EVANS CITY — Borough officials Monday night met with representatives from Callery to discuss cooperation regarding sewage and water lines.

"We're here because we want to be good neighbors and good friends, and work our troubles out together," said Callery Council President Ed Conway.

The officials from Callery were concerned about higher than expected bills. Callery pays Evans City for 160 sewage customers

The bills have increased 40 percent recently, a hike that Evans City engineer Rick Barnett contributed to heavy rains. Callery's bill jumped from $3,000 to $5,000 in two months, according to Conway.

Evans City recently posted a notice saying each resident of Callery can expect their bill to increase from $20 to $46 monthly.

Barnett said Evans City's flow of sewage has been 10 times higher than normal on some recent days because of those rains.

Conway believes Evans City officials are honest and accurate concerning meter readings, but "we just need it verified." He then asked for faster information if such a situation of high bills arises again.

"We want to cooperate," he said, "and get along and work together, but you have to let us in the loop because we have a big problem here."

Barnett also brought up the topic of regionalization where several communities share resources such as water and sewage lines, instead of the current situation where Callery pays Evans City for those services.

It was a concern he raised at last week's council meeting as a possible solution for an aging system.

"We need to see if that would be a more economical solution," Barnett said. "If it's not, we need to look at upgrades on the current plant."

In a related matter, Public Works Director Norm Nelson also spoke about three possible thefts of service from Evans City.

He recently learned three homeowners had tied in to the borough sewer lines and had done so as far back as 1984. According to Nelson, some of these residents have not paid water and or sewage bills for that entire time.

He said those residents must produce paperwork showing proper payment of services "or we have to nail them."