JOHNSTOWN – Johnstown Mayor Amy Praught has again extended the city’s limited state of emergency as the city moves toward officially hiring new Water Department personnel. The order, which had been set to expire on Feb. 23, will now expire on March 20.
Praught said she will discuss more about the Water Department issues during her State of the City speech scheduled to be delivered during the Johnstown Common Council’s Tuesday meeting.
The emergency order effectively keeps the city – rather than the Water Board – in control of the Water Department’s day-to-day operations. Praught issued the original declaration during the city’s Jan. 1 organizational meeting, when the city was facing the impending resignation of its senior water plant operator, which would have left the city without a qualified water filtration operator. That could have resulted in a boil-water notice in the city. The water operator agreed to stay on the job following the declaration.
The Jan. 1 declaration was supported by an emergency ordinance and resolution unanimously passed by the newly sworn-in Common Council, giving the mayor authority to “marshal all city resources and personnel as are necessary to keep and maintain the city’s Water Works in good operation and repair.”
Andrew Waite can be reached at [email protected] and at 518-417-9338. Follow him on Twitter @UpstateWaite.
