MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Utility Board General Manager Tim Ball and MUB board of directors chairman J.T. Straface said the utility is adamantly opposed to the city manager being placed as a permanent voting member of the MUB board of directors.
Both spoke publicly during Tuesday’s Morgantown City Council Committee of the Whole meeting — during which council discussed a proposed ordinance that would reserve one of five seats on the MUB board for the city manager.
Council ultimately opted to proceed with more legal analysis and information gathering before moving forward.
Ball said that MUB was created in 1987 after the “total failure” and elimination of the Morgantown Sanitary Board, an organization chaired by the city manager.
In the wake of the sanitary board’s collapse, city leadership intentionally set up MUB to operate as autonomously as possible in order to nurture an apolitical atmosphere focused on engineering and problem solving.
“One of the goals of the city leaders at the time was to provide MUB a high degree, the highest possible degree, of autonomy,” Ball said. “Because of that, we are. Our staff and our organizational culture is resolutely apolitical, and I’m sorry, but this discussion tonight feels political and it is distressing for MUB as an organization.”
Ball also noted that MUB already operates more efficiently with lower rates and to a higher industry standard than most, if not all, water and sewer systems in the state, including those held up as peers by city administration to demonstrate examples of municipal executives serving on utility boards.
Straface said the addition of the city manager on the MUB board was one of three issues raised publicly by longtime MUB attorney Tim Stranko, who went after Ball verbally while announcing his resignation during the Oct. 15 MUB meeting. He also noted City Manager Paul Brake, Mayor Bill Kawecki and Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin were in attendance, which was unusual.
Kawecki also spoke during the meeting and said the issues raised by Stranko should be explored by the city as well as MUB.
Kawecki said he took exception to Straface insinuating the proposed ordinance was the result of a conspiracy of some kind instead of city leadership simply looking into ways to potentially improve oversight of the utility.
Straface said the data provided by Ball shows that MUB already sits among the standard bearers in the state in delivering water and sewer services, prompting him to ask, “What problem are we trying to solve, and maybe more critically, what problems would we be initiating?”
MUB representatives also raised a question tied to section 4.02 of the city charter, which states “Such boards, authorities or commissions shall not be under the authority or supervision of the city manager.”
Legal council for MUB said that code section is unclear as to whether the charter’s language would permit the city manager to serve on the board. City Attorney Ryan Simonton said he didn’t believe it would present a substantial legal challenge.
City council oversees MUB in four areas — appointment of board members; approval of rates; approval of long term debt and, added more recently, the authority to approve major projects.
The issue was the third of four presentations scheduled and was ongoing nearly four hours into the session. A public comment portion and council’s discussion of agenda topics was to follow.
