The jurisdiction dispute between Clarion Borough Council and the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority appears to be ongoing as the authority considers its next steps.
Repairs will be made to a storm water drain along North First Avenue and that drain will be reconnected to the borough’s storm water system, that seems to have been settled by borough council action on April 5.
What apparently isn’t settled, at least in the opinion of the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority, is which entity the stormwater authority or borough council has jurisdiction over those decisions.
The stormwater authority board members offered no discussion or comments on the project but did indicate the board is not done with the debate over which entity controls connections and reconnections.
Stormwater authority board members Ben Aaron, Tom DiStefano, Chuck Bartley and Bryan Smith met in executive session for about 25 minutes at the start of the meeting and DiStefano offered a proposed resolution addressing the matter at the end of the meeting, however, no action was taken after the executive session and no action was taken on the proposed resolution.
Aaron, who chairs the stormwater authority, is also a member of borough council.
As a council member April 5, Aaron cast the lone “no” vote against council’s authorization of the work and reconnection of the North First Avenue project.
As the stormwater authority chairman April 14, Aaron called for the executive session to talk about “potential litigation.”
Asked by the CLARION NEWS if the “potential litigation” was litigation threatened against the stormwater authority or litigation the authority is considering filing, Aaron said it is litigation the authority is considering filing.
The resolution contends the authority has the sole responsibility for the operation, maintenance, repair and improvement of the stormwater management system and new connections to the system must not disrupt the proper function of the system nor should any new connections exceed the capacity of the system or damage the system.
The proposed resolution also states, “Whereas the CBSA stormwater management system is dependent on the timely and full payments of the authority’s stormwater fee for the continued operation, maintenance, repair and improvement of the stormwater management system in Clarion Borough”
Clarion University and the stormwater authority are embroiled in a dispute over the authority’s impervious surface fee. That’s a fee the authority charges all land owners in the borough to fund stormwater repairs. The fee is levied on privately- and government-owned land and includes land owned by non-profit agencies.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education argues the fee is a tax from which it is exempt and therefore has not paid Clarion University’s bill, which now totals about $100,000.
The Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority wants to ban the university from reconnecting to the system until the bill is paid. Aaron several months ago offered a suggestion to borough council to amend the stormwater rules to include a ban on connections and reconnections for property owners in arrears on their bills.
The suggestion received no response from other council members.
The action included in DiStefano’s proposed resolution states, “Now, therefore be it resolved, that as of the date of adoption of this resolution, proposed new connections to the CBSA stormwater management system shall apply for and receive a new permit from the Clarion Borough Stormwater Authority before such connections are made.”
The resolution also proposes, “private connections to the CBSA stormwater management system which, in the opinion of the CBSA, have failed, must apply for and received a new permit for replacement or repair of that connection before the connection is renewed and entities seeking new connections or repair and replacement of failed connections must not be in arrears in their required payments of the CBSA stormwater fee.”
Members of the stormwater authority took copies of the proposed resolution to review but offered no comment and took no action.