Meetings underway with bidders for sewer system
>> As township officials said their farewells to longtime Township Manager Rob Ford last week, they also heard an update on one project he has helped oversee that’s well underway.
Supervisors chairman Chuck Wilson gave an update on May 26 on the ongoing process of studying the possible sale of the township’s sewer system.
“As part of the township’s ongoing exploration of a possible sale of its sewer system, the board has asked PFM to provide regular updates on how the process has been proceeding,” Wilson said.
PFM Financial Advisors was hired in January to build on talks that began last fall, by developing a request for qualifications from potential buyers interested in purchasing the Towamencin Municipal Authority and operating it privately. In February the board heard that PFM and staff have set up a dedicated page on the township’s website with facts, figures, and a full cost study. In March the firm reported multiple responses from interested bidders, in April Wilson said staff had begun scheduling pre-bid meetings with those firms, and on May 26 he gave the latest update.
“On May 4, PFM presented a pre-bid meeting draft presentation to the sewer committee. The sewer committee provided several comments, as well as direction, to their presentation,” he said.
The township held a prebid meeting on May 10 with one interested bidder, “followed by a tour of various assets,” Wilson said. Two more meetings and tours were held later that week, and two additional meetings and tours the following week, all with potential bidders who could submit formal proposals to buy the system.
PFM is also fielding additional due diligence questions from those bidders, adding the data they request to the online data room for them, and drafting the various required bidding documents, Wilson said.
“This report, as well as all of the other communications and presentations that have been produced as part of this process, continue to be added into the data room, and to the township website, so that all of the information that we have had, or are discussing, is available to the public,” he said.
Next steps include adding documents to the online data room, and continuing tours with other
interested bidders, Wilson added, along with providing “a summary of the various service agreements the township is party to” regarding the sewer system.
No public comments on the possible sewer sale were submitted to the township for the May 26 meeting, Wilson added, and only one
was submitted ahead of the May 12 meeting. That comment, from resident Neil Landes of Carriage Way, asked the board “Please do not sell and privatize our sewer system,” citing “a number of articles” he had read on the topic.
“Although it does provide the community with an influx of (revenue), you are essentially guaranteeing a rate increase for everyone,” Landes said in the comment.
“If you need additional funds to support the system, I would much prefer you just raise the rates, rather than selling it to a for-profit monopoly,” he said.
After reading the comment, Wilson responded that the board is “aware of all these issues,” and “still have quite a ways to go” before any formal decision.
“Once we have the information from the bidders, and we’re able to analyze how that affects our financial situation, we’ll bring that forward for public discussion,” he said.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on June 9; for more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. Towamencin.org.