The Mt. Zion PSD Board held their monthly meeting on Monday September 14th, 2026 at the Industrial Park location in Grantsville. Secretary Aryeh White opened the meeting followed by a 90 minutes review of complaints and the status of all complaints made through social media, etc. (available to view on Ridgeview News’ Facebook page live video)
– Secretary’s Special Report Addressing Public Concerns
- Hydrant flushing – Those that are not functional have been marked.
- Recently ordered a certified flow testing kit.
- Purchased an additional hydrant wrench.
- Grounds maintenance is behind done by staff
- Safety Equipment – improvements have been made. U
- Confined space training – requested
- OSHA Has no authority over Government subdivisions which is what the Mt. Zion PSD is.
- Violations – There have been no further violations since April. When a violation is committed the board notifies the public customers in writing. According to Mr. White the WV Department of Health fails to acknowledge the correction of violations creating the need to re-submit corrections and a delay on the online reporting n site.
- Monthly reports are being submitted. I’m a timely basis.
- Some leaks have been repaired, but not all due to assistance being needed from Appalachian Community Technical Assistance and Training. Operator Adam Mills also want to wait until assistance can be requested from the Department of Highways for flagging.
Ridgeview News expressed concern that the Arnoldsburg leak and a leak on Route 16 had been left without repair wasting hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Anita West, who also attended the meeting, stated that she had notified Mt. Zion PSD of the leak on Route 16 over one year ago, which happens to be at the mouth of her drive way and was informed that they (Mt. Zion PSD) were not sure it was a water line or ground water. When that was determined there was also the issue that a gas line lay near by and they couldn’t dig until the gas company marked where their line was.
After two hours of the MZPSD meeting, Ridgeview News was unable to stay for the remainder of the meeting and requested to know why Mt. Zion PSD was putting in for a rate increase? The answer from both board members, Aryeh White and Robin Hughes was that the matter had been on the agenda for consideration because the the WV Public Service Commission had recommended the increase following the increase in wholesale rates by the Grantsville Water Department. The Mt. Zion PSD had determined not to raise rates at that time and are now waiting to see if (after the large leaks are repaired) they can still continue on the their current customer rates.
Ridgeview also asked why the $100,000 given to them by the Calhoun County Commission had not aided in getting the leaks repaired as was predicted. The board responded that the $100,000 of ARPA funding had been rescinded by the County Commission and was no longer available. They added that the original $300,000 of ARPA funding that they themselves had been awarded had only recently become available because they were advised by the Calhoun County Commission not to spend it until there was a finalization of the consolidation issues with Grantsville Water and the Pleasant Hill PSD.
Ridgeview News is investigating whether or not those funds were actually rescinded and will update. The ARPA funding must be spent by December 31st, 2026, which leaves very little time.
The remainder of the meeting was not attended by Ridgeview News as well as one of the Engineering firms due to the time restraints created by Mr. White’s 90 minute report.
