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Water authority chair urges succession plan as managers near retirement
Summary
At the May 13 meeting, Blair Township Water & Sewer Authority Chair Ed Silvetti told supervisors the authority lacks a treatment plant or water source and urged a succession plan as senior staff near retirement, offering to advise and recommending DCED guidance.
Ed Silvetti, chair of the Blair Township Water & Sewer Authority, told the Board of Supervisors on May 13 that the authority’s manager and office manager are likely to retire in coming years and urged the Township to develop a succession plan.
Silvetti told the supervisors that the authority "owns no sewage treatment plant; it owns no water source; it is essentially a retailer," and described several options for future management: selling the authority to a private entity, partnering with an adjoining authority or forming a joint authority with a neighboring municipality, contracting with a private management company, or having the Township operate the authority and hire the current water and sewer staff as Township employees. He said hiring a manager to oversee both Township and Authority operations could eventually pay for itself from BTWSA revenues, though he called it a “long and difficult task.”
Chairman Paul Amigh asked whether Silvetti would be willing to advise the Township or take a lead role; Silvetti said he would assist in an advisory capacity and indicated he would defer to guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).
Silvetti later told the Board he is monitoring a federal budget proposal that could reduce Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and noted that any cutbacks could affect sewer projects and sewer-lateral funding the Township had allocated. He said he did not expect CDBG to be eliminated but advised caution.
No formal action was taken at the meeting. Supervisors did not vote on a formal study or next steps; Silvetti’s remarks were recorded as a public comment and the Board may consider follow-up coordination with DCED or staff-level analysis of the options he outlined.
