Allentown Inches Closer to Water Privatization

Michael Donovan

To avoid a tax hike, Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski wants to unload the City's water supply. After all, somebody's gotta' supply the frackin' water for the fracking industry up north, and it might as well be him. Environmental consequences be damned. And never mind that, instead of a tax hike, City and even suburban residents in Whitehall and South Whitehall will see their water and sewer bills skyrocket.

This is perhaps THE most important issue facing the Lehigh Valley. But instead of taking their time with it, Allentown City Council have their rubber stamps out, ready to approve whatever outfit is associated with Pawlowski Pal Marcel Groen. Earlier this week, they refused to appoint a committee that would look into the pitfalls more closely.

"Citizens for Common Sense" forced the matter on the agenda via petition. But Allentown City Council members want nothing to do with common sense. Only Jeanette Eichenwald would listen to them.

Former Council member Michael Donovan, a member of this group, made this statement to City Council. They ignored him, but you might be interested.

Thank you Mr. Guridy.  Council Members.  In responding to our petition, you have an opportunity to change the way government is often transacted in this city.  By adopting an often used technique to make critical civic decisions through collaboration and consensus building, you will earn the trust of your constituents and more likely produce a better solution than what we have now.  Many, many scholars in Public Policy agree on the practice we propose.  Many, many communities throughout the country embed this technique in their review processes.

The problem:

We believe that the administration has not adequately presented in a collaborative and consensus building manner to the public its proposal to privatize and lose control of our water and sewer system.  We also believe that city has not suitably examined how it can manage and restructure our fire and police pension obligations to obtain a better solution than what the administration has proposed.  

The solution:

Building on proven results occurring throughout the country at the local level to deal with challenging problems like Allentown's, we recommend that a study committee comprised of the administration’s consultant, PFM, the Council's consultant, Economy League of PA, a third professional, 2 people currently in favor of the administration proposal, and 2 people currently against this proposal.  Members of that committee would work with their constituencies to facilitate trusted communication.

To build (and some would say rebuild) trust, the committee must help us understand or know vital areas of study that we do not understand or know.  

For example, we do not understand (repeat)

     * Pension Financial Position
       *  Market Value of Assets
       *  Liability of Fund
       *  Annual Minimum Municipal Obligation
       *  Impact of optional funding solutions

     * Financial position and cash flow of the water and sewer department

     * Legal options to change pension obligations or to capture water/sewer rate surplus for use to satisfy obligations without losing control

     * Independently produced results of all privatization that have occurred in other cities and regions around the country

     * The impact of privatization on social criteria such as the environment and health

     * The impact of privatization on political criteria such as Allentown's ability to negotiate in the Lehigh Valley

     *
The impact of the proposal that potentially shifts the pension obligation costs to non-taxable properties and the suburbs, as well as achieving operational efficiency

The reason for a committee.

Council will soon be faced with a resolution authorizing a Request for Proposal to lease our water and sewer system. This is a critical decision that requires collaboration and consensus building.  In that resolution, we understand that there will be conditions that are expected in any proposal submitted by bidders.  We believe choosing the leasing option with incomplete and less than trusted information is not best for the city because we all know serious mistakes have occurred before, one of which causes the current crisis.  We believe that Council cannot and should not make a decision on that resolution or any of its specifics until it is knowledgeable of all the costs and benefits associated with this option to the pension situation. We believe that the best decisions occur when a collaborative effort is made to bring the community together with good information.  That can only occur with a bi-partisan review of the data that is then brought to the people in an objective analysis that examines the consequences of all options.    We believe the facts will bear out a better solution.   The need to have the public trust that our decisions are wise is imperative 

On a personal note, I will be saddened if we do not take this action continue to conduct business in this community with poor analysis rammed down the throats of the public. I often felt that way during my tenure here. It is not the way government is supposed to run.  It is not the way public policy should be determined, and most of all it is not the way for citizens to grant authority to its leaders.

Yes, politics and government are messy. Yes, officials are elected to make decisions. However, collaborative leadership is successful. Collaboration is supposed to include us, your constituents.

Our request is to do this as quickly as possible.  An ordinance would delay the process, and we hope that the Council President will authorize an ad hoc committee to perform these duties.