Several Harrisburg residents brought a homemade sign, “Keep H2O Public,” to Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Harrisburg City Council is considering holding one or more meetings on the proposed privatization of the city’s water and sewer system.
On Tuesday night, council President Wanda Williams told a crowd attending the legislative session that she planned to schedule public meetings on the city’s proposal to sell the system to a private operator.
“We probably won’t just have one meeting,” she said. “We’ll probably have two or three.”
Her statement came following numerous public comments criticizing the proposed sale, a story broken by TheBurg on July 26.
Harrisburg is currently asking qualified, private entities to respond to a “request for information” (RFI) to gauge interest in acquiring the system. Companies have until Sept. 16 to submit responses, with interviews slated for the following week.
At Tuesday’s meeting, about a half-dozen residents spoke, uniformly saying that they opposed privatizing the water/sewer system, which would eliminate the current operator, the municipal authority Capital Region Water (CRW).
“I just wanted to speak out early and often against the idea of privatizing the city water authority, with the understanding that this is the first step to that potential process,” said one Green Street resident. “I’m categorically against the idea of privatizing the water authority.”
Both city Engineer Wayne Martin and Business Administrator Marc Woolley told council members that the request for information was a preliminary step and did not mean that city has decided to privatize the system.
“The information that we’re gathering is just that—gathering information—about the water system and any potential disposition of assets,” Woolley said. “But we have not decided what we’re going to do.”
Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who is on vacation and so missed Tuesday’s meeting, has also insisted that the city is simply testing the market with the RFI notice. He recently has forcefully criticized CRW, especially after it announced plans to impose a stormwater fee beginning in January.
Residents also denounced what they perceived as a lack of communication about the proposed sale. Several said they learned about it first in the press, as did a few council members.
“How does a city government make a determination that it should explore the possibility of selling a valuable asset like water and sewer and not bother to inform the people we elect to make a decision as to whether that is or is not a good idea and is in our best interest?” asked Melanie Cook, a 3rd Street resident.
Williams said that Papenfuse had discussed the RFI with her, but that he went public with the information before she could inform all other members of council. Councilwoman Shamaine Daniels, for one, said that she was not told of the RFI before it went public.
“I wasn’t aware of that,” she said. “I found out through the newspaper. I did not know about this.”
Several residents said they were less concerned about issues of timing and communication and simply want to see the sales process stopped.
“What we’re saying is that there isn’t an amount high enough for us to sell such a wonderful asset to Harrisburg off to a private corporation,” said Kathryn Lally, a 3rd Street resident. “I don’t think we even need to see what those offers are.”
