Municipalities say York City Council s sewer fee legislation is illegitimate
York Dispatch
At least three municipalities utilizing York City s sewer system are alleging legislation passed by city council setting sewer fees violates their intermunicipal agreement.
City council on Tuesday passed a bill that sets sewer fees for municipalities that use the system, but the three municipalities contend any rates should be set with their input, said Kelly Kelch, West Manchester Township s manager. We don’t recognize it at all, Kelch said. Basically it’s the city’s attempt to impose future sewer rates outside the intermunicipal agreement.
Shawn Mauck, West York s borough manager, and Gary Milbrand, York Township s manager, echoed Kelch s concerns and agreed it would violate their intermunicipal agreement.
Alejandro A. Alvarez / Philadelphia Inquirer
In December 2017, Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation to increase oversight for drug and alcohol recovery houses a measure that lawmakers said was needed to fight the opioid epidemic and protect vulnerable people from being exploited.
The action by lawmakers came after years of complaints from local government leaders and some recovery advocates, who said profit-driven owners packed people into homes, provided few rules and little support, and put residents at greater risk of relapsing.
But more than three years later, recovery homes believed to number in the thousands continue to operate without state oversight, Spotlight PA has found. The state’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs missed a June 2020 deadline to, for the first time, create a certification or licensing process for them.
WHYY
By
Ed Mahon, Spotlight PAJanuary 25, 2021
Fred Way, executive director of the Pennsylvania Alliance of Recovery Residences. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/Philadelphia Inquirer)
This story originally appeared on Spotlight PA.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.
In December 2017, Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation to increase oversight for drug and alcohol recovery houses a measure that lawmakers said was needed to fight the opioid epidemic and protect vulnerable people from being exploited.
The action by lawmakers came after years of complaints from local government leaders and some recovery advocates, who said profit-driven owners packed people into homes, provided few rules and little support, and put residents at greater risk of relapsing.
Department officials said earlier this month they were completing an internal review of draft regulations and planned to send them to the attorney general’s office by the end of January, but couldn’t commit to a timeline for when licensing and oversight will begin.
“I’m saddened by that because the longer it takes to set that up, the more individuals could pass away in these unstructured recovery homes,” said Amber Longhitano, a former council member in Bristol Township, Bucks County, who pushed state lawmakers to create oversight for recovery homes.
Beyond the delay, there’s a more fundamental problem with the oversight effort: It’s voluntary, though there are incentives.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — In December 2017, Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation to increase oversight for drug and alcohol recovery houses — a