Butler Area Sewer Authority treatment plant in Butler on October 11, 2022

The Butler Township commissioners voted Monday, Jan. 15, to transfer property easements to Butler Area Sewer Authority in preparation for the sale of the assets to Pennsylvania American Water.

Rebecca Black, solicitor for Butler Township, said easements once held by the now-defunct Butler Township Area Water and Sewer Authority had been transferred to the wrong place when the authority shut down. The move Monday was to clear up the missing easement agreements.

“There was several that were discovered to have been either in the name of Butler Township, or more frequently, the Butler Township Area Water and Sewer Authority,” Black said. “It has not been operational for a very long time, and when that authority went out of business and stopped conducting business, it transferred all of its assets to BASA.”

The Butler Township commissioners restarted the long-defunct Butler Township Water and Sewer Authority last year, appointing three people on Feb. 6 and calling a meeting for Feb. 23 to transfer property to BASA.

Black said the Butler Township Area Water and Sewer Authority was incorporated as a municipal authority in 1971, and it transferred all of its assets to BASA in 1989. Township officials later found some easements to be missing, which is why the authority was revamped last year.

The three members appointed to the authority were township commissioners Jim Lokhaiser and Joe Wiest and Butler Township manager Tom Knights. Black said the authority had a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday to precede the commissioners’ meeting at 6:30 p.m., when the vote to transfer easements would take place.

According to Black, some easements were also transferred to Butler Township when the water and sewer authority shut down. Those easements also need to be transferred to BASA before the sale closes, although there is still not a definitive closing date for the $230 million sale.

“Unfortunately, some of these easement agreements are difficult things to track down and keep track of, so there are four pages of easement agreements that need to be transferred from Butler Township Area Water and Sewer Authority to BASA,” Black said. “My understanding is they were transferred to Butler Township on accident, maybe while Butler Township was operating this authority.”