Residents of Sharpsville waiting with baited breath for council to make a decision on the future of the nearly 50-year-old water plant can exhale.

Two months after tabling the motion, council agreed Thursday to hire consulting firm Resource Development Management, Inc. of Forest Hills, Pa., to conduct a three-prong study on the water plant that's been in operation since 1954.

Voting yes were: President Jack Cardwell, Guy Moderelli, Tom Lally, Bob Piccirilli, Alex Kovach and Gary "Gus" Grandy. Luann Anglin voted no.

Council plans to meet with RDM officials in the near future to determine the exact details of what will be asked of that study, which is expected to be completed within 45 days. The $9,700 cost will come out of the borough's capital improvement fund.

"I think that's a wise move," resident Bill Gargano said of the hiring.

Another resident, Sue Curtis, agreed.

"Personally I'd like to see the water plant stay in possession of the borough," said Mrs. Curtis. "... But I would also like to see a study done to see what it will cost us."

Among areas that RDM will look at, Borough Manager Michael Wilson said, are: remodeling the plant, including specifically two proposals of $600,000 and $1.8 million; building a new plant at a cost of $3.2 million to $3.5 million; and the $5.34 million offer from Consumers Pennsylvania Water Co. to purchase the plant and the effect that money would have on the borough's future general fund budgets.

No decision on whether council will renovate the plant, build a new one or sell it to Consumers, meanwhile, will be made until that study is completed.

Cardwell and Piccirilli were originally against hiring a consultant, but changed their minds.

"I thought long and hard about this," said Piccirilli. "... I wasn't for this two months ago, but I changed my mind and voted for it strictly because I think the taxpayers of this town, and us also, need an informed decision. I'm still for keeping our water plant, but I still want to see all the numbers to make sure we are making the right decision. This is probably one of the biggest decisions any one of us will make in our lives for this town."

"I was also opposed to spending the money on this," Cardwell added. "But I noticed here tonight that they're going to look at two things I'm interested in: constructing a new one or remodeling the one that we have."

Council noted RDM will be using figures from the 2001 Killem study that looked at the costs of remodeling the plant or building a new one and they could be outdated.