Supervisors, PSA Hope to Resolve Town Problem

CAPE CHARLES WAVE

March 31, 2014

The Northampton Board of Supervisors met March 24 with the Public Service Authority in an effort to break the logjam in cooperation with the Town of Cape Charles. Their solution was to form a three-way committee composed of two Supervisors, two PSA members, and two Cape Charles Town Council members.

Representing the Supervisors will be Granville Hogg and Rick Hubbard, and from the PSA are Bob Panek and Sean Ingram. It will be up to Cape Charles Town Council to decide who represents the Council. Recognizing that Town Council elections are May 6, the Supervisors recommended waiting until after that to convene the committee.

The March 24 meeting was the first since Bob Panek resigned as PSA chairman January 28. County Supervisors forced his resignation by cutting off PSA funding so long as Panek was chairman. Panek remains a member of the PSA, appointed by the Town of Cape Charles.

Panek reportedly has recommended that Town Council immediately appoint Joan Natali and Frank Wendell to the joint committee without waiting for elections. Natali is running for re-election and Wendell is running for mayor, creating the possibility that neither of them would continue as a Council member.

CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE

Town Council has twice stated in writing that it supports PSA plans to pipe sewage to the Town treatment facility. But town officials have never told the county how much would be charged for the service. The county requested that information last year. Panek, who is also assistant town manager for Cape Charles, is urging a “wholesale rate” for the county, which would mean that county customers would pay less than town customers for sewer service. Panek also initially planned to exempt county customers from paying a connection fee – another sizeable charge incurred by new customers in town.

Reacting to the town’s failure to provide funding information, Supervisor Larry Trala said that Cape Charles “was not stepping up to the plate.” He said he got the feeling the town thinks the county is somehow trying to hurt Cape Charles.

Share

Comments

Comments are closed.