Following Monday’s (August 10th, 2026) Commission Meeting, Commissioner Eric Lupardus contacted the Secretary of the Board of the Mt. Zion Public Service District (PSD), Mr. Aryeh White regarding PSD issues and violations. Below is the conversation between the two. Including a list of those violations.
Amid the conversation Commissioner Lupardus provided to the Board a list of recent violations that are unaddressed by the Mt. Zion PSD and requested their response as to the intent of public notification.
Mr. White’s response was not one of accountability, but rather of comparison to the previous sins of past operators and that “by comparison” the system is much better, even providing the percentage. What Mr. White did not address was the fact that there are still violations, including that of e Coli.
In my commentary of a letter from Jason Firestine, a response of Commissioner Lupardus on Thursday, August 14th, 2026 I shared my frustration with what “I” considered to be a failure on the part of the County Commission in dealing with the accountability of the Public Service Districts to the public they serve. Needless to say, that created some commentary phone calls.
Today I will clarify my stance on my own frustration. I will stand flat footed and eye to eye and say that the current County Commission has by far accomplished more than any previous Commission that I have personally been involved with in my 46 years of voting. And I do understand that the current Commission cannot simply “fire” board members without just cause and an appeal to a Judge. With that being said…The Calhoun County Commission is our only avenue of action. Now, it’s been said that I should attend Mt. Zion PSD meetings, and that I have personally missed meetings where the Commission addressed PSD problems. That is also true. But the current status of my ability to attend any meeting is not possible with the responsibility I have of the care for my 90 year old mother and is likely the case for most citizens of this county. Therefore, I lay the charge back to the Commission. I do not as a citizen have authority over the PSD boards. Nor do I have the ability to not pay my water bill, even if I’m drinking E. coli. That will get my water shut off.
That hardly seems fair.
All that, to say this about the conversation below between Commissioner Lupardus and Aryeh White. Commissioner Lupardus addressed the issue I questioned. The ball went into the court of the Mt. Zion PSD which fluffed it off and made very light of a serious matter. Not fully addressed is the fact that the Mt. Zion PSD management has created a volatile work environment that has made it impossible for good citizens, desiring to help, to stay on. The Mt. Zion PSD has ran off board members and staff. The drama created is another embarrassing attribute to the community of good citizens not willing to join in. So volunteerism, or even paid staff refuse to become a part of it.
I have received multiple comments from community members, some good, some poor. Trashing anyone will not make progress, it only makes things stink. At this point, my request now goes to the public. We need good, community members with “people skills, communication ability, and capable of holding themselves accountable for a job the public has entrusted them to do.” I know it’s a lot. I know the pay isn’t worth it. But Calhoun County, West Virginia is one of the greatest places on earth. Minus a few poorly behaved people. Please consider helping if you are so inclined.
I and Commissioner Lupardus had a conversation yesterday. There was no yelling or name calling. We did not 100% agree with each other, nor did we resolve every issue we had.
But I’m still here. In Calhoun County, and I’m still going to ask questions. Even if it’s from a keyboard. Do you have questions? Better yet… do you have ideas?
Letter from Commissioner Lupardus to the Mt. Zion PSD Board members.
Dear Mt. Zion PSD Board,
At our last County Commission meeting, citizens raised concerns regarding the safety of their water. One resident shared the attached list of violations that Mt. Zion is currently facing.
Please respond by the end of the business day on Wednesday, August 12th, to confirm whether these violations have been closed. If they are resolved, please provide documentation as proof.
Additionally, please clarify the following points:
- Will Mt. Zion be applying for a line replacement project for the Millstone area to address the frequent leaks?
- What are the plans and schedule for repairing the leak at the “Y” intersection?
- Does the PSD plan to address these violations publicly?
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Best regards,
Eric J. Lupardus
Calhoun Co. Commissioner
Hon. Comm’r Lupardus,
Our water is safer today than it has been in the last eleven years. In analyzing eleven years of violations it is fair to say that the Mount Zion PSD has had a higher rate of violations than neighboring systems.
For the eleven complete calendar years from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2025, Mount Zion PSD recorded 283 violations, an average of approximately 2.14 violations per month. During the same period, Pleasant Hill PSD recorded 155 violations, or approximately 1.17 per month, while Grantsville Municipal recorded 30 violations, or approximately 0.23 per month. That pattern continued into early 2026. From January 14, 2025 through April 8, 2026, Mount Zion recorded 46 violations beginning during that period, an average of approximately 3.11 violations per month.
On April 8, 2026 Chief Operator Trenten Cunningham resigned without warning, succeeded in this office by Jacob Bunner. Since this transition Mount Zion PSD has not had a single additional violation.
All violations are necessarily addressed publicly.
The resolution of any violation requires public notice. All violations letters include a date by which customers must be informed. To reduce the expenses we would be required to pass along to our customers we send out notices to the public in batches. Our remaining open violations are awaiting the next batch.
The status of all violations, resolved and unresolved, may be found on the West Virginia Department ot Health’s Drinking water Viewer. There are a number of violations for which we completed every step on our end for their resolution which were not processed as resolved by the Department of Health. This is an ongoing issue many systems have with that Department and the typical means to resolve it are to send out a second notice to the customers in the next batch and fax proof a second time to the Department.
As we stated publicly previously, the leak at the Arnoldsburg Y is our second priority for repair after a larger leak at Sand Ridge that is not visible from the road. We are committed to resolving both leaks before winter. We are coordinating with Rural Water, the WU’s ACTAT Office, and Potesta Engineering to develop a plan to address these two difficult leaks.
The WVU Extension Office has begun work on a current Asset Management Plan as we pursue emergency funding sources to resolve these leaks.
Regarding the problematic stretch of main on 119/33, we are facing an uphill battle for evidence that it requires replacement decades before its design life is exhausted. We have implemented procedures for enhanced recordkeeping regarding this stretch to be able to demonstrate conclusively to potential funding sources the necessity of this project, but this is an ongoing effort that will likely require months before we can reasonably expect to prevail in securing such funding.
By the way, our Chief Operator is now Mike
Hersman. The papers were filed with the state today to have been effective the 4th inst.
Yours,
A. White
Mr White,
Just to clarify, are you statements in your response email public information?
Eric J. Lupardus
Calhoun Co. Commissioner
elupardus@prime-energyllc.com
Hon. Commr Lupardus,
The majority of my email was data analysıs on publicly available intormation. The balance was contained in their entirety in public remarks, in and out of public meetings.
I do want to make one small correction in regards to the prior email. For four consecutive quarters in late 2015 and early 2016, as well as isolated quarters in 2021, 2022, and 2023, there were 0 violations. I would, instead, argue that our water is the safest it has been since that stretch ending in early 2016.
With that caveat, I am comfortable with this email being shared publicly.
Yours
A.White
Imagine that. Who would have thought. Didn’t the Commission remove Anita West before I was appointed? For reasons never made public? I can ask questions and then ask more. Let me know when I should stop. See you on the Ridge
I took Sunday off to give everyone a rest. However, while everyone was resting, the Mount Zion system was still leaking. The leaks will not rest which means the money continues to flow down the drain and or into the creek. Since I have not included Grantsville in a lot of these conversations, maybe they can answer a question. Is the Mount Zion PSD upto date on paying their bill to the Town of Grantsville? Or are they being penalized for not paying for the water that is flowing out of the system? Since no one has told me to stop asking questions, I will continue. Most likely without being answered, but that is how it will have to be. I personally think it would have been easier to answer a few questions earlier than let them continue to pile up.
Who owns the building in Grantsville that was supposed to house all three water entities? If the O&M goes away, how is that property split up equally? If the county purchased the building and the O&M goes away, does Grantsville just lose out? And will Mount Zion PSD operate their office from Grantsville? More questions to come.
I didn’t forget about you yesterday. Just been busy replacing hydrants, valves and pumps. Not on the Mt Zion system, elsewhere. But here is a question. Is the system upto snuff on backflow prevention to eliminate possible contamination from business to the public water supply? Backflow prevention was required federally in 1974 when the clean drinking water act was passed. I will await an answer from someone. Anyone?
Good morning sir…I apologize I wasn’t here sooner. I was waiting for the educated and in charge and likely well salaried staff to reply…
Crickets ehh…and yet again.
About the back flow prevention. It’s something I had wondered when this big push to combine everything materialized.
Like the bags for the hydrants…they were likely purchased or are on a shelf. Or repurposed for something else. Point being. Things and tools are needed. Town gets a grant for it..and then.we need another for something else. It puts the GRANT in our ‘Ville..
Yes. I had wondered if there was a break in the line will it compromise the entire system.
If there are valves in place..(who knows, they’ll be buried and claimed to be in perfect order.)
But will the old installed valves if they are present be able to handle additional pressures. Were they intended to someday be utilized in this fashion?. There will be a back flow and siphoning effect, and I can imagine the pressure will be incredible with elevation differences we have focused on a 6-8” line. What goes into back filling of the ditch is important. (You hope to not see that spot again-so let’s not make an emergency future repair inevitable, and complicated…)
Will everyone on the combined system have a boil water advisory, or would anyone know??..or be properly notified?.
About the mowing around hydrants..I’m sure whoever is supposed to do it is doing a great job. And probably needs a raise.
I can get my trusty sombrero, and my vintage whacker to replace my stolen one.
You can show me where to mow. And I’ll show how butthurt ppl can get In defense of their duties.
Maybe I’ll get reported for charitable trespassing.
They probably would rather herbicide them anyway.
Ya know cuz..”no1 wants to work anymore !?!!.. and the chemicals are safe n effective…”
Whoever owned the old building that was supposed to be the new main office-probably quoted their sale price because it was motivated buyer. With someone else funds it was a ‘ no brainer’…will this decision go the way of the animal shelter (purchased) that we needed so bad that fizzled out?..
I’m not sure everyone water bills are going where they’re supposed to.
Weird you mail something from Grantsville-to-grantsville..and it has to go to Charleston for processing. Time consuming and weird.
Then it arrives at a private residence AND NOT AT THE WATER PLANT…
Everything is fine!!!…
Yeah.let’s combine the entities..Then, since it wasn’t thought through..we likely need another savior Grant from the federal ethers to band-aid a fresh debacle.
Almost had to laugh when it was proposed that HOPE could run the water too. This is certainly no offense to their working men and women..
They could. We could also let them do power and phones also. Bundle all utilities for convenience.
And get shut off of everything for being late on one thing. I just, understandably get wary when…
’ this is how it’s always been ‘ turns into the new shiny thing. No going back when corporations n shareholders have intended on doing less and getting more from their bottom line.
If that mailbox on mt. Scion ratchet strapped down is any indication…yeah-that water pump is probably secured the same as you remember it being.
Unsatisfactory. Soon it will be winter again. How many questions and problems will go unaddressed in the meantime?
Also.there’s been a leak on white pine road. Approximately 50’ from ‘kight -Ward road’ For several years. The Ground/ditch line is always wet. And it runs across the road in all but the very driest conditions. And it’s an ice wall in the winter.
Me and my dumb noticing of things.
Really high turnover rate in municipal positions and water dept.
Everyone try to stay healthy…Love your families be kind to neighbors. And absolutely, get off the fakespook.