The Public Service Commission of West Virginia on Monday signed off on an agreement that gives operational control of Westover’s sanitary sewer utility to the Morgantown Utility Board.
The one-year operations and maintenance agreement was previously approved by both Westover City Council and MUB in May and June, respectively.
The agreement explains MUB will be responsible for customer service, billing and collecting fees, system infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, service of all debt, and all other ongoing operations of Westover’s system.
It comes ahead of the finalized acquisition of the Westover system by MUB. That transaction will take place once the city’s forthcoming Holland Avenue and Dents Run Pump Station projects are finalized.
“The O&M agreement without conveyance allows the city to manage the capital projects to the satisfaction of the lending agencies, while also giving MUB a role in project oversight,” attorney Tim Stranko explained.
“The acquisition will be completed once our contractors have completed the projects and we have closed out our project financing.”
There are currently about 2,300 sewer customers in Westover. The city’s sewer utility sees annual revenue of about $870,000. The utility includes 21 miles of gravity sewer and one mile of force main.
In comparison, MUB projected its sewer revenues for the current fiscal year at just over $17 million.
“Our citizens and sewer customers will enjoy the quality service that MUB provides, and our public works department will be better able to focus on improvements and services elsewhere in the city,” Stranko said.
Prior to the agreement, MUB provided water service to Westover and the city managed its own sewer and stormwater systems.
MUB billed Westover’s 2,300 customers for water, sewer and garbage, then remitted the sewer and garbage fees back to Westover. MUB then billed Westover for its flows into the utility’s treatment plant, in Star City.
MUB Communications Director Chris Dale said the agreement won’t bring about any real significant operational changes and will be seamless for Westover’s customers.
“Westover rates will be unchanged and customers can continue remitting payments as before. The only difference for Westover customers will be that instead of calling the city of Westover for sanitary service issues, they can call MUB 24 hours a day as they do now for water,” Dale said.
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