BASA plans contingencies for 2024
BUTLER TWP — The Butler Area Sewer Authority board will continue meeting at 9 a.m. the second Tuesday of each month in 2024, even if the system’s assets are sold to Pennsylvania American Water by the end of this year. The meeting place may be the only difference.
The board of directors voted at a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 12 to set meeting times for the coming year. Duane McKee, executive director of BASA, said the board will either continue meeting at the authority’s office, or move to the Butler Township Municipal Building.
“If we sell, we’re going to advertise to have meetings at township building,” McKee said.
Mike Hnath, solicitor for BASA, said because Summit Township is appealing the sale, the authority is in a “holding pattern” regarding plans for future meetings.
McKee said the board granted him the ability to adjust the meeting location, since it was not known at the meeting whether the authority could meet at the sewer authority office come next year.
The sale has been approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and officials of BASA, Butler and Butler Township are waiting to close on the sale with the water company. The BASA board has been making preparations to transfer operations to Pennsylvania American, and on Tuesday, its members voted to extend directors and officers’ liability insurance with Mitchell Insurance, which will continue until the board dissolves.
McKee said the authority will have the insurance for another three years, which is billed quarterly, and it can be canceled at any time.
“This would be our insurance for the authority post-closing,” McKee said. “The (directors and officers) coverage is just an extension of our current protections for the board.
“The first three years, if we’re going to get a lawsuit that’s probably when.”
Also at the meeting, the authority board agreed to give the nine nonunion employees of BASA a 3.5% raise for 2024, after an executive session on the matter. According to McKee, BASA will continue paying employees as usual while the sale to Pennsylvania American is finalized.
“We need to make sure we’re doing everything in case it doesn’t close this month,” McKee said.
