IN THE CITY
by Stephen Freeman
Next Tuesday, the citizens of Presque Isle will have an opportunity to vote on a referendum question and decide whether or not to merge the Presque Isle Sewer District and the Presque Isle Water District into a new Presque Isle Utilities District. This referendum resulted from a law approved by the Maine Legislature and the Governor in June 2013.The referendum is the last step in the process to merge the Sewer District and the Water District, and for the merger to take effect, it must be approved by the majority of residents voting in the election.
Currently the Sewer District and the Water District are separate districts with two separate Boards of Trustees. Even though the Districts are separate entities, they have been managed and operated by the same office staff for over 50 years. Thus the merger, if approved, will not appreciably affect the manner of operation. The Sewer District will simply become the Sewer Division, and the Water District will become the Water Division, respectively, of the Presque Isle Utilities District.
The Water Division will continue to be regulated by the Maine Drinking Water Program and the Maine Public Utilities Commission, and the Sewer Division will continue to be regulated by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The Presque Isle Utilities District will maintain separate accounting records for each division, and the customer bills will continue to have separate sewer and water charges.
Over time, the merger should provide a more efficient operation. The merger should provide more opportunities for cross-training employees, a better alignment of job positions by function instead of by district, and for the succession of supervisors. There may also be small cost savings, for example, in buying insurance.
The merger should also improve governance. The superintendent will be under the control of a single board of trustees, instead of two separate boards of trustees. There will also be more trustees. The Utilities District will be governed by seven trustees, whereas the separate Sewer District and Water District are each governed by only three trustees.
The merger has the unanimous support of the Trustees and the Presque Isle City Council.
Stephen Freeman is superintendent of the Presque Isle Sewer and Water Districts. He can be reached at 762-5061 or via e-mail at sfreeman@maine.rr.com.
