LOGAN A special Logan County Commission meeting at Logan High School Thursday evening was chaotic at times as residents voiced strong opposition to a possible buy-out of county water and sewer systems by West Virginia American Water.
Concerns over rising rates, loss of local control, and corporate influence dominated the discussion, with many attendees demanding accountability from county officials. One Chapmanville resident, Lesley Cabell, even called on county officials to step down.
“I suggest the people on this board right here give us their resignation this evening. You’re in breach of the oath of office that you took to the people of this county,” Cabell said to stirring applause.
The proposed acquisition would affect a combined total of approximately 15,000 customers served by the Logan County Public Service District (PSD) and Buffalo Creek PSD. West Virginia American Water plans to submit a formal acquisition offer on February 10, but the announcement has already sparked fierce resistance from the community.
County officials presented the water company’s five-year investment plan during the meeting, which promises more than $153 million in upgrades to Logan County’s aging infrastructure. For water systems, West Virginia American Water proposes $69 million in improvements for Logan County PSD, including $53.5 million for upgrades to the Northern Water Treatment Plant and $15.5 million for a new treatment plant in Greenville. Additional plans include replacing over 10,000 water meters starting in year one, spending $2.2 million annually on line replacements, constructing new storage tanks and booster stations, upgrading office facilities, transitioning away from chlorine gas for treatment, and acquiring new vehicles for field service workers.
Buffalo Creek PSD would see $29.2 million invested in its water infrastructure under West Virginia American Water’s plan. This includes building a $7.8 million treatment plant, replacing fire hydrants and critical water mains at a cost of $500,000 annually, installing Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) controls for remote monitoring, GPS mapping critical infrastructure, and purchasing new vehicles for field workers.
For wastewater systems, if the sale is approved, American Water plans to invest $16.5 million in Logan County PSD’s infrastructure by replacing sewer mains, upgrading treatment systems to address ammonia nitrogen levels, improving remote monitoring capabilities at key sites, and repairing structural issues at facilities like sequencing batch reactors. Buffalo Creek PSD would receive $38.9 million for wastewater improvements, including a complete $20.2 million rebuild of its wastewater treatment plant near Man. Other planned upgrades include addressing inflow and infiltration issues in its collection system, installing the SCADA controls for remote monitoring of critical assets, replacing sewer mains, and acquiring service vehicles such as trucks and an excavator.
Despite these promises of investment and modernization, residents is attendance were highly skeptical about the financial impact an acquisition would have on their monthly bills. West Virginia American Water has indicated that rates could increase by an average of $30 per month spread over two to three years to fund these improvements. However, the company plans to distribute these costs across its statewide customer base of nearly 200,000 households to reduce the burden on Logan County residents.
During a previous public meeting back on January ninth at Man High School, Brooks Crislip, Business Development Director for West Virginia American Water outlined the potential benefits of acquisition, including rehiring existing employees, beginning improvements quickly, and spreading the upgrade costs across a much larger customer base. While rates would need to increase to fund necessary improvements, Crislip suggested the increase would be gradual.
“If West Virginia American Water were to come in here and buy this system, what happens to my rates? The short answer is it’d have to go up because the system needs a total reboot, but the good news is it doesn’t have to go up to $200, it doesn’t have to go up to $300 a month,” he said. “We have about 200,000 customers almost all across the state of West Virginia, so if we invest $70 million on the Buffalo Creek PSD assets, we can spread those costs out across that entire customer base so that that’s spread out amongst all of West Virginia as opposed to just right here.”
Buffalo Creek PSD General Manager Herby Pruitt warned that without outside funding or intervention, regardless of that help’s origin, rate increases would be inevitable due to mounting infrastructure failures. He reiterated that Buffalo Creek’s wastewater treatment plant is operating at nearly double its capacity of 750,000 gallons per day. The strained system fifty year old system combined with infrastructure so outdated that the replacement parts are also outdated, Pruitt said spells out an infrastructure crisis that could, without warning, turn catastrophic.
“How far will it go? It’s going to be a statewide disaster,” he said. “This thing could go down at any given minute.”
Tensions flared during the meeting when local resident Frank Codispoti pressed County Commissioner Billy Jack Dickerson for clarity on whether the county would approve the sale. From the view of Codispoti, as well as many others in the room, the speed of government just isn’t fast enough in the face of such a critical and sensitive decision.
“I’m asking you, are you going to sell it or keep it? It’s a simple answer – yes or no – without any more meetings! You should be able to answer that tonight,” Codispoti exclaimed. “You shouldn’t be stuttering or nothing. You should say ‘folks of Logan County, 32,000 of you, you own the water system. We’re not gonna sell it.’” Codispoti continued pressing for clarity, accusing officials of dragging out the process. “I would tell these people the truth tonight! I ain’t waiting another meeting!” he said.
“I am telling them the truth, sir,” said Commissioner Dickerson, only for Codispoti to fire back, “No you’re not! No you’re not! You guys are going to wait until another meeting on top of another meeting!”
Calls from the audience demanded officials to put the matter to a vote right then and there. Commission President Diana Barnette explained that while no commissioner has the desire to sell the systems outright, any attempt to vote on the issue comes with its own requirements under the very state laws commissioners are sworn to uphold. Barnette spoke with reporters after the meeting.
“Legally, we cannot make a decision without putting it to a public vote at one of our commission meetings. So, we would have to put it on the agenda and make a formal vote,” she said. “We do not want to be in violation of the Sunshine Law, so we do not discuss our own opinions with each other until we have a meeting and we put it to a vote. That’s what has to happen: legally, we have to put it to a formal vote.”
The Open Meetings or “Sunshine” Act is a law enacted in the Mountain State which requires all proceedings of public agencies be conducted in an open and public manner for the sake of government transparency. Under state law, a county commission can consolidate or dissolve a public service district with a 60% majority vote, which, in the case of Logan County, requires the agreement of just two commissioners. If approved locally, the acquisition would undergo a six- to seven-month review by the West Virginia Public Service Commission before receiving final approval.
For many residents at Thursday’s meeting, however, these assurances did little to ease their concerns about losing local control over essential resources. Comparisons were repeatedly drawn to Appalachian Power Company’s history of rate hikes following the privatization of the region’s electrical grid.
Barnette said it is the commission’s duty to present the possible proposal to the public.
“You deserve to have all of the information that we have. That’s what we wanted to do,” Barnette said. “There’s not one of us up here that wants to sell the water company to American Water, but we have to give you that option. For us to say no to that much money without letting you tell us that’s what you want to do is completely wrong. That’s why we had this. As soon as we got the information, we give it to you.”
The Buffalo Creek PSD is also struggling financially, with no savings and mounting bills, including $12,000 a month for the Rita/Taplin sewer extension project that currently has none of the approximate thirty customers hooked up to the system.
PHOTO | WVOW News
VIDEO | WLHS TV