To the Massanutten Community:
On Tuesday, February 23, I was joined by Resorts Companies CEO Steve Krohn, MPOA President Liz Walker, MPOA Administrator Carter Miller, and residents Thom Bailey, Andrew Jezioro and Orris Hambleton on a Zoom call with Rockingham County Board of Supervisors member Mike Breeden and Rockingham County Administrator Stephen King. Our discussion centered on the new Massanutten Water and Sewer Authority and our desire for the Authority to take over MPSC.
I’d like to share some good news, some not-so-good news, and some recommended steps forward.
The Good News: Messrs. Breeden and King welcomed the call, and the call was productive. They understand that area residents and Massanutten Resort customers are aligned on the desirability of buying MPSC’s assets. Mr. Breeden allowed as to how he’d already been getting calls from members of the community (more on this below). The issue is squarely on the County’s radar screen and, and Mr. Breeden affirmed the County’s interest in the takeover.
The Not-So-Good News: It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, but MPSC is “slow-walking” its necessary cooperation in the valuation analysis that’s currently underway by consultants hired by the County. Originally, it was expected that valuation studies were to be complete this Spring. MPSC has successfully delayed the inspection and study of at least one of its facilities (the wastewater treatment plant) until late March. As a result, the final valuation report may not be delivered to the County until later than we’d hoped, and it will clearly take at least a month longer than that before any final decisions related to a Country takeover will happen.
Now: here’s where residents can help, if they wish to. Previous calls and letters to Mr. Breeden have been impactful; he understands the situation and is committed to this process. Though you’re certainly welcome to contact him, I honestly don’t feel that more communications with him or others with the County will be either necessary or helpful at this time. We’ve been heard, and more communication right now will probably only distract.
But communications elsewhere can be hugely helpful. We have heard lots of anecdotes from residents who have had highly questionable service from MPSC – in terms of inexplicable changes in the number of gallons used, irregular billing, faulty meters, hostile or indifferent interactions with MPSC staff, and so on.
I encourage you to do two things when registering complaints about MPSC. First, write a letter outlining your concerns to MPSC itself at the following addresses: Massanutten Public Service Corp., 1550 Resort Drive, McGaheysville VA 22840 and Utilities Inc., 500 West Monroe Street, Suite 3600, Chicago IL 60661. Even more importantly, there is a link on the Commission’s website for submitting complaints about public utilities generally, and water & sewer utilities: https://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Utility-Complaints. Copy your complaint to MPSC and submit it to SCC as well, noting that it’s a copy of a complaint filed with the utility.
It will likely be an additional 90 to 120 days before the SCC issues its final ruling on MPSC’s rate case, and your complaints to the SCC may be hugely valuable going forward. I suggest that you limit messages to SCC to examples of poor service, rather than complaints about rate disparities, whether between residential and commercial rates or between MPSC and other local water/sewer systems. The way the customer class rates are set is extremely complicated and is a function of, among other things, who actually paid for what parts of MPSC’s system (we’ve made previous posts on that topic; you can find them by scrolling down in this, the “Our View on Community Issues” section). What matters most right now is that SCC needs constant reminders that MPSC is not serving its customers well.
As noted in an earlier post, it may well be that in the short-term rates paid by homeowners seem grossly unfair. Massanutten Resort and Great Eastern are not the reason for that – and the real solution is ownership free from tax impacts, profit incentives, contributions to distant management, and other factors that result in MPSC constantly seeking new increases. The solution is a takeover by the County.
Massanutten Resort and Great Eastern look forward to working as a team with MPOA and area residents to solve one of our community’s biggest challenges.
Sincerely,
Matthias Smith, VP and General Manager, Massanutten Resort
To read the letter sent to Rockingham County officials by Massanutten Resort, Great Eastern, MPOA, and area residents, click here.
Can we have more frequent updates even if just to let us know that things are status quo and we are still awaiting decision.
It’s a great question. We’re hopeful that this new format will allow us to improve communications with area residents. At the same time, we don’t want to add content merely for the sake of adding content, and turning people off by posting content of no value. Currently, much of this is in the hands of Rockingham County.