The Herald, Sharon, PA Published Friday, May 3, 2002

GREENVILLE

Marini resigns from board

By Tom Fontaine
Herald Staff Writer

The president of the board that has the final word on a potential multi-million dollar sale of the Greenville water treatment plant has resigned.

Greenville Municipal Authority Board President Mario Marini handed other authority board members his letter of resignation Tuesday after the board's monthly meeting. Council -- not the authority board -- will approve the resignation later this month.

Marini said this morning that his three young children and new job factored into his decision to step down.

"I've been contemplating the decision since the end of last year," said Marini, who has been on the board since September 1999. "I believe that if you cannot commit to something full-time, then it's not worth doing."

Marini has 5-, 6- and 9-year-old children and recently took a job in Thiel College's development office.

Borough council will tap a replacement for Marini. Although the authority runs independently of the borough, authority board members are appointed by council.

Council President Richard S. Houpt said this morning that the authority board opening will be discussed at council's agenda meeting Thursday. Council plans to advertise the opening and hopes to name a replacement within 30 days. "Usually in the past we have had to go out and find somebody. But we expect there to be more interest than in the past," Houpt said.

Authority and council members met Tuesday to discuss the potential sale of the water plant.

The borough has asked the state for emergency funding under the Act 47 program for financially distressed communities, and expects to hear within the next two weeks whether it is eligible for the program. If the cash-strapped borough is eligible and decides to enter into the program, it could receive interest-free loans by this summer and access to certain grants that are not available to other communities. Money from a potential water plant sale -- which would not be available until fall of this year, at the earliest -- could possibly be used to get the borough out of the Act 47 program more quickly. For the borough to get any relief from the sale, the authority would need to OK a sale, pay off its $4 million debt and then dissolve. Remaining money from a sale would then go to the borough.



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