By David Campbell, Chairman, WCSA Board of Commissioners
In recent weeks, several articles have appeared in the Bristol Herald Courier regarding the Washington County Service Authority’s dismissal of its former General Manager, Robbie Cornett.
On behalf of WCSA’s Board of Commissioners, I can say that we took unanimous action we believed to be necessary. To ensure that we are exercising our required due diligence, we made the decision to launch an internal investigation into the events leading to Mr. Cornett’s termination. Moreover, to assure our customers that WCSA has been and is being financially well-managed, we have retained the services of an outside accounting firm. As these efforts are ongoing, we currently are not at liberty to comment on factors surrounding these decisions.
In response to questions concerning news items posted to the WCSA website on November 17th that include quotes from Mr. Cornett, two weeks after his dismissal, I hope to provide some much-needed clarification. One of these posts originated from a news release that WCSA shared with local media in early September. Both posts were included in WCSA’s Fall/Winter newsletter, which was printed in mid-October, and shared on our website after customers began receiving the newsletter in November.
Now, let’s talk about where we go from here.
Clearly, WCSA’s leadership is presently going through a period of transition. In the coming weeks, our Board will appoint a committee to oversee the process of selecting the next General Manager. At that time, we expect to provide more information about the process and a projected timeline.
In the meantime, Ron Seay is serving as acting General Manager, overseeing WCSA’s daily operations. Mr. Seay joined WCSA in January 2021 as Operations Manager, building on a career that includes more than 30 years’ experience in engineering, operations and plant management. We are confident in his proven abilities to lead WCSA as we navigate this season of change.
WCSA is grateful for the opportunity to serve our 22,000 water customers and more than 2,000 wastewater customers. As we move into 2023, our 70th anniversary, we will continue to uphold our mission of leading the industry and our region by providing excellent, affordable, environmentally responsible water and wastewater service.