Two veteran employees of Williamsport Municipal Water and Sanitary authorities were designated as the interim and future executive directors.
Since the resignation of former executive director David DiNicolla in June, the authorities have been without an official designation of who was in charge while the board of directors weighed its options.
Wednesday, the board put the administration of the two authorities on firmer ground by announcing it would look for a new executive director from within.
The board then designed Director of Operations Walter Nicholson the interim director and Director of Finance Douglas Keith the probable future director.
Nicholson, with 30 years tenure, has filled the interim role before during the in-between periods between executive directors. This time, however, he will mentor Keith for up to a year to assume the executive director role on a permanent basis.
The transition was announced without any fanfare and quickly followed by a unanimous voice vote at the end of the water authority agenda.
The two veteran employees will oversee the ongoing $120 million in estimated work to upgrade the two sewage treatment plants. The work is needed to comply with new mandated federal and state nutrient reduction guidelines aimed at reducing the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and store combine-sewer wet weather overflows in a massive storage tank at the Central Plant so it doesn't go into the Susquehanna River.
Wednesday's meeting underscored the challenges ahead with two large bond issues approved - one each during the sanitary and water agendas.
Authorization was granted for a $30 million bond on the water side - $15 million of which is to refinance older borrowing at lower rates and the rest for projects needed over the next three years.
On the sanitary side, a $40 million bond issue was approved. It is the second needed as the authority works to comply with the new guidelines and, according to comments during the discussion, may not be the last needed without a significant injection of state or federal low-interest loans and grants.
In other business the board:
Designated attorney C. Peter Carlucci as bond counsel for both authorities due to the retirement of the former counsel.
Approved, on the water side, a $69,500 systemwide distribution study with HRG Inc. of State College.
