Wood County Commissioners Robert Tebay, Jimmy Colombo and Blair Couch hear a presentation from West Virginia American Water on what the company could do for local water and sewer service. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission is preparing to look at whether having West Virginia American Water take over some local public service districts would be a benefit for local customers.

A representative from the company appeared before the commission on Monday at a meeting that was also attended by 20 people representing various public service districts and the public.

Jake Glance, manager of business development for WVAW, gave a presentation on who American Water is and what they could do locally. The publicly traded company provides services to around 15 million people in 46 states and delivering more than 1 billion gallons of water daily.

In West Virginia, the company serves about 30% of the state’s population (more than 545,000 people in 19 counties), which includes more than 155,000 residential connections, 11,000 commercial customers, 110 industrial customers and 1,100 public authority customers.

If WVAW takes over a system, they also take responsibility for the system’s debt and pay it off, Glance said. As a private company, they cannot take advantage of taxpayer-funded grants and would have to pay back any grants the system had coming. Sometimes, if the grant is already being used, WVAW may only have to pay back a portion of the cost.

Jake Glance, manager of business development for West Virginia American Water, gave a presentation Monday before the Wood County Commission. The company has expressed interest in taking over water and sewer operations locally. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

If WVAW comes into the area, they will spend capital to improve the system and continue to invest in it to maintain it; offer employment to the staff already working there while streamlining operations; and more, Glance said.

“We don’t want to come into an area and take a job away from anyone,” he said, adding they want people who already know the system and where the concerns may be.

Water treatment plants and distribution systems in Wood County — including the Claywood Park, Lubeck, Union Williams and Mineral Wells Public Service Districts — serve 15,522 customers, and wastewater collections and treatment systems serve a total of 8,594 customers. According to information from the West Virginia Public Service Commission, the values of all the facilities combined is more than $100.3 million.

Glance said the company would need to do site visits to see what is there and what would need to be done.

“This would be a big acquisition for us,” he said.

More than 20 representatives of local public service districts attended the Monday meeting of the Wood County Commission to hear a presentation by West Virginia American Water, who has expressed interest in taking over local water and sewer services. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Money from a sale that goes to a city or county has “no strings attached,” Glance said. The company would also pay any business and occupation taxes that any other company would pay.

“About 30 cents of every dollar that comes in (to WVAW) goes to taxes,” Glance said.

The county would not be under any obligation to accept an offer WVAW might make to purchase the systems. If they decide against it, the county would not be billed for the work done in getting the offer together.

Some of those in attendance had questions about bills, noting areas like Mineral Wells having some of the area’s lowest rates.

Glance said their rates would be set by the Public Service Commission. Another person in attendance said WVAW rates are at $71.10 for 3,400 gallons of water, according to the state’s PSC website. Glance said in some instances their rates are higher, but the cost would be phased in and not all at once.

John Tennant of the Belleville area said he has been doing research into WVAW through the internet and what he has found online seems to indicate many people would see a significant increase in their water and sewer bills. He also pointed out customer service issues, outage problems and more.

“It all looks great on paper, but there are problems,” Tennant said.

Commission President Blair Couch said he has received calls from people who don’t want to see a water rate increase. Delegate Scott Heckert, R-Wood, said he also received calls from older residents not being able to afford a significant increase.

However, the Lubeck Public Service District has asked for a rate increase which is scheduled to be discussed at Thursday’s commission meeting, Couch said, adding Claywood Park would be requesting an increase soon.

“Those weigh on us,” Couch said. “We want to start this process and see where it leads us. … It may not lead us anywhere.”

Additional meetings will be held soon, commissioners said. Couch said a future meeting will be held in the evening to allow the public to come in and comment.

The documents Glance presented Monday were put on the county’s website as “Wood County PSD Presentation.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com