Wendell was not in attendance.
Concerns raised by Fetty were tied to remarks provided by River Road PSD customer Jerry Cochran, who asked council to delay voting on the rate ordinance tied to the acquisition to allow for further examination.
The rate ordinance was one of four issues tied to the acquisition to get council’s initial approval. Each item passed on a 5-1 vote with Fetty voting in the minority.
Cochran questioned the need for the 781 River Road PSD customers to pay water rates approximately three times higher than MUB customers living in Morgantown for the next 27 years. That increased rate comes by way of a surcharge tied to a 30-year, $3 million bond secured by the PSD in 2016 for system improvements.
According to Cochran, savings realized through MUB’s more efficient operation of the system should be used to pay the debt down sooner. For example, he said, MUB will no longer employ four River Road PSD employees, but will fold the system into its existing staffing.
MUB General Manager Tim Ball reiterated that the debt, and therefore the customer surcharge, was taken on by the River Road PSD three years ago and had nothing to do with MUB.
MUB will freeze the existing rates in place for the remaining life of the loan. Ball explained this is the same procedure the utility has followed for a number of acquisitions and it would not be equitable to change the policy in this particular instance.
Further, Ball said financially the acquisition is basically a wash. MUB will acquire additional assets, but it will also incur greater operating costs and ultimately be responsible for the PSD’s outstanding debt.
According to Ball, any savings realized in MUB’s operation of the River Road system will be folded back into that specific system.
All of this, Ball said, will be thoroughly vetted by the West Virginia Public Service Commission in a process likely to take four to six months.
MUB has been operating the River Road PSD — to which it already provides treated water — through an operating and maintenance agreement since shortly after the PSD approached the county commission last fall about relinquishing control to MUB.
In other city news, council adopted a zoning change for 12 parcels located in Future Study Area 18 — generally described as the area between Don Knotts Boulevard and the Monongahela River, across from the Morgantown Industrial Park — from I-1 (industrial) to B-2 (service business district.)
City Planner Chris Fletcher explained that none of the businesses currently in that area, including a grocery store, restaurants and others, are actually permitted in an I-1 zone. This change, he said, will allow for future mixed-use development on that coveted riverfront property.
Council also:
— Tabled a vote to sell 1.85 acres on the boundary of the Morgantown Municipal Airport to RDR Properties LLC for its appraised value of $38,000.
— Approved the purchase of an airport towing tractor, or Tug, for $94,576.87 from the city’s capital escrow fund.
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