Sewer plans, playground discussed at Mars meeting
MARS — The future of the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority again was a topic of conversation at a borough council meeting Monday night, as residents asked about the potential of a sale and board president Mike Fleming assured them that no decisions would be made without their input.
Supervisors in Adams and Mars, the two founding municipalities for the Breakneck authority, signed a confidentiality agreement earlier in the year, the first paragraph of which refers to Pennsylvania American Water Company’s “interest in discussing the potential acquisition of the wastewater system assets of the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority using the Act 12 fair market value approach.”
The confidentiality agreement expired Friday.
Board president Michael Fleming said at the meeting Monday that Adams and Mars were approached by the company first to discuss doing an evaluation.
“They expressed an interest in doing an evaluation and seeing if it fits within their strategic business plan, and if so, dependent on their discovery, potentially making an offer that they would pay for it,” Fleming said. “It wasn’t going to cost either municipality any money to see that through. We had a brief meeting at Adams Township, with a couple of their supervisors and myself, and a representative from Pennsylvania American, and that’s what we discussed, and we thought, well, let them take a look at it and see what they think it’s worth.”
Fleming said that the confidentiality agreement expired Friday and added that the township and borough did not renew it.
“They have not come back with anything. They said the earliest they might have something would be the 15th of August,” Fleming said “We don’t know if they even will. If they do and it’s of significance, certainly there would be more than ample public discussion. In no way shape or form, are we just going to move through the sale process without significant public participation.”
Fleming added that he believes that the sewer authority is well run and is very beneficial to the community.
“If everything is stable and everything is going along well, it’s most important for us to keep local control,” resident Renea Pomeroy said. “The last thing we want to lose is local control of our resources.”
Resident Rachael Sedei asked the board about the conditions of Garfield Playground, a park and playground in the borough. At a previous meeting, several residents had brought up concerns that the playground was worn out.
“A lot of our families are within walking distance to that playground. It’s a beautiful space, it’s large, our kids can play and have fun, and different groups can meet up there, like the mom’s club I’m in … however, just recently maintenance-wise, it’s a concern for me,” Sedei said. “All summer, the weeds have just continued to grow and grow. I understand the trees coming down took a good chunk of that budget, but it is a little disheartening to see a lot of families drive right past now instead of coming up to play. A lot of families go elsewhere.”
Sedei suggested a community cleanup day and cited that volunteers had helped with spreading mulch at the park.
Board member Julie Schultheis said she had been in contact with Sedei and several other residents to discuss potential fixes for the playground.
“It has fallen a little bit on the wayside this summer,” she said. “I don’t really have an explanation for you other than that I know that our public works department is insanely busy. I think that’s what happened there as far as the leaves go.”
Mulching prices have almost doubled, Schultheis added. She said she plans to reach out to multiple different mulch vendors to see whether their prices would be lower, and agreed that a community cleanup would be a useful idea
“We know we have to get up there and get some work done,” Fleming said. “We just have to do it.”
This story was updated at 1:18 p.m. on 8/2/2022 to clarify who had approached Adams Township and Mars Borough first about the evaluation.
