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WILKES-BARRE — An invitation will be extended to mayor-elect George Brown for the upcoming closed-door meeting on the proposed sale of the city’s sewer system.
The decision on whether to sell the public asset to a private company in order to stabilize the city’s finances likely will be made when Brown is in office next year and bringing him to the table sooner rather than later is the right thing, said City Administrator Rick Gazenski.
“We will invite the mayor-elect,” Gazenski said Friday, a day after residents attending the city council meeting demanded that they and the new administration be part of the process.
Brown, a Democrat, ran unopposed in Tuesday’s general election after securing the nomination with an overwhelming win over Mayor Tony George in the May primary.
Brown had not yet received an invite, but said he would attend. “Now that I’m mayor-elect I’d like to be involved as much as possible,” Brown said.
The new councilman for District E, John Marconi, also will be invited to the meeting set for 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 in the third-floor conference room at City Hall, Gazenski said.
Marconi confirmed Gazenski reached out to him. “He did invite me. I do plan to attend,” Marconi said.
At the meeting members of Philadelphia-based Public Financial Management, who have been working on the proposal, are expected to provide details about it to council that would have to approve the sale.
PFM was hired with state and city funds to develop a multi-year fiscal plan under the state’s Early Intervention Program for municipalities on the verge of financial collapse. One of the recommendations was for asset monetization through a lease or sale of the sewer lines that run through the city and also carry sewage from neighboring municipalities onto the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority treatment plant in Hanover Township.
The city alone bears the cost of maintaining the aging system and lacks the capital to make improvement or major emergency repairs, PFM pointed out in a 2017 report.
Two bids were obtained from Aqua America and Pennsylvania American Water for the purchase of the system and have been reviewed by PFM.
Gazenski said the bids ranged from $20 million to $75 million and the proceeds of a sale would be devoted to the underfunded pension plans and other city expenses.
If a sale was not approved, the remaining options were raising property taxes or asking the state to declare the city financially distressed under Act 47, Gazenski said. The state would appoint a coordinator to draft a recovery plan for the city that could include raising taxes and setting spending caps for departments.
After the executive session, a public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on the mayor’s proposed $52.6 million balanced budget for 2020. Council’s work session follows and PFM will make a public presentation on the proposed sewer system sale. Another presentation will be made during council’s public meeting on Nov. 21, Gazenski said.