| Grantsville Mayor Curtis Garretson said all operations of the Mt. Zion PSD have been returned to the district.
The Town of Grantsville took on the emergency operation of the district in October, 2013, after the Mt. Zion PSD could not pay their bills and their employees were not reporting for work.
The Mt. Zion PSD hired Charleston law firm Bowles and Rice in a move to take back the operation before the expiration of a one year operation and maintenance agreement, district board members saying the PSD can better operate the system.
In a brief filed with the West Virginia Public Service Commission, the Mt. Zion PSD said, "The town's efforts to provide operation and maintenance services have hindered the efficient delivery of services."
During an April 3 hearing in Charleston, both the Town of Grantsville and the Mt. Zion PSD agreed that the agreement should be terminated.
The Mt. Zion PSD's financial and operational crisis was linked to their inability to pay the amount of a summary lawsuit against them, pay their workers and other outstanding bills, placing the critical delivery of water to their customers in jeopardy.
Mayor Garretson said at the time, "The Town of Grantsville entered into this agreement to assist Mt. Zion PSD to get out of a bind, and to continue operations without any interruptions to their customers, and to ensure that the town would continue to get paid for the water being distributed to the Mt. Zion PSD."
In the recent order, the Mt. Zion PSD was told to pay the Town of Grantsville $16,893.34 in monthly installments of $1,126.26.
During the WV-PSC hearing, PSC staffer Cheryl Ranson said, "In the past, the district (Mt. Zion PSD) did not exercise sufficiently oversight of district operations...that the district failed to maintain proper books and records and did not adequately monitor a law suit against it."
Speaking for the Mt Zion PSD, district office manager Patty Cottrell said she is "in the process of making changes to district record-keeping and accounting in order to adhere to (WV-PSC) rules and regulations in the future."
The WV-PSC said, "The commission expects the district to live up to those intentions."
The Mt. Zion PSD has requested that the Calhoun Commission lease the former EMS building at Mt. Zion for their operations.
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