The Schuylkill County Municipal Authority filled two of the three positions it had previously opened to bolster its management team on Tuesday.
In a unanimous vote at the authority's December meeting, the board unanimously approved Mark Smith as office manager and Stephen Ulseski as operations manager, according to SCMA Executive Director Patrick M. Caulfield.
Ulseski is a "promotion from within," Caulfield said at the meeting.
However, following the meeting, Caulfield refused to provide any information about the new hires, job descriptions or salary information.
"Personnel issues, if you have questions on those, we'd like those formally submitted in writing by the direction of our solicitor," Caulfield said.
The board's solicitor, Sudhir Patel, an attorney based in Pottsville, was not present for Tuesday's meeting at 221 S. Centre St., Pottsville.
The Republican-Herald submitted a Right-to-Know request to Caulfield this morning.
Board Chairman Charles M. Dries said the board is planning to hire an environmental manager in the future but provided no further details.
In other matters, the authority approved an agreement with the Saint Clair Sewer Authority to fight delinquencies.
"We had a request from the Saint Clair Sewer Authority to enter into a shut-off agreement," Caulfield said.
He said it would be similar to the agreements the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority has with the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority.
Under such an agreement, if the sewer authority has a problem with a customer behind in his bills, the sewer authority can contact the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority and request the customer's water be shut off, Caulfield said.
Caulfield discussed the $1,147,928 grant the authority recently received to assist with an estimated $4 million in infrastructure upgrades at Mahanoy Business Park.
The authority plans to install water lines and a new 500,000 gallon water storage tank to service businesses at Mahanoy Business Park in Mahanoy and Ryan townships, Caulfield said.
"Right now, the park is served by wells," Caulfield said Tuesday.
On Nov. 21, at a meeting in Harrisburg, the Commonwealth Financing Authority approved the grant through their PennWorks program. "This project will provide public water service to one of the few remaining prime economic developable areas along the I-81 corridor in the northern portion of Schuylkill County," Caulfield said in a recent press release.
Former state Rep. Bob Allen, a consultant to the authority, applauded the state for the grant Tuesday.
"I would like to point out that the CFA grant covers 29 percent of the total project. And that is a big step in the right direction for us all. The challenge, of course, is we're applying to the same people and asking for the same type of support for the remaining $2,850,000. And I want to thank the legislative delegation for their support. They did a lot of work on this," Allen said.