Residents, employees raise concerns over Irvona Municipal Authority

IRVONA, Pa. (WTAJ)– Residents are raising concerns over the Irvona Municipal Authority (IMA) as many worry that staffing issues could impact their service.

“There is no proper staff left to operate IMA because of the actions and behaviors of an ex-employee and certain board members,” One individual during the public comment portion of the Irvona Borough Council Meeting last Thursday night said .

Several residents complained that they hadn’t been receiving water bills recently from IMA and were worrying that a larger bill for months past would come soon.

“The secretary ended up getting fired,” Borough Council President Daniel Smith said. “Then our water operator quit. And then our other secretary quit, which left us with one employee to run the whole plant. He isn’t able to do the payroll, any of the filing of the bills, accounts payable and receivable, he can’t do any of that stuff.”

WTAJ reached out to the former secretary and water operator to hear their side of what is going on. All asked that their names not be included. The former secretary says that her termination on November 20 at an IMA meeting came out of nowhere.

“As I’m taking minutes of the meeting the chairman of the board motions to fire me, after 23 years with no explanation,” the former secretary said.

The motion was seconded by the vice chairman of the IMA and one other board member agreed, securing the majority of the five person board. The former secretary says that over the years they had concerns about some suspicious activity at the IMA.

“Because I was here for 23 years and knew the job and knew the place,” the former secretary said. “I feel like I was a threat to them.”

Soon after their dismissal, an online petition to reinstate the former secretary collected nearly 300 signatures. Then the certified plant operator resigned in protest of the firing.

“Everything is at a standstill,” the former plant operator said. “Bills aren’t being processed, bills aren’t being sent out. The operator is a one-man crew trying to maintain the system and do everything.”

The current plant operator says that their job has been very hectic since the dismissal of their coworkers. Daniel Smith also serves on the board of the IMA, but says that he can’t disclose much due to an investigation into the matter.

“I hold no position there besides board member,” Smith said. “This all was going on and I knew there were some issues here or there with some personnel, but I didn’t know how deep this was going.”

Since the Irvona Borough Council Meeting WTAJ has called and left messages with the chairman, vice chairman and treasurer of the IMA, but have received no response yet. It is unclear who the investigation is being conducted by at this time and who is being investigated.